If nothing else will make you stop eating too much junk food, this will.

The British version of America's Food and Drug Administration, the Royal Society of Public Health has called for “activity equivalent” labeling to be introduced to show how much exercise would be required to burn off calories contained in food and drink.

They are telling you just how much exercise time it will take you to work off the calories in that Snickers bar. For most of us, the time needed to burn off one or two snacks is more exercise than we do in a week!

Sample images of packaging issued by the society show pictures of stick men jogging, swimming and cycling, in each case accompanied by the number of minutes it would take to burn off the calories contained.

In the case of a 171-calorie packet of potato chips, the equivalent activity given, based on British Heart Foundation figures, is 19 minutes of jogging, 23 minutes of cycling or 13 minutes of swimming. For a chocolate bar, the respective values are 40, 49 and 29 minutes and for a can of soda, 15, 23 and 13 minutes.

Photo: RSPH
Photo: RSPH.org.uk
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Are you really going to spend 49 minutes on a bicycle for a chocolate bar? That's the painful, but effective, beauty of this information.  When you put it that way, of course you aren't!

Here is a link to a calorie calculator to find the how much exercise is necessary to work off your favorite guilty pleasures.

NBC Nightly News Facebook page has posted the above chart from the Royal Society of Public Health, giving examples of some snacks and the time it will take you to work 'em off.

At an estimated 54 minutes to walk off a bag, I'm never eating peanuts again!

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