When you think movie, do you also think popcorn? A good percentage of movie viewing people do.

And what’s the biggest movie night of the year? The Academy Awards, of course.

Oscar has been around for a long time – the first Academy Awards ceremony was in 1929 – but the main snack food that’s associated with movies has been around a lot longer.

The Evolution of Popcorn

The puffy goodness we know as popcorn is a strain of corn (from maize) cultivated in Central America about 8,000 years ago and probably brought to New England from Chile in the early 19th century by North American whalers. People discovered that popping popcorn was fun and its appeal spread rapidly across the country.

By the mid 1800’s popcorn was widely available, especially at places like circuses and fairs. The invention of the steam-powered popcorn maker in 1885 meant popcorn could be made anywhere. Amazingly, the only place where it wasn’t usually available was in theaters, which typically had carpeted floors and theater owners didn’t want popcorn “dirtying” up the place.

Popcorn and Movies

Because of popcorn’s popularity, theater owners began to allow vendors to sell popcorn outside their theaters. During the Great Depression people looked for cheap diversions and movies were it and popcorn — at 5 to 10 cents a bag — was an affordable luxury.

Eventually theater owners began to lease their lobbies to popcorn vendors, but then figured out they could make more money by selling it themselves. Selling popcorn, candy, and soda from their own concession stands meant higher profits. Sugar shortages during World War II made sweet treats hard to come by so popcorn became the main snack. By 1945 over half of the popcorn eaten in the US was consumed in movie theaters.

Popcorn is still king. Americans eat, on average, about 13 gallons of popcorn a year. It’s cheap to make and allows for a huge price mark-up. You might pay $5 for a bag of popcorn, but it costs the theater about 50 cents. Plain popcorn doesn’t have all that much flavor, so yellow oil (it isn’t butter) and salt are added to make it tasty and make you thirsty. So, you buy a soda. No wonder movie theaters make an estimated 85 percent profit from concession sales, with those sales accounting for 46 percent of their overall profits.

Popcorn Recipes

On Oscar night – or any movie night — as you prop your feet up to watch the glamorous stars grab their golden statues, make sure you have a good supply of popcorn on hand. You don’t have to settle for the plain variety – unless you want to. There are some fantastic popcorn recipes with names like Bacon Bourbon Caramel Popcorn, Cinnamon Candy Popcorn (which is red, like the red carpet), Pizza Popcorn, Peanut Butter Popcorn, and Endless Caramel Corn.

For even more popcorn recipes to accompany your cheers, boos, oohs, and ahs on Oscar night, check out:

Food Network’s 50 Flavored Popcorn Recipes

19 Ways to Flavor Popcorn

27 Healthy Popcorn Recipes to Cure Any Snack AttackPopcorn Recipes

allrecipes Popcorn Recipes

The post Movies, Popcorn, and the Oscars appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

When you think movie, do you also think popcorn? A good percentage of movie viewing people do.

And what’s the biggest movie night of the year? The Academy Awards, of course.

Oscar has been around for a long time – the first Academy Awards ceremony was in 1929 – but the main snack food that’s associated with movies has been around a lot longer.

The Evolution of Popcorn

The puffy goodness we know as popcorn is a strain of corn (from maize) cultivated in Central America about 8,000 years ago. North American whalers probably brought popcorn to New England from Chile in the early 19th century. Popping popcorn was fun and its appeal spread rapidly across the country.

By the mid 1800’s popcorn was widely available, especially at places like circuses and fairs. The invention of the steam-powered popcorn maker in 1885 meant popcorn could be made anywhere. Amazingly, the only place where it wasn’t usually available was in theaters, which typically had carpeted floors. Theater owners didn’t want popcorn “dirtying” up the place (have you ever tried to vacuum up popcorn from carpeted floors).

Popcorn and Movies

Because of its popularity, theater owners began to allow popcorn vendors to sell popcorn outside their theaters. During the Great Depression people looked for cheap diversions and movies were it and popcorn — at 5 to 10 cents a bag — was an affordable luxury.

Theater owners began to lease their lobbies to popcorn vendors, but then figured out they could make more money by selling it themselves. Selling popcorn, candy, and soda from their own concession stands meant higher profits. Sugar shortages during World War II made sweet treats hard to come by, and popcorn became the main snack. By 1945 over half of the popcorn eaten in the US was consumed in movie theaters.

Popcorn is still king. Americans eat, on average, about 13 gallons of popcorn a year. It’s cheap to make and allows for a huge price mark-up. You might pay $5 for a bag of popcorn, but it costs the theater about 50 cents. Plain popcorn doesn’t have all that much flavor, so yellow oil (it isn’t butter) and salt are added to make it tasty and make you thirsty. So, you buy a soda. No wonder movie theaters make an estimated 85 percent profit from concession sales, with those sales accounting for 46 percent of overall profits.

Popcorn Recipes

This Sunday as you prop your feet up to watch the glamorous stars grab their golden statues, make sure you have a good supply of popcorn on hand. You don’t have to settle for the plain variety – unless you want to. There are some fantastic popcorn recipes with names like Bacon Bourbon Caramel Popcorn, Cinnamon Candy Popcorn (which is red, like the red carpet), Pizza Popcorn, Peanut Butter Popcorn, and Endless Caramel Corn.

For even more popcorn recipes to accompany your cheers, boos, oohs, and ahs on Oscar night, check out:

Food Network’s 50 Flavored Popcorn Recipes

19 Ways to Flavor Popcorn

30 Healthy Popcorn Recipes That Satisfy Every Snack Craving

Popcorn Recipes

The post Movies, Popcorn, and the Oscars, too! appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

The big meal is over and the back and forth to the kitchen for leftovers begins. We all know that leftovers can really bump up the holiday calories, but how do you tell if the leftovers are actually safe to eat?

Once Your Bird Is Cooked, Does It Matter How Long You Leave It Out?

It definitely matters – and the clock starts ticking as soon as the bird comes out of the oven, fryer, or off the grill.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of reported cases of food borne illness (food poisoning) increases during the holiday season.

You shouldn’t leave food out for more than two hours, any time of the year. To save turkey leftovers, remove the stuffing from the turkey cavity, cut the turkey off the bone, and refrigerate or freeze all the leftovers.

The Basic Rules For Leftovers

According to the USDA the mantra is: 

2 Hours–2 Inches–4 Days

• 2 Hours from oven to refrigerator: Refrigerate or freeze your leftovers within 2 hours of cooking (taking them off the heat or out of the oven). Throw them away if they are out longer than that. Think about your buffet table – or even your holiday dinner table. How long does the bird, stuffing, and accompaniments sit out as people eat, go back for seconds, and pick their way through the football game and conversation?
• 2 Inches thick to cool it quick: Store your food at a shallow depth–about 2 inches–to speed chilling. Are you guilty of piling the food high in storage containers or in a big mound covered with tin foil?
• 4 Days in the refrigerator–otherwise freeze it: Use your leftovers that are stored in the fridge within 4 days. The exceptions are stuffing and gravy. They should both be used within 2 days. Reheat any solid leftovers to 165 degrees Fahrenheit and bring liquid leftovers to a rolling boil. Toss what you don’t finish.

How Long Can Leftover Turkey Stay In The Freezer?

Frozen leftover turkey, stuffing, and gravy should be used within one month. To successfully freeze leftovers, package them using freezer wrap or freezer containers. Use heavy-duty aluminum foil, freezer paper, or freezer bags for best results and don’t leave any air space. Squeeze the excess air from the freezer bags and fill rigid freezer containers to the top with dry food. Without proper packaging, circulating air in the freezer can create freezer burn – those white dried-out patches on the surface of food that make it tough and tasteless. Leave a one-inch headspace in containers with liquid and half an inch in containers filled with semi-solids.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The post How Long Can Your Turkey Safely Stay On The Table — And The Leftovers In The Fridge? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

It’s football season. With it comes fun, excitement, joy, angst, wringing of the hands, a whole new spin on vocabulary, and tons of food and drinks.

It seems that football is associated with nine main food groups: beer, wings, pizza, chips and dip, barbecued ribs, burgers, chili, sausage (especially bratwurst), and pulled pork. It’s a calorie bonanza.

When fans were asked in a national survey if game day calories count, 46% said their diet goes out the window when they’re tailgating or watching their team play. thirty-nine percent said calories count but that they still indulge in a few favorites on game day. No big surprise there.

7 Tips To Keep You Happy . . .

or at least your stomach and waistline happy — your favorite football team is responsible for your mental happiness (or anguish).

1. Be aware of what and how much you’re eating. Mindless munching is a calorie disaster. You’re shoving hundreds of calories into your mouth and it’s probably not even registering that you’re eating. Put a portion on a plate and eat it rather than a constant hand to mouth action off of a platter or open bowl. It’ll save you hundreds of calories.

2. Learn approximately how many calories are in a portion of your favorite game day food so you can make intelligent choices. That way you’re not denying yourself what you love, but if pulled pork has hundreds more calories than a grilled sausage and you love them both, would you choose one over the other?

3.  Save your calories for what you love and pass on the other stuff. You don’t have to eat something just because it’s there and it’s traditional football food. If you really don’t love guacamole why would you eat it? Salsa has a lot fewer calories.

4. Don’t be starving at game time (or for the pre-game tailgate). Have a healthy protein based snack (about 150 calories) before the game. Just don’t have a snack and then eat the same amount out of habit – then you’re just adding the snack calories to all of the others.

5.  Cut it down a little. Can you have 4 or 5 wings instead of 6 or 7? How about a slider instead of a burger, 2 pieces of pizza instead of 3, or ½ a grinder instead of a whole one? Put only 1 or 2 toppings on your chili instead of sour cream, cheese, guacamole, and a never-ending supply of chips or nachos.

6.  If you’re doing some shopping or cooking (or bringing food) for a tailgate or party, try making a slightly healthier version of your favorite food.

• Fried chicken: Use crushed cornflakes for the breading and bake instead of fry
• Nachos: Use low-fat cheese and salsa
• Creamy dips: Use 2% yogurt instead of sour cream
• Chips: Buy baked, not fried
• Chili: Go beans only or use extra-lean ground beef or extra-lean ground turkey instead of ground chuck
• Pizza: order thin crust instead of deep dish and stick with veggie toppings or plain cheese instead of pepperoni or meatball toppings

7. Beer. There’s huge variation between brands and types of beer. On average:

• 12 ounces of beer has 153 calories and 13.9 grams of alcohol
• 12 ounces of lite beer has 103 calories and 11 grams of alcohol

Different types of beer and malt liquor can have very different alcohol content. Light beer can have almost as much alcohol as regular beer – about 85% as much.   Put another way, on average:

• Regular beer: 5% alcohol
• Some light beers: 4.2% alcohol
• Malt liquor: 7% alcohol

For an extensive list of the calories in many popular brands of beer, click HERE.

Do you know someone who’s off to college?

Get my book for some easy, doable tips on how to eat well in dining halls and dorm rooms.  Available in print and as an ebook from Amazon and as an ebook from Barnes & Noble.

The post Football, Food, and Beer appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Are the calories in your favorite coffee the equivalent of the calories in a muffin – or your lunch — for that matter?

Calories and nutritional information for some Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts hot coffee drinks:

• Starbucks Caffe Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  190 calories, 7g fat, 18g carbs, 12g protein

• Starbucks Cappuchino, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  120 calories, 4g fat, 12g carbs, 8g protein

• Starbucks Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, grande (16oz), 2% milk, no whipped cream:  440 calories, 10g fat, 75g carbs, 13g protein

• Starbucks Gingerbread Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk:  250 calories; 6g fat; 37g carbs; 11g protein
• Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, grande (16 oz), 2% milk, whipped cream: 380 calories, 13g fat, 52g carbs, 14g protein

• Dunkin’ Donuts Gingerbread Hot Coffee with Cream, medium:  260 calories, 9g fat, 41g carbs, 4g protein
• Dunkin’ Donuts Snickerdoodle Cookie Hot Latte, medium, whole milk, no whipped cream: 340 calories, 9g fat, 52g carbs, 11g protein

Calories and nutritional information for some iced and frozen coffee drinks:

Note: all info (with the exception of Burger King) is for a 16 ounce cup.

• Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream, 16 ounces (grande): 400 calories, 15 g fat (9 g saturated), 64g carbohydrates.

• Starbucks Mocha Light Frappuccino with nonfat milk, 16 ounces (grande): 130 calories, 0.5g fat, (0 g saturated), 28g carbohydrates.

• Iced Caffe Latte with nonfat milk, 16 ounces (grande):  90 calories, 0g fat, 13g carbohydrates.

• Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Coolata made with whole milk, 16 ounces (small):  240 calories, 4 g fat (2.5 g saturated), 50g carbohydrates

• Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta, 16 ounces (small): 420 calories, 6g fat (3.5g saturated), 92g carbohydrates
• Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Caramel Mocha Latte with milk, (large):       450 calories, 12g fat (7g saturated), 73g carbohydrates

• Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Latte made with skim milk, 16 ounces (small):  80 calories, 0g fat, 13g carbohydrates

• Baskin Robbins Cappuccino Blast Mocha, 16ounces (small):  400 calories, 13g fat (9g saturated), 65g carbohydrates

• McDonald’s McCafé Iced Caramel Mocha, 16 ounces (medium) made with whole milk and whipped cream:  300 calories, 14g fat (8g saturated), 36g carbohydrates

• Burger King: Iced Seattle’s Best Coffee Mocha, 22 ounces (medium):  260 calories, 3.5g fat (2.5g saturated), 54g carbohydrates

Wow—It Can Add Up

• Say you have three grande (Starbucks)—or large (Dunkin’ Donuts)—coffees a day. Each is 20 ounces or 2.5 times the size of a traditional 8 ounce cup.
• If you add 4 tablespoons of half and half and three teaspoons of sugar to each—which sounds like a lot but is very east to do—that’s 128 calories for what you add and around 5 calories for the coffee for a total of 133 calories for each grande/large cup of coffee.
• If you have three of those daily that’s 399 calories a day or the equivalent of 145,635 calories a year.

What about the calories in some plain coffee or tea?

Hot or cold, you can have plain black coffee for a bargain basement 5 calories.  The trick is controlling the extras to avoid making your coffee just another sneaky calorie bomb.

• Brewed coffee, grande (16 oz), black:  5 calories

• Heavy cream, 1tbs:  52 calories

• Half-and-half, 1 tbs:  20 calories

• Whole milk, 1 tbs:  9 calories

• Fat-free milk. 5 calories

• Table sugar, 1tbs:  49 calories

Have your coffee and save some calories, too:

• Ditch the whipped cream.

• Swap half and half, full fat, or 2% milk for 1% or skim.

• Watch the sugar:  ask for one pump instead of two of sugar free syrup, add non-calorie sweetener instead of sugar, or don’t sweeten at all.

• Change the size of the drink that you order:  instead of a venti or an extra large, order a grande or large – or drop down to a tall, medium, or even a small-sized drink.

• If you have a two a day (or more) habit – like a latte in the morning and a frappuccino in the afternoon – substitute a plain coffee or iced tea (easy on the milk and sugar), or even a latte with nonfat milk for one of those choices.

• Order plain hot or iced coffee or even a hot or iced Americano (almost no calories for 16 ounces) and doctor it with non-caloric sweetener and skim milk.  You’d even come out ahead if you use controlled amounts of sugar and a bit of half and half. Or have an hot or iced brewed coffee with classic syrup:  a 12 ounce cup has 60 calories.

The post Is Your Coffee Giving You A Muffin Top? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

It’s hot.  You’re thirsty.  You want something cool – or maybe ice cold – to drink.

Check Out The Calories

A lot of cool, refreshing drinks come with a hefty dose of calories. You might be surprised how many are in a drink you’ve been having for years.

According to CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest), carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet.  It’s easy to forget about the calories in sugared sports drinks, sweetened ice teas, juices, and alcoholic beverages.

Alcohol isn’t a caloric bargain – it has 7 calories per gram (protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram and fat has 9 calories per gram). Add sweetened juices, syrups, or soda to your alcohol, and you could be drinking a significant portion of your suggested daily calorie allowance.

It helps to do some research to figure out what’s your best choice to grab from the deli, the food truck, the coffee shop, or at the bar.

Can you be satisfied with a bottle of beer that has around 100 calories rather than another brand that has around 300 – or water with a hint of flavor instead of a sports drink?

To help you with your choices, here are the calories in some summer favorites:

Water and Sports Drinks

• Gatorade, 12 ounces: 80 calories
• Gatorade G Orange, 12 ounce bottle:  80 calories
• Gatorade G2 Perform Low Calorie Orange, 8 ounces: 20 calories
• SoBe Lifewater, 20 ounces: 90 calories
• Sobe Lifewater 0 calories Black & Blue Berry, 8 ounces: 0 calories
• Glaceau Smart Water, 33.8 ounces: 0 calories
• Vitamin Water, 20 ounces: 125 calories
• Vitamin Water 10, 20 ounces: 25 calories
• Perrier Citron Lemon Lime, 22 ounce bottle:  0 calories
• Vitamin Water Focus Kiwi-Strawberry, 20 ounce bottle:  125 calories
• Hint Blackberry, 16 ounce bottle:  0 calories
• Powerade, Grape, 8 ounces: 50 calories
• Propel Kiwi-Strawberry, 8 ounces: 10 calories
• Water (as much as you want):  0 calories

Iced Coffee and Tea Drinks

• Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta, 16 ounces: 430 calories
• Dunkin’ Donuts Sweet Tea, 16 ounces: 120 calories
• Starbuck’s Coffee Frappuccino, 16 ounces (grande): 240 calories
• Starbuck’s Coffee Frappuccino light, 16 ounces grande: 110 calories
• Tazo Unsweetened Shaken Iced Passion Tea:  0 calories
• Iced Brewed Coffee with classic syrup, 12 ounces (tall): 60 calories
• Red Bull Energy Drink, 8.4 ounces, 110 calories

Soda and Non-Carbonated Drinks

• Mountain Dew, 20 ounce bottle: 290 calories
• Coke Classic, 20 ounce bottle: 233 calories
• Diet coke, 20 ounce bottle: 0 calories
• Snapple Orangeade, 16 ounces:  200 calories
• San Pelligrino Limonata, 11.15 ounce can:  141 calories
• Can of Coke, 12 ounces:  140 calories
• Bottle of 7Up, 12 ounces:  150 calories
• Root beer float, large, 32 ounces:  640 calories

Beer (12 ounce bottle)

• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale: 330 calories
• Samuel Adams Boston Lager: 180 calories
• Guinness Extra Stout: 176 calories
• Pete’s Wicked Ale: 174 calories
• Harpoon IPA: 170 calories
• Heineken: 166 calories
• Killian’s Irish Red: 163 calories
• Long Trail: 163 calories
• Molson Ice: 160 calories
• Samuel Adams Brown Ale:  160 calories
• Budweiser:  144 calories
• Corona Light: 105 calories
• Coors Light: 102 calories
• Heineken Light: 99 calories
• Budweiser Select: 99 calories
• Miller Light: 96 calories
• Amstel Light: 95 calories
• Anheuser Busch Natural Light: 95 calories
• Michelob Ultra: 95 calories
• Miller MGD 64:  64 calories
• Beck’s Premier Light: 64 calories

Wine

• Red Wine, 5 ounces: 129 calories
• White Wine, 5 ounces: 120 calories
• Sangria, 8 ounces: 176 calories

Alcoholic Drinks

• Mojito, 7 ounces: 172 calories
• Frozen Magarita, 4 ounces: 180 calories (the average margarita glass holds 12 ounces, 540 calories)
• Mimosa:  137 calories
• Gin and Tonic:  175 calories

The post How Many Calories Are In Your Favorite Summer Drinks? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

I was in a restaurant that specializes in chili – hot, hotter, and hottest.  Four large thirty-something guys were sitting at the table next to mine. One guy ordered, “hottest,” with an “I can handle it, no problem” look on his face.

Shortly after this big, burly guy dug into his chili he was sitting glassy eyed, rivulets of sweat dripping off of his bald head, practically unable to speak.  The waitress, obviously having seen this happen before, came running over with a glass of milk with orders to “drink up.”

Have you ever had a similar reaction to very spicy food — maybe even from something from your own kitchen when you got a little too heavy-handed with the chili powder? Or perhaps, like this guy, from being a little too macho and ordering “hottest” – despite warnings from the waitstaff.

What Causes The Burn?

Capsaicin is mostly responsible for the “heat” in chili peppers.  The amount in different kinds peppers varies widely. Environmental factors and the maturity of the pepper also affect the “burn” factor.

Chiles grown in hot dry climates tend to be a little hotter and the capsaicin content in a pepper is the highest when peppers reach full maturity. Habanero peppers are always extremely hot because of their high capsaicin content but ancho and paprika chili peppers can be as mild as a bell pepper.

How To Tame The Flame

What do you do when your mouth is sending a five-alarm signal, your face is on fire, and you’re sweating enough to water every plant in the room?

To stop the flames in your mouth you need to neutralize the burning heat from the capsaicin that binds to your taste buds. Remember that you want to neutralize the capsaicin, not just make your mouth feel better — although that’s also an objective.

Solutions

• The most common flame relievers are full fat dairy, acid, and sugar – although some people also swear by nut and seed butters (peanut, almond, tahini). They may all have some degree of effectiveness.
• Ice and water will feel pretty good, but they’re only a temporary feel-good fix. The burning pain will come roaring back. Capsaicin is soluble in both alcohol and fat so full fat dairy and alcohol are possible solutions.
• Neutralizing the capsaicin will be the most effective.  How do you do that? The most common things to counteract the heat of chilies are full fat dairy, acids, and sugar. Some people also swear by nut and seed butters (peanut, almond, tahini). They may all have some degree of effectiveness.
• Capsaicin is soluble in alcohol and fat, and sometimes beer is suggested as a solution because the alcohol will help to neutralize the capsaicin molecules.  Since beer is about 95% water it won’t really neutralize the capsaicin clinging to your tongue. The harder stuff might help but you’d have to drink a lot of it and you’d end up feeling no pain for other reasons.
• Acid can cut through the heat so try vinegar, lemon or lime juice, or anything acidic that doesn’t mess with the taste of your food. Now you know why you often see lemon or lime wedges served with spicier food.  Gives beer with lime new meaning, doesn’t it?
• High fat dairy products like milk, cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and ice cream will coat your mouth and can break the bonds capsaicin forms with the nerve endings – and, since they’re cold, they feel pretty good, too. There’s a reason that spicy Mexican food is often served with sour cream and cheese!
• Sugars bind to pain receptors more readily than capsaicin so sweet things might work, too.   Sugar, fruit, honey, molasses, even carrots have all been used.  Highly sweetened non-carbonated drinks may work.  Try some sweet tea.   Hoisin may work for Asian dishes or Lassi (sweet and dairy combination) if you’re in an Indian restaurant. Have some fruit for dessert – it’s cold and sweet and the more acidic fruit, like citrus and pineapple, add another layer of potential pain relief.

The post What To Do When Your Mouth Is On Fire From Red Hot Chili Peppers appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

It is the beginning of baseball season, but more importantly – at least in my family – it’s the beginning of hockey playoffs. To call us True Blue New York Rangers fans might be an understatement.

So what do you eat when you go to a game? Many stadiums now offer “gourmet” and “specialty” food – at Madison Square Garden you can buy both sushi and gluten free sandwiches – but from my observation, most fans at sporting events still opt for burgers and dogs, popcorn and peanuts, soda and beer. Every year, especially at ballparks, there seem to be some new “upscale” additions, but from those I’ve heard advertised this year, the size, calories, and price are almost guaranteed to make your clothing a bit more snug and your wallet a bit lighter.

So what do you choose when there are food vendors about every 20 feet hawking dogs, hot pretzels, fried everything, and mega-sized desserts?

Classic Stadium Food – Make Good Choices

If you’ve got a will of iron you could ignore the food and drinks.  But, if you don’t — or don’t want to — you can try to minimize the caloric damage without taking away the fun.  If you know you’re going to be having a stadium meal, do some thinking and planning.  The best choices aren’t always the obvious ones.

Must you have both peanuts and popcorn?  Can you make do with a regular hot dog instead of a foot-long?  Can you keep it to one or two beers instead of three?  Can you choose the small popcorn instead of the jumbo tub? Can you ditch the soda — or maybe the second one — and replace it with water?

It’s all about choices. Here’s some info about 10 foods that most likely will call your name at one time or another:

Hamburger:   A plain 6-ounce burger made of food stand beef (they’re not using extra lean – the more fat, the juicier it is) on a bun has about 490 calories. Cheese and other toppings can significantly up the ante.

6-ounce grilled chicken sandwich: 280 calories – not a bad choice.  6 ounces of chicken tenders clock in at 446 calories.  Barbecue dipping sauce adds 30 calories a tablespoon.

Hot Dogs: Most sold-out baseball stadiums can sell 16,000 hot dogs a day. A regular hot dog with mustard has about 290 calories — that’s 180 for the 2-ounce dog, 110 for the bun, zilch for regular yellow mustard. Two tablespoons of sauerkraut adds another 5-10 calories and a punch of flavor, 2 tablespoons of ketchup adds 30, and 2 tablespoons of relish another 40. A Nathan’s hot dog racks up 320 calories; a foot-long Hebrew National 510 calories.

Pizza: Stadium pizza is generally larger than a usual slice, about 1/6 of a 16-inch pie (instead of 1/8) making it about 435 calories a slice – don’t forget that toppings add calories.

French Fries and Nachos: A large serving of French fries has about 500 calories. A serving of Hardee’s chili cheese fries has 700 calories and 350 of them come from fat. A 12-ounce serving of super nachos with cheese: (40 chips, 4 ounces of cheese) has about 1,500 calories! Plain French fries look like a caloric bargain by comparison.

Cracker Jack (officially cracker jack, not jacks): candy coated popcorn with some peanuts. A 3.5-ounce stadium size box has 420 calories but also has 7g of protein and 3.5g of fiber.             

Cotton Candy: nothing but heated and artificially colored sugar that’s spun into threads with added air. Cotton candy on a stick or wrapped around a paper cone (about an ounce) has around 105 calories; a 2-ounce bag (common size) has 210. A lot of sugar, but not a lot of calories – albeit empty ones.

Peanuts in the Shell: What would a baseball game be without a bag of peanuts? Stadiums can sell as many as 6,000 bags on game days. An 8-ounce bag has 840 calories; a 12-ounce bag has 1,260. Yes, they have some protein and fiber.  But wow on the calories.

Soft Pretzel: One large soft pretzel has 483 calories – giant soft pretzels (7-8 ounces) have about 700 calories.

Ice Cream: Your team’s mini-helmet filled with swirly Carvel, 550-590 calories. A Good Humor Chocolate Éclair has 160 calories, 8g fat, 11g sugar; a Fudgsicle Fudge Bar has 100 calories, 2.5g fat, 13g sugars; a Klondike sandwich, 81g has 250 calories, 17g fat, 18g sugars.

Popcorn: At Yankee Stadium a jumbo-sized souvenir bag has 1,484 calories and a souvenir bucket has 2,473 calories. On average, a 3-ounce bag of all brands (plain/ready-to-eat) has 480 calories and 24g fat.

Candy:

• Junior Mints, 3-ounce box:  360 calories, 7g fat
• Sno Caps, 3.1-ounce box:  300 calories, 15g fat
• Milk Duds, 3-ounce box:  370 calories, 12g fat
• Raisinets, 3.5-ounce bag:  400 calories, 16g fat
• Goobers, 3.5-ounce box:  500 calories, 35g fat
• Twizzlers, 6-ounce bag:  570 calories, 4g fat
• M&Ms, 5.3-ounce bag:  750 calories, 32g fat
• Peanut M&Ms, 5.3-ounce bag:  790 calories, 40g fat
• Reese’s Pieces, 8-ounce bag:  1160 calories, 60g fat

The post Stadium Food: What Do You Eat? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Even when you’re surrounded by a smorgasbord of highly caloric, fatty, salty, and sweet foods there are plenty of opportunities for eating deliciously well if you are a bit more mindful about your choices.

Some common Super Bowl foods:

• Tostada with guacamole:  2 pieces (9.3 oz), 360 calories, 23g fat, 32g carbs, 12g protein
• Salsa:  1 tablespoon 4 calories, .04g fat, 1g carbs, .2g protein
• Nacho flavored tortilla chips, reduced fat:  1 oz, 126 calories, 4g fat, 20g carbs, 2g protein
• Regular Nacho flavored tortilla chips:  1oz, 141 calories, 7g fat, 18g carbs, 1g protein
• Potato chips:  1oz, 152 calories, 10g fat, 15g carbs, 2g protein
• Potato chips, reduced fat:  1 oz, 134 calories, 6g fat, 19g carbs, 2g protein
• Raw baby carrots:  1 medium, 4 calories, 0 fat, .8g carbs, 0 protein
• Pizza with cheese:  1 slice (1/8 of a 12” pie), 140 calories, 3g fat, 20g carbs, 8g protein
• Pizza, pepperoni:  1 slice (1/8 12” pie), 181 calories, 7g fat, 20g carbs, 10g protein
• Grilled chicken breast:  one 4.2 oz breast, 180 calories, 4g fat, 0 carbs, 35g protein
• KFC Fiery hot Buffalo wing:  one 1oz wing, 80 calories, 5g fat, g carbs, 4g protein
• KFC extra crispy drumstick:  one 2oz piece, 150 calories, 6g carbs, 11g protein
• Chili (Wendy’s, with saltine crackers):  8 oz, 187 calories, 6g fat, 19g carbs, 14g protein
• Wheat bread:  1 slice, .9 oz., 65 calories, 1g fat,, 12g carbs, 2g protein
• Italian combo on ciabatta (Panera):  1 sandwich, 1lb. 7 oz, 1050 calories, 47g fat, 94g carbs, 61g protein
• Subway 6g of fat or less turkey breast & ham on wheat sandwich:  8.3oz, 296 calories, 4g fat, 48g carbs, 19g protein
• Chocolate chip cookie:  2-1/4” from refrigerated dough. 59 calories, 3g fat, 8g carbs, .6g protein
• Chocolate ice cream, Cold Stone Creamery:  5oz (like it), 326 calories, 20g fat, 33g carbs, 5g protein
• Apple:  medium, 95 calories, .4g fat, 25g carbs, .5g protein

If You Want To Save Some Calories …

• 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. Guacamole is made with healthy avocados, but is quite high in calories. You can always alternate guacamole and salsa, too.
• Minimize calories by dipping chicken wings into hot sauce instead of Buffalo or Blue Cheese sauce.
• Try using celery for crunch and as a dipper instead of chips.

• 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).

• Cut your slice of pizza in half. When you go back for seconds, eat the second half. You’ll feel like you’re eating two slices, but you’re eating only one.
• Try fruit for dessert – or have just one cookie or a small piece of pie – leave some of the crust on your plate. Home made pie crust has around 150 calories (single crust pie), so leaving some pie crust on your plate can save you some significant calories.

• 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%.
• Put your food on a plate rather than constantly picking, it’s a form of portion control. And step back from the buffet. If you can’t reach out and grab it and you can’t see it, you won’t eat it.

The post What Will You Eat On Super Bowl Sunday? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Choose your seat carefully. According to Brian Wansink, Director of Cornell’s Food and Brand Lab, where you sit in a restaurant does have an effect on how much you eat!

Scratching your head yet?

After mapping the layout of 27 restaurants across the country and analyzing what and where customers ate, here are some general findings and recommendations from Wansink and his team:

• Diners who sit the farthest from the door eat the fewest salads and they are 73% more likely to order dessert.
• People who sit at darkly lit tables or in booths eat fattier foods.
• Diners who sit within two tables from the bar, drink, on average, three more beers or mixed drinks (based on a table of four) than a group even one table farther away.
• Diners order healthier foods when they sit by a window or in a well-lit area. Wansink speculates that seeing sunlight, people, or trees might make you think about how you look which, in turn, might make you think about walking — which could prompt you to order a salad.
• People at uncomfortable high-top tables tend to choose salads and order fewer desserts, perhaps because it’s harder to slouch or spread out.
• Conspicuous consumption, or eating in an area where other people can see you, seems to cut down on overeating. If it’s darker, Wansink thinks you might feel more “invisible.”  Since it’s not too easy to see how much you’re eating, you feel less conspicuous or guilty.
• The “fat” table? Try near the TV screen. The closer you sit to the screen, the more fried food you’ll probably eat because you’re distracted and likely to order seconds and refills.

Some additional findings in Wansink’s book, Slim by Design:

• Skinny people face away from the buffet when they eat.
• Thinner people choose smaller plates.  It takes less food to fill up the plate causing you to eat smaller portions.
• Diners sitting at high-top tables tend to order more fish and salads.
• Diners at regular tables order more vegetarian entrees and more vegetable sides.
• Diners at tables near the window have fewer drinks and have more side salads.
• Diners at tables closer to the TV screen and the bar order more chicken wings and drinks.
• Diners in booths order more ribs and desserts.

The post Do You Sit In The Fat Or Skinny Area Of A Restaurant? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.