100 Calorie Packs

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Written By Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

To consume 100 calories of celery, you would have to eat over 1 pound or 21 ounces to be exact. But if you chose potato chips, you would get a measly 12 chips or about 3/4 ounce chips for the same 100calories.While the 100 calorie packs of high-calorie foods are good for portion control and portion awareness, perhaps choosing these snacks often,  instead of better choices like fruits and vegetables, may not be the best bet.A healthful snack should provide more of the things you need like fiber, nutrients and satiety and less of the things most individuals don’t need like sugar, fat, salt and high calorie density. Which is more easy to eat in one sitting - 21 ounces of celery or 12 potato chips?Chances are, if a food needs to be packaged in a 100-calorie serving, it might not be the best choice for an all-the-time snack.Our chart above shows you the quantity of each food if you choose to eat just 100 calories. The foods at the top, like celery, nonfat light yogurt, carrots, oranges, apples, grapes and bananas are the best choices because you get to eat more. They also have more fiber, nutrients and moisture content. And less fat, sugar salt and sodium. They are generally much lower in cost per ounce, too.Better still, the foods at the top count towards important servings of fruits, vegetables and nonfat dairy as recommended by MyPlate and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. For more information, see ChooseMyPlate.gov.

100 calorie serving: grams per serving:
15 stalks celery 600
9 oz light nonfat yogurt 255
2 cups carrots 244
1.6 oranges 209
1.5 apples 207
1 cup grapes 151
1 banana 118
1/2 donut 42
1/2 blueberry muffin 36
1/3 chocolate chip bagel 33
2 fig cookies 31
1.75 graham crackers 23
3/4 oz crackers 22
2 chocolate cookies 22
.75 oz potato chips 21
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Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

Judy’s passion for cooking began with helping her grandmother make raisin oatmeal for breakfast. From there, she earned her first food service job at 15, was accepted to the world-famous Culinary Institute of America at 18 (where she graduated second in her class), and went on to the Fachschule Richemont in Switzerland, where she focused on pastry arts and baking. After a decade in food service for Hyatt Hotels, Judy launched Food and Health Communications to focus on flavor and health. She graduated with Summa Cum Laude distinction from Johnson and Wales University with a BS in Culinary Arts, holds a master’s degree in Food Business from the Culinary Institute of America, two art certificates from UC Berkeley Extension, and runs a food photography & motion studio where her love is creating fun recipes and content.

Judy received The Culinary Institute of America’s Pro Chef II certification, the American Culinary Federation Bronze Medal, Gold Medal, and ACF Chef of the Year. Her enthusiasm for eating nutritiously and deliciously leads her to constantly innovate and use the latest nutritional science and Dietary Guidelines to guide her creativity, from putting new twists on fajitas to adapting Italian brownies to include ingredients like toasted nuts and cooked honey. Judy’s publishing company, Food and Health Communications, is dedicated to her vision that everyone can make food that tastes as good as it is for you.

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