Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events

Some Exercise Ideas To Burn Off Super Bowl Party Food Calories

February 6, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Exercises to burn off Super Bowl calories

Will you be watching the big game? Maybe you’re more interested in the food than the game. Either way, according to the Calorie Control Council, the average game watcher chows down on about 1,200 calories worth of food and snacks on game day – Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest eating day (right behind Thanksgiving).

Here are some exercises (some a little wacky) to burn off the game day food overload. The numbers are just estimates – there’s always a wide variety of calories in foods depending on who makes them and who dishes them out. And, people come in all different sizes, shapes, and metabolisms meaning that everyone burns off calories at a different rate.

The Exercises

Running at a 6 mile per hour pace (10 minute mile) for a little under two hours will burn off about 1200 calories
Pumping it out on an elliptical trainer for two hours – or doing seven hours of Pilates will also burn off around 1200 calories as will swimming or spinning (cycling) for two and a half hours.
Drinking six bottles of Budweiser beer means needing to do “The Wave” 4, 280 times.

One KFC extra crispy drumstick and an extra crispy chicken breast will require 203 end zone touchdown dances.
A serving of Applebee’s chili cheese nachos would mean 159 minutes of playing non-stop professional football.
Eating ten Lay’s classic potato chips with Kraft French onion dip means you have to dance to Madonna for 134 minutes.

You’ll need a full hour of performing in a marching band to burn off a jalapeno popper made with cream cheese, cheddar cheese and bacon.

To eradicate the calories in one deviled egg you’d need 12 continuous minutes of cheerleading.

One pig in a blanket (mini hot dog wrapped in dough) has about 66 calories. To burn off a serving of three you’d need to play catch for 68 minutes.

Enjoy the game — enjoy the party — enjoy the food!

Super Bowl Food Trivia

February 2, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Professional football — as we know it – has been around since 1920, but the first Super Bowl, the annual championship of the National Football League (NFL), only dates back to January 1967.

Super Bowl Sunday certainly has the trappings of a holiday both in the US and in many expat communities. It’s the most watched annual television program in the US and ranks second (Thanksgiving is first) as the day for most food consumption. Over 20 million Americans attend Super Bowl parties and half of all Americans say they would rather go to a Super Bowl party than to a New Year’s Eve party.

It’s amazing how food has become associated with football — from tailgating to the food for the game. Think of all the 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. By the end of the game do you have a clue about how much – or even what — you have popped into 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. Potato chips are the favorite munchie 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.

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%). 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 is equal to 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.
Pizza restaurants love Super Bowl Sunday – it’s their busiest day of the year, according to the National Restaurant Association. Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, and Domino’s sell twice as many pies as they do on any other day. Domino’s expects to sell 11 million slices.
The Hass Avocado Board predicts that over Super Bowl weekend approximately100 million pounds of guacamole will be eaten – and approximately 14,500 tons of chips are used to scoop it up.
About 2 million cases of beer are sold every year for Super Bowl – which might explain why 6% of Americans call in sick for work the next day.

How Many Calories Will You Drink Over The Holidays?

December 18, 2015 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

HolidayDrinksGraphic

A glass or two of celebratory cheer – a toast to the New Year …

Just a heads up: all of those drinks can really pack a caloric punch. So, just like drinking wisely (and of course, not driving), don’t forget to factor in all those calories.

A Drink Is …

A standard alcoholic drink (in the US) is a drink that contains the equivalent of 14.0 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol.

That’s the amount of pure alcohol usually found in:

12 ounces of beer
8 ounces of malt liquor
5 ounces of wine
1.5 ounces or a “shot” of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor (gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey, etc.)

Will A Cocktail Affect You More Than Beer Or Wine?

A 12-ounce bottle of beer has about the same amount of alcohol as a 5-ounce glass of wine or a 1.5-ounce shot of liquor. Since it is the amount – not the type — of alcohol in your drink that affects you the most, it is not safer to drink beer or wine rather than liquor if you are consuming the same amount of alcohol.

In other words, whether you have two 5 ounce glasses of wine, two 12 ounce bottles of beer, or two 1.5 ounces of liquor either straight or in a mixed drink — you are drinking the same amount of alcohol.

How Many Calories Are In Alcohol?

Alcohol doesn’t fill you up the way food does because it doesn’t register as “food” in your GI tract or brain. Even though it doesn’t fill you up, alcohol does have calories — 7 calories a gram – more than carbs and protein, which clock in at 4 calories a gram and a little less than fat which has 9. It may not feel as though you’re putting calories into your body, but the fact is you can drink a lot of calories and still not feel stuffed (perhaps drunk, but not stuffed).

In General:

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
5 ounces red wine has 125 calories and 15.6 grams of alcohol
5 ounces of white wine has 121 calories and 15.1 grams of alcohol
1 1/2 ounces (a jigger) of 80 proof (40% alcohol) liquor has 97 calories and 14 grams of alcohol

Alcohol And Mixers

The higher the alcoholic content (proof), the greater the number of calories:

80-proof vodka (40% alcohol, the most common type) has 64 calories/1oz
86-proof vodka (43% alcohol) has 70 calories/1 ounce
90-proof vodka (45% alcohol) has 73 calories/1 ounce
100-proof vodka (50% alcohol) has 82 calories/1 ounce

When you start adding mixers, the calories in a drink can more than double.

club soda has no calories
8 ounces of orange juice has 112 calories
8 ounces of tonic has 83 calories
8 ounces of ginger ale has 83 calories
8 ounces of tomato juice has 41 calories
8 ounces of classic coke has 96 calories
8 ounces of cranberry juice has 128 calories

Mixed drinks and fancy drinks can significantly increase the calorie count. The following calories are approximate – bartenders, recipes, and the hand that pours all vary. Use these figures as a guideline.

Plain martini (2.5 ounces): 160 calories
Mimosa (4 ounces): 75 calories
Gin and Tonic (7 ounces): 200 calories
Mojito: (8 ounces): 214 calories
Cosmopolitan (4 ounces): 200 calories
Skinnygirl margarita (4 ounces): 100 calories
Green apple martini (1 ounce each vodka, sour apple, apple juice): 148 calories
Bloody Mary (5 ounces): 118 calories
Coffee liqueur (3 ounces): 348 calories
Godiva chocolate liqueur (3 ounces): 310 calories
Vodka and tonic (8 ounces): 200 calories
Screwdriver (8 ounces): 190 calories
White Russian (2 ounces of vodka, 1.5 ounces of coffee liqueur, 1.5 ounces of cream): 425 calories
Rum and Coke (8 ounces): 185 calories
Chocolate martini: (2 ounces each of vodka, chocolate liqueur, cream, 1/2 ounce of creme de cacao, chocolate syrup): 438 calories
Jumbo and super-sized drinks with double shots and extra mixers could add up to 1,000 calories or more (a single giant glass of TGI Friday’s frozen mudslide has around 1,100 calories)
An 8 ounce white Russian made with light cream has 715 calories
An 8 ounce cup of eggnog has about 343 calories and 19 grams of fat thanks to alcohol, heavy cream, eggs, and sugar
Mulled wine, a combination of red wine, sugar/honey, spices, orange and lemon peel, has about 210 to 300 calories in 5 ounces, depending on how much sweetener is added
One cup (8 ounces) of apple cider – without any additives – has 115 calories
One hot buttered rum has 218 calories
One Irish coffee has 218 calories
One cup of coffee with cream and sugar runs at least 50 calories (more if it’s sweet and light)

Want To Walk Off Your Halloween Candy? Go This Far . . .

October 31, 2015 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Here’s another way to think about Halloween candy — how much walking will it take to work off the candy calories?

According to walking.com:

1 Fun Size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc. is about 80 calories. You’d need to walk 0.8 miles, 1.29 kilometers, or 1600 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

2 Hershey’s Kisses are about 50 calories. You’d need to walk 0.5 miles, 0.80 kilometers, or 1000 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

2 Brachs caramels are about 80 calories. You’d need to walk 0.8 miles, 1.29 kilometers, or 1600 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

1 mini bite-size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc.) is about 55 calories. You’d need to walk 0.55 miles, 0.88 kilometers, or 1100 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

1 Fun Size M&M packet – Plain or Peanut, is 90 calories. You’d need to walk 0.9 miles, 1.45 kilometers, or 1800 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

1 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is 33 calories. You’d need to walk 0.33 miles, 0.53 kilometers, or 660 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

1 full size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.) is about 275 calories. You’d need to walk 2.75 miles, 4.43 kilometers, or 5500 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

1 King Size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.) is about 500 calories. You’d need to walk 5 miles, 8.06 kilometers, or 10000 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

1 small Tootsie Roll is 25 calories. You’d need to walk 0.25 miles, 0.40 kilometers, or 500 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

If You Ate . . .

2 Brachs caramels, 2 Hershey’s Kisses, 1 small Tootsie Roll, 1 Fun Size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc.) 1 mini bite-size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc.), 1 Fun Size M&M packet – Plain or Peanut, 1 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, 1 full size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.), 1 King Size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.)… the grand total is 1188 calories. You’d need to walk 11.88 miles, 19.16 kilometers, or 23,760 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

For kids — as a guideline, to burn off 7000 calories a one hundred pound child would have to walk for almost 44 hours or play full-court basketball for 14.5 hours.

Don’t Worry Too Much …

Just remember – we and our bodies have an amazing ability to compensate for occasional holiday overeating – as long as those holidays don’t turn into weeks that turn into months.

So, enjoy your trick or treating and all of the ghosts, princesses, pirates, animals, cars, trains, skeletons, witches, and any other creature that rings your doorbell shouting “trick or treat.”

Happy Halloween!

Football, Food, and Beer

September 18, 2015 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

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.