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Guess How Many Calories Are In Your Favorite Chocolate Bunnies and Eggs!

April 12, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Easter bunnies made of chocolate aren’t really that old a tradition, having been born in Germany in the 1800’s. Although other types of Easter candy like Peeps, jellybeans, and Cadbury eggs are extremely popular, the National Confectioners Association says that on Easter children head for chocolate Easter bunnies first. Adults probably do, too.

Chocolate Easter eggs are even younger than the chocolate bunnies. John Cadbury made the first French eating chocolate in 1842, but the first Cadbury Easter eggs didn’t arrive until 1875 and were a far cry from today’s Cadbury Crème egg. Now there are tons of different types of chocolate eggs: solid, hollow, and with all kinds of fillings.

Here are the average calories in popular types of chocolate Easter eggs:

Hershey’s

Cadbury Chocolate Crème Easter Egg, 1 egg (39g): 180 calories, 8g fat, 25g carbs
Cadbury Crème Egg, original milk chocolate with soft fondant crème center, 1 egg (39g): 170 calories, 6g fat), 28g carbs
Cadbury Mini Eggs, 1 package (1.4 ounces): 190 calories, 9g fat, 27g carbs
Cadbury Mini Caramel Eggs, 4 pieces (1.3 ounces): 180 calories, 9g fat, 23g carbs
Cadbury Mini Egg, 12 eggs (40g): 200 calories, 9g fat, 28g carbs
Milk Chocolate (foil) Eggs, 7 pieces (1.4 ounces): 200 calories, 12g fat, 24g carbs
Candy Coated Eggs, 8 pieces (1.3 ounces): 180 calories, 8g fat, 27g carbs

Dove

Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Eggs, 6 eggs: 240 calories, 14g fat, 26g carbs
Foil Dark/Milk Chocolate Eggs, 6 eggs (1.5 ounces): 230 calories, 14g fat, 26g carbs

Reese’s

Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Eggs, 5 pieces (38g): 190 calories, 12g fat, 21g carbs
Reese’s Pastel Eggs, 12 pieces (1.4 ounces): 190 calories, 8g fat, 25g carbs
Reese’s Giant Peanut Butter Egg (whole egg, 6 ounces): 880 calories, 52g fat, 100g carbs

M&M’s

Milk Chocolate Speck-Tacular Eggs: 1/4 Cup (12 pieces): 210 calories, 10g fat, 29g carbs
M&M’s Peanut Butter Eggs, ¼ cup: 220 calories, 13g fat, 23g carbs
M&M’s Pretzel Eggs, ¼ cup: 180 calories, 6g fat, 28g carbs

Snickers

Original Peanut Butter Egg (1.1 ounce): 160 calories, 10g fat, 18g carbs
Snickers Mini Filled Egg (0.9 ounce): 130 calories, 6g fat, 17g carbs

Russell Stover

Caramel Egg (1 ounce): 130 calories, 6g fat, 19g carbs
Truffle Egg (1 ounce): 140 calories, 8g fat, 15g carbs

Whoppers

Robin Eggs, 8 pieces (1.4 ounces): 180 calories, 5g fat, 3g carbs
Mini Robin Eggs, 24 pieces (1.4 ounces): 190 calories, 5g fat, 35g carbs

Nestle

Butterfinger Eggs, 5 pieces (1.5 ounces): 210 calories, 11g fat, 29g carbs
Crunch Eggs, 5 pieces (1.3 ounces): 190 calories, 10g fat, 25g carbs

Here are the average calories in popular types of chocolate Easter bunnies:

Solid Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny (2.5 ounces): 370 calories (average)
Dove Solid Chocolate Easter Bunny, whole bunny (4.5 ounces): 675 calories
Cadbury Solid Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny: 890 calories
Lindt Dark/Milk Chocolate Bunny (1.4 ounces): 225 calories
Sees Whole Bunny (4.5 ounces): 650 calories
Reese’s Peanut Butter/Reester, whole bunny (5 ounces): 720 calories
Russell Stover, whole bunny (4 ounces): 630 calories

To learn enough about Easter Candy to wow everyone, grab a copy of the ebook, Easter Candy Facts and Fun, available from Amazon.

Leftovers: How Long Before You Have To Toss Them?

March 3, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

When you open your refrigerator door, what do you see? A bunch of random takeout boxes? Wait – there’s a couple of storage containers all the way in the back, too. Wonder what’s in them?

Open them up. Container #1: the leftover takeout moo shu pork from five days ago. Kind of a nasty odor. Container #2: half of the pasta special you brought home last night because the portion was huge. And in the storage containers? Last week’s meat sauce and some stir-fried veggies from who knows when. They’re kind of stinky too!

Big question: Can you eat any of it without getting sick?

How Long Can Food Stay Out?

According to the FDA, when you buy hot, cooked food, you should eat it right away and avoid letting it sit out at room temperature. If the food is cold, eat it within two hours of preparing it or else store it in the fridge or freeze it.

When Your Food is Delivered …

When food is delivered, you want to prevent any potentially nasty and harmful bacteria from multiplying, so eat it within two hours after it arrives (hopefully it hasn’t sat in the delivery person’s bike basket or car for too long – especially if it’s really hot outside).

If you aren’t going to eat it within two hours, keep it hot in an oven set at or above 200° F (93° C). Cover the food to keep it moist while you’re keeping it warm. Don’t guess at the temperature of the food — use a food thermometer to check that the food is kept at an internal temperature of 140° F (60° C).

The Danger Zone and The Two Hour Rule

The FDA defines the “danger zone” as the range of temperatures at which bacteria can grow. It is usually between 40° and 140° F (4° and 60° C). To keep food safe, it’s important to keep it below or above the “danger zone.”

Rules For Leftovers: 2 hours – 2 inches – 4 days

The Two Hour Rule: Throw away any perishable food (the kind that can spoil or become contaminated by bacteria if left unrefrigerated) that has been left out at room temperature for more than two hours. When the environmental temperature is above 90° F (32° C), throw out the food after one hour.

2 hours from oven to refrigerator: leftovers should be refrigerated or frozen within 2 hours of cooking or they should be thrown away.
2 Inches thick to cool it quick: food should be stored in containers at a shallow depth of about 2 inches or less, to speed the chilling time.
4 days in the refrigerator: use refrigerated leftovers within 4 days with the exception of stuffing and gravy which should be used within 2 days. Whatever you don’t finish, throw out.
If you don’t think you’ll be able to eat leftovers within four days, freeze them immediately. Uncooked foods, such as cold salads or sandwiches, should be eaten or refrigerated promptly. Your goal is to minimize the time a food is in the “danger zone” — between 40 and 140 F (4 and 60 C) — when bacteria can quickly multiply.
When you’re ready to eat leftovers, reheat them on the stove, in the oven or in the microwave. Solid leftovers should reach an internal temperature of 165 F (74 C) and liquid leftovers should be brought to a rolling boil. Slow cookers and chafing dishes aren’t recommended for reheating leftovers because they don’t get hot enough.

What You Need To Know

Your fridge’s inside temperature needs to be between 33 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 to 4.4 degrees Celsius). Not all areas of your fridge can hold these temperatures. It’s cooler in the back, so keep food like eggs, milk, cheese, and leftovers in the back and leave the warmer front area for things like sodas, water, and beer.
Even though you put all your excess food in the fridge it can still go bad. Bacterial growth slows in colder temperatures, but it still happens.
You don’t need to wait for hot food to cool before putting it in the fridge. When you leave food out to cool you give the bacteria the chance to multiply.
Use shallow covered containers, 3 inches tall or less and leave some air space around them to promote rapid, even cooling of the food. Large, deep containers allow the food in the center of the container to remain warm for a longer time.
When you store leftovers, cover them to keep in moisture and to prevent them from drying out. Covering hot leftovers and immediately putting them into a cold fridge can cause condensation so try letting them cool, uncovered, in the fridge for a few minutes before covering to minimize condensation. Or put the containers in an ice or cold water bath to cool them as quickly as possible before storing them in the refrigerator.

Forget the Sight and Smell Test

Bacteria don’t typically change the way food tastes, smells, or looks, so the sight and smell test most of us use to determine if food is good or not isn’t worth a hill of beans. Many foods might be rotten but still smell and even taste okay (unlike sour milk!). If you’re at all in doubt, throw it out!

Love Pie? Did You Know There’s A Huge Variation In Calories?

February 16, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 2 Comments

George Washington: “I cannot tell a lie, father, you know I cannot tell a lie! I did cut it [the cherry tree] with my little hatchet.”

It’s President’s Day weekend in the US and in honor of George Washington, cherry trees, cherries, and the pie you can make with cherries – why not take a look at pies. What a segue!

Pies are anytime food – they come sweet and savory – but for many of us, “pie” conjures up sweet filling piled on top of – or in — a crust.

Some Pie History

Pie shells were originally just containers used for baking, storage, and serving — the crust was often too hard to actually eat. The first pies were savory meat pies, called “coffins” or “coffyns,” with tall, straight sides and sealed bottoms and lids. There were also open-crust pies, or “traps,” which served as casseroles for meat and sauce.

Early forms of pies, or galettes (essentially rustic free-form pies), can loosely be traced back to circa 9500 BC Neolithic Egyptians.

The ancient Greeks, who are thought to have been the originators of pie pastry, made a flour-water paste they wrapped around meat to seal in the juices as it cooked. After they conquered Greece, the Romans brought home pie recipes. From there, the idea and practicality of pie spread throughout Europe with different cultures creating pies that suited their customs and local food.

Pie Comes To The Colonies

In the 1600s, the Pilgrims brought English-style, meat-based pies to the colonies. Crusty pie tops helped to both preserve food and to keep fillings fresh and colonists cooked lots of pies, both sweet and savory, using local ingredients along with berries, fruit, cinnamon, pepper, and nutmeg.

As settlers moved westward, more pies with regional flavors and ingredients were developed using fruit, berries but vegetables and game discovered with the help of Indians. Pies were delicious and practical — they required less flour than bread and could be more easily and cheaply baked. Apple trees produced fruit that was easy to dry and store in barrels during the winter, and apple pie became a mainstay: “As American as apple pie.”

What’ll ya have? A cuppa joe and a piece of pie.

Today, no matter where you get your pie: the bakery, the local diner, or straight from your oven, the sweet treat can carry a big caloric punch. There is a huge difference in calories (and nutrition) between different kinds of pie.

To help you “have your pie and eat it, too” shown below are the calories in different kinds of pie. If you want to save a few calories:

choose the type of pie that has fewer calories than another kind.
Be aware of the size of the slice – some are huge, some are slivers
How many crusts, one or two – there are a lot more calories in a two crust pie
How much od the piece are you eating? No one says you have to eat all of a gargantuan piece and no one says you have to eat all of the crust.
What’s in the filling? Some pies have way more calories than others. Recipes vary significantly – the average numbers shown below can give you an idea of good, better, and best pie choices — not in terms of flavor or the artistry of the baker, but for a general comparison of calories. You’re going to be surprised!.

Pie Crust Facts (1/8 of a pie)

Tulip 60 calories
Ginger snaps 60 calories
Graham cracker 100 calories
Ready-made 120 calories
Homemade 149 calories

Average Calories in Popular Pies

Apple, commercially prepared, 1/8 of 9” pie: 296 calories
Apple, prepared from recipe, 1/8 of 9” pie: 411 calories
Banana cream, prepared from recipe, 1/8 of 9″ pie: 387 calories
Blueberry, commercially prepared, 1/8 of 9” pie: 290 calories
Blueberry, prepared from recipe, 1/8 of 9” pie: 360 calories
Cherry, commercially prepared, 1/8 of 9” pie: 325 calories
Cherry, prepared from recipe, 1/8 of 9” pie: 486 calories
Chocolate creme, commercially prepared, 1/6 of 8” pie: 344 calories
Coconut custard, commercially prepared, 1/6 of 8” pie: 270 calories
Lemon meringue, commercially prepared, 1/6 of 8” pie: 303 calories
Lemon meringue, prepared from recipe, 1/8 of 9” pie: 362 calories
Mince, prepared from recipe, 1/8 of 9” pie: 477 calories
Peach, 1/6 of 8” pie: 261 calories
Pecan, commercially prepared, 1/6 of 8” pie: 452 calories
Pecan, prepared from recipe, 1/8 of 9” pie: 503 calories
Pumpkin, commercially prepared, 1/6 of 8” pie: 229 calories
Pumpkin, prepared from recipe, 1/8 of 9” pie: 316
Vanilla cream, prepared from recipe, 1/8 of 9” pie: 350 calories

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%.