Convert Calories to Kilojoules Health and Fitness Articles
Convert Calories to Kilojoules, or Vice Versa
Calorie conversion is easy! Converting calories to kilojoules or kilojoules to calories is especially useful if you plan on spending time abroad. If you don't like to carry a calculator with you, here's a simple trick you can do in your head for a rough, but fast conversion...
Here's How...
Your bags are packed. Your plane reservations are confirmed. Your itinerary is planned. You're on your way half-way around the world to explore the grounds, discover new sites, and taste the food of a different peoples and culture.
You're bringing with you your brand new pocket dictionary for emergency translation help when flagging down a cab, asking for directions, greeting people, or asking "how much?" for that lovely souvenir you simply cannot do without. You've also thought to bring along your calculator to convert foreign currency to your currency.
Of course, because you're a fitness enthusiast at heart you know that while the credo to a great vacation is 'live and let live', it's also not a reason to undo over a few weeks what you've worked so hard to attain all year long!
So, if you plan on visiting Europe any time soon and intend on reading food labels as you stroll down supermarket isles, or likewise, if you're a European planning on visiting America... you will need to know how to convert calories to kilojoules or kilojoules to calories.
In nutrition, calories and kilojoules are to energy what pounds and kilograms are to weight.
America uses the English system of customary weights and measures. In the English system, we measure food energy using the calorie.
In many European countries the International System of Units (often abbreviated as SI Units, which is based upon the decimal Metric system), uses the kilojoule to measure food energy.
To make the conversion from calories to kilojoules or from kilojoules to calories, here is what you need to know...
One calorie is equal to 4.186 kilojoules.
To convert calories to kilojoules, multiply the number of calories by 4.186 (or round up to 4.2 for ease and simplicity).
Conversely,
One kilojoule is equal to 0.2389 calories.
To convert kilojoules to calories, multiply the number of kilojoules by 0.2389 (or round up to 0.24 for rough approximation).
Of course, you may not always have a calculator handy to make the conversions. So here is a fast trick you can use to make the calculations in your head. It's not exact, but it's about 95 percent accurate.
-- If you're an American traveling abroad, just remember that you will have about one quarter the number of kilojoules displayed on the food label. So just divide by four for a rough approximation.
For example, your food label says the item contains 440 kilojoules. To convert to calories...
440 divided by 4 = 110 calories.
(440 kJ x 0.2389 = 105.11 kcal)
-- If you're a European traveling to America, do the opposite-- multiply by four.
So, if your food label reads 110 calories, to convert to kilojoules...
110 calories times 4 = 440 kilojoules.
(110 kcal x 4.186 = 460.46 kJ).
It is possible that you might come across the symbol "MJ" on certain European food labels. MJ stands for megaJoules.
MegaJoules are used to avoid large numbers.
One megaJoule is equal to 1000 kilojoules.
They're used especially when discussing food intake over a period of a day. For example, if your daily caloric intake is 2400 kcals daily, then this would equal 10,046 kilojoules-- a rather large number to work with!
So, we express it more simply as 10 megaJoules.
2400 kcal x 4.186 = 10,046.4 kJ or 10.046 MJ.
Traveling across the ocean from one continent to another doesn't mean you can't keep an eye on your calories... or, kilojoules.
To convert calories to kilojoules or kilojoules to calories, remember this easy rule of thumb:
If you're traveling east, divide by 4. If you're traveling west, multiply by 4.
