What is calorie or energy density?

Energy density is how many calories a food contains per unit weight, here expressed as kilocalories per 100 grams. Water and fibre lower it; fat raises it. Oils sit near 900 kcal/100g while watery vegetables sit below 30.

Why do low-density foods help with appetite?

For a given number of calories you can eat a much larger volume of low-density food, which fills the stomach and triggers satiety signals. Building meals around vegetables, fruit, broth, and lean protein lets you feel full on fewer calories.

How does the portion calculator work?

Each food lists calories per 100 grams. The tool multiplies that figure by your entered weight and divides by 100, so a 150 gram portion of a 130 kcal/100g food shows 195 calories. Set the grams field to your actual serving.

Are these values exact?

No. They are typical reference figures in the style of the USDA food database. Real values vary by brand, cut of meat, ripeness, and especially cooking method, since frying or adding oil sharply raises density. Use them as a guide, not a label substitute.

Does cooking change calorie density?

Yes. Cooking can concentrate or dilute energy density. Boiling rice or pasta adds water and lowers density, while frying or roasting in oil adds fat and raises it. Where possible the table uses cooked values for foods normally eaten cooked.

Food Calorie Density Reference

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How filling a food is depends heavily on its energy density — the calories packed into each gram. This reference lists the kcal per 100 grams for dozens of common foods across every group, sorts them from most to least dense, and scales any food’s calories to your exact portion size.

How it works

Energy density is simply calories divided by weight, expressed here as kilocalories per 100 grams. The two biggest levers are water and fat: water adds weight but no calories, so watery vegetables sit below 30 kcal/100g, while pure fats like olive oil approach 900. Protein and carbohydrate fall in between at roughly 4 kcal per gram when dry.

The portion calculator multiplies a food’s per-100g figure by your entered weight and divides by 100:

portion_kcal = kcal_per_100g * grams / 100

So 150 g of cooked white rice (130 kcal/100g) works out to about 195 kcal.

Tips and notes

Volumetrics-style eating leans on low-density foods to feel full on fewer calories — pile the plate with vegetables and lean protein, and treat oils, nuts, and snacks as concentrated extras. The figures here are typical reference values and vary by brand, cut, ripeness and especially cooking method, since frying adds fat and roasting drives off water. Use them to compare foods, not as a substitute for a nutrition label.