Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts

Can Your Chocolate Bar Be Keeping You Awake?

February 5, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Do you hit the chocolate at night, or maybe mid-afternoon? Does your chocolate nibbling follow a chocolate dessert from earlier in the day, or a hot chocolate, or some samples of chocolate candy? And perhaps all of that chocolate indulgence was washed down by a couple (or more) cups of coffee.

At bedtime, sleep is downright elusive. You wonder why you’re wide awake since you’ve been on the go all day.

Here’s a thought – your sleeplessness might, in part, be due to all of the caffeine not just in your coffee (or tea) but in your chocolate, too. There isn’t a huge amount of caffeine in chocolate, but perhaps enough – especially if you’re a chocoholic – to help tip the insomnia scales when it’s combined with a day’s worth of other caffeinated food and drinks.

Caffeine And Chocolate

We’ve all heard that some chocolate – the darker the better – might have some health benefits. But here are a few facts about chocolate and caffeine that most people don’t know:

Chocolate contains caffeine – not enough to give you a big time boost, but depending on the type of chocolate, enough to register — especially if you’re working your way through some of those oversized bars or you’re stuffing in a bunch of fun-sized bars or chocolate Easter eggs.

It would take about 14 regularly sized (1.5 ounce) bars of milk chocolate to give you the same amount of caffeine that you’d get from an 8 ounce cup of coffee. Along with that little caffeine buzz you’d also be shoving in about 3,000 calories and more than 300 grams of sugar. If you’re looking for caffeine, coffee seems like a better bet at about two calories for an 8 ounce cup (black, no sugar).

Dark chocolate has a higher caffeine content than milk chocolate, but it would still take four regular sized bars to get the same amount that you’d find in one cup of black coffee.

Something To Think About

If you have trouble sleeping, along with avoiding coffee before bed, you might want to think about the amount of chocolate you’re eating.

Something else to think about: getting kids (and some adults) to sleep on Halloween, Easter, and other chocolate heavy holidays might have a whole lot to do with both the sugar and the amount of caffeine in all of the chocolate candy.

How Much Caffeine?

Caffeine In Chocolate

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, 1bar/1.55 oz: 9 mg caffeine

Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar, 1 bar/1.45 oz: 20 mg caffeine

Hershey’s Kisses, 9 pieces: 9 mg caffeine

Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, 9 pieces: 20 mg caffeine

Scharffen Berger Milk 41% Cacao, ½ bar: 17 mg caffeine

Scharffen Berger Extra Dark 82% Cacao, ½ bar: 42 mg caffeine

Dagoba Milk Chocolate 37% Cacao, ½ bar: 9 mg caffeine

Dagoba Dark Chocolate 73% Cacao, ½ bar: 36 mg caffeine

Caffeine In Coffee:

Coffee, generic brewed, 8 oz: 133 mg caffeine (range: 102-200; 16 oz, 266 mg caffeine)

Dunkin’ Donuts regular coffee, 16 oz: 206 mg caffeine

Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Grande), 16 oz: 320 mg caffeine

Coffee, generic instant, 8 oz: 93 mg caffeine (range 27-173)

Espresso, generic, 1 oz: 40 mg caffeine (range 30-90)

Starbucks Espresso, solo, 1 oz: 75 mg caffeine

Coffee, generic decaffeinated, 8 oz: 5 mg caffeine (range 3-12)

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How Much (fun) Exercise Do You Need To Do To Burn Off Super Bowl Food?

February 1, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Check out these amusing (and possibly alarming) stats on how much and what kind of exercise you need to do to burn off some common Super Bowl food. Get ready to walk, dance, and act somewhat ridiculous for a lot of minutes! (Thanks to the Diet Detective for compiling these stats.)

Remember – it’s just one day so enjoy your favorite foods. You can compensate for the extra calories by adjusting the amount you eat the big day and the days before and after, mixing in wise choices with the splurges, and increasing your exercise.

Game Food and (fun) Exercise:

Downing six bottles of Budweiser means you’d have to do “The Wave” 4,280 times. And don’t drive.
Just four swigs of Bud Light (36 calories) means you’d need to play 8 minutes of professional football – that’s action time, not standing around on the field or on the sidelines.
If you eat a 12-inch Italian sub you’d have to walk the length of the Brooklyn Bridge more than 14 times (or 16.2 miles).
Six large Chili’s Fajita beef classic nachos means you have to run 242.5 football fields at 5mph. Six nachos is about half an order.
One giant New York City street or stadium pretzel clocks in at about 455 calories. You’d have to spend 111 minutes acting like a team mascot (no comment!!!).
Four Tostitos Scoops! Tortilla chips with guacamole means 122 end zone touchdown dances. Each chip is about 11 calories, each scoop of guacamole is 25 calories – maybe more. One KFC extra crispy drumstick and an extra crispy chicken breast means 203 end zone touchdown dances.
Five pigs in blankets (67.5 calories each) means taking over the job of a stadium vendor selling food for 36 minutes.
One 16-ounce bowl of beef and bean chili (about 550 calories) with a few tablespoons of sour cream and shredded cheese (another 150 calories) means 73 minutes of cheerleading.
Three slices of Pizza Hut Pepperoni Lover’s Pizza Works (440 calories a slice) means you’d have to clean the post-game stadium for 322 minutes – that’s more than 5 hours of work.
If you have 10 sliders with cheese (about 170 calories per slider) you’d have to perform with the marching band for 363 minutes.
If you want cheese sticks, four of them from Papa John’s dipped in their garlic dipping sauce with cheese (370 calories for 4 sticks and 150 calories for the dipping sauce) means you’d have to paint the faces of 23 “going nuts” fans.
One piece of crunchy cheese flavored Cheetos (7.14 calories) is equal to two minutes of waving a foam hand, chanting and pointing.
One Ritz cracker (16 calories) piled high with Cheese Whiz (45 calories for a tablespoon) will require 21 minutes of preparing, cooking, serving, and post Super Bowl clean-up.
One Doritos chip (12.75 calories) means that during half time you’d have to dance the entire 3.54 minutes of Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven.” Imagine if you ate your way through the entire bag! Eating ten Lay’s classic potato chips with Kraft French onion dip means you’d have to dance to Madonna for 134 minutes.
Ah, wings. Fifteen Pizza Hut Buffalo Burnin’ Hot Crispy Bone-in Wings with ranch dressing (100 calories per wing and 220 calories for 1.5 ounces of ranch dressing) means you’d have to do the wave 9, 461 times. Of course by then your arms would hurt so much you wouldn’t be able to pick up any more food!

Want Some Calories Saving Tips for the 2nd Biggest Food Day (US) of the Year?

January 28, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Hand to mouth munching on chips, dips, and wings. A swig or two or three. A cookie here and there. And then there’s the “real food” at halftime – or maybe there was pizza first followed by a selection of subs. It’s Super Bowl!

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest day for food consumption in the United States (Thanksgiving is first) — and usually the food doesn’t really fall into the healthy choice category.

You may – or may not – be riveted to the TV screen rooting hard for your team, but you may also be going along for the ride – happy to be at a party where there’s plenty of food and shouting and enthusiasm – a classic set-up for mindless and distracted eating. By the end of the game do you have a clue about how much – or even what — you have popped in your mouth.

Super Bowl Food Facts

About one in twenty (9 million) Americans watch the game at a restaurant or a bar.
Americans double their average daily consumption of snacks on Super Bowl Sunday, downing more than 33 million pounds in one day.
The average Super Bowl watcher consumes 1,200 calories. (Source: Calorie Control Council). Potato chips are the favorite and account for 27 billion calories and 1.8 billion fat grams — the same as 4 million pounds of fat or equal to the weight of 13,000 NFL offensive linemen at 300 pounds each. (Source: ScottsdaleWeightLoss.com).

Nearly one in eight (13%) Americans order takeout/delivery food for the Super Bowl. The most popular choices are pizza (58%), chicken wings (50%), and subs/sandwiches (20%). (Source: American Journal). Almost 70% of Super Bowl watchers eat a slice (or two or three) during the game.
The amount of chicken wings eaten clocks in at 90 million pounds or 450 million individual wings. It would take 19 chicken breasts to get the same amount of fat that you usually get from a dozen Buffalo wings.
On Super Bowl Sunday Americans eat an estimated 14,500 tons of potato chips, 4000 tons of tortilla chips, and eight million pounds of avocados. Five ounces of nacho cheese Doritos equals around 700 calories. You’d have to run the length of 123 football fields to burn them off. You’d have to eat 175 baby carrots or 700 celery sticks to get the same number of calories.
According to 7-eleven, sales of antacids increase by 20% on the day after Super Bowl.

Want Some Calorie Saving Tips?

Stick with grilled meat, veggies, or baked chips rather than fried. Turkey, baked ham, and grilled chicken are better choices than wings and fried chicken.
Plain bread, pitas, or wraps are less caloric than biscuits or cornbread.
Go for salsa and skip the guacamole.
Minimize calories by dipping chicken wings into hot sauce instead of Buffalo sauce.
Try using celery for crunch and as a dipper instead of chips.
Try fruit for dessert.
Go for thin crust rather than thick doughy crust pizza. Choose the slices with vegetables, not pepperoni or meatballs. If you’re not embarrassed, try blotting up the free-floating oil that sits on top of a greasy slice (soak up even a teaspoon of oil saves you 40 calories and 5 grams of fat).
Alcohol adds calories and dulls your mindful eating. Try alternating water or diet soda with beer or alcohol. That can decrease your alcohol calories (alcohol has 7 calories/gram) by 50%.

Love Pizza? Here’s 7 Ways To Cut Down On Pizza Calories

January 25, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

If your mouth starts watering at the thought of melted cheese and pepperoni or veggies on some kind of crust, take comfort that you fit the stats:

American men, women, and children eat, on average 46 slices of pizza a year.

94% of Americans eat pizza regularly

In the US, 61% prefer regular thin crust, 14% prefer deep-dish, and 11% prefer extra thin crust

62% of Americans prefer meat toppings; 38% prefer vegetables

36% order pizza topped with pepperoni

Is Pizza Junk Food?

Pizza can be a pretty good food – both in calories and nutrition. On the other hand it can be pretty lousy – both in calories and nutrition.

It’s difficult to estimate the number of calories and fat grams in a slice of pizza because the size and depth of the pies and the amount of cheese, meat, or other toppings vary enormously.

Here’s the good news: pizza can be a healthy food choice filled with complex carbs, B-vitamins, calcium, protein, vitamin A, and vitamin C and calorically okay if you choose wisely and don’t eat more than your fair share.

The not so good news: the amount of fat, calories, and portion size. If your mouth starts to water at the thought of golden brown crust and cheesy goodness — here’s the downer: that luscious slice of pizza that should be about the size of two dollar bills – not the size of a small frying pan or a quarter of a 12” circle.

7 Ways To Build a Better Slice of Pizza

Order thin crust rather than a thick crust or deep dish.
Resist the urge to ask for double cheese — better yet, go light on the cheese or use reduced-fat cheese (if they have it).
Ask for a pizza without cheese but topped with veggies and a little olive oil. You can always sprinkle on a little grated parmesan for flavor; one tablespoon has only 22 calories.
Instead of cheese go for big flavors like onion, garlic, olives but use them somewhat sparingly because of the oil. And don’t forget anchovies – a lot of flavor for minimal calories – but you have to like them!
Choose vegetable toppings instead of meat (think about the fat content in sausage, pepperoni, and meatballs) and you might shave 100 calories from your meal. Pile on veggies like mushrooms, peppers, olives, tomatoes, onion, broccoli, spinach, and asparagus. Some places have salad pizza – great if it’s not loaded with oil.
Order a side salad (careful with the dressing) and cut down on the amount of pizza. Salad takes longer to eat, too.
If you’re willing (and not embarrassed or grossed out), try blotting up the free-floating oil that sits on top of a greasy slice with a napkin. Blotting (it’s easy to do this on the kind of hot slice where the oil runs down your arm when you pick it up) can soak up a teaspoon of oil worth 40 calories and 5 grams of fat.

Deep Dish, Hand Tossed, Thin Crust?

Check out the difference in calories for the same size slice of Domino’s classic hand-tossed, deep dish, and crunchy thin crust pizzas – each with the same toppings. Then check out the difference in calories fort the various toppings.

Domino’s 14 inch large classic hand-tossed pizza

America’s Favorite (Peperoni, mushroom, sausage, 1/8 of pizza): 390 calories

Bacon Cheeseburger (Beef, bacon, cheddar cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 420 calories

Vegi Feast (Green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, extra cheese, 1/8 of pizza): 340 calories

Domino’s 14 inch large ultimate deep dish pizza

America’s Favorite (Peperoni, mushroom, sausage), 1/8 of pizza: 400 calories

Bacon Cheeseburger (Beef, bacon, cheddar cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 430 calories

Vegi Feast (Green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, extra cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 350 calories

Domino’s 14 inch large crunchy thin crust pizza

America’s Favorite (Peperoni, mushroom, sausage, 1/8 of pizza: 280 calories)

Bacon Cheeseburger (Beef, bacon, cheddar cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 310 calories

Vegi Feast (Green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, extra cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 230 calories

Do You Eat Chips and Cookies Straight from the Package?

January 20, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the size of the package your food comes in influences how much you’ll eat. The larger the package, the more you tend to eat from it.

And, if you’re eating from the bag while you watch TV or work on the computer, it’s likely that as you mindlessly move your hand from bag to mouth you don’t realize how much you’re eating or whether you’re full of not. So you probably just keep eating until you get to the bottom of the bag – and then eat all of the crumbs, too.

It’s easier to stay away from chips and cookies if the bag isn’t in your line of sight – out of sight, out of mind.

If you do buy jumbo size packages because they’re cheaper, put the excess somewhere inconvenient so you’ll have to work to get at it –like the basement, garage, or a high shelf that you need a stepstool to access. If you have to work to get the food it might take some of the desire out of it.

Don’t eat straight from the package. Divide up the contents of one large package into several smaller portions. Put your portion in a bowl, on a plate, or even on a napkin. Count out your chips, crackers, and pretzels or only eat from a single portion size bag.

Who can stop when there’s an open bag of salty, crunchy food right in front of you? It’s amazingly easy to just keep until the bag is empty. A dive to the bottom of a 9 ounce bag of chips (without dip) is 1,260 calories. One serving, about 15 chips, is 140 calories.

And, leave the broken pieces of cookies or chips in the bag. Remarkably, pieces of cookies and broken chips have calories, too!