Eat Out Eat Well

Food for Fun and Thought

(fun) Exercise To Burn Off Super Bowl (food) Calories

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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 move around and act ridiculous for a lot of minutes! (Thanks to the Diet Detective for compiling these.)

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.

Take heart – 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 some wise choices with the splurges, and increasing your exercise.

The food and the exercise equivalent (via The Diet Detective):

  • Downing six bottles of Budweiser means you’d have to do “The Wave” 4,280 times. Make sure not to drive.
  • Four swigs of Bud Light (36 calories) means you’d need to play minutes of professional football.
  • Eat a 12-inch Italian sub you’ll 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 running 242.5 football fields at 5mph. Six nachos is about half an order.
  • One giant street or stadium pretzel clocks in at about 455 calories. You’d have to spend 111 minutes acting like a sidelines goofball.
  • Four Tostitos Scoops! Tortilla chips with guacamole means 122 end zone touchdown dances. Each chip is about 11 calories and 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. That could lead to some very sore quads.
  • Five pigs in blankets (67.5 calories each) means taking over the job of a stadium vendor and 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 rabid 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 a tablespoon) requires 21 minutes of preping, cooking, serving, and after 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.
  • Then there’s the 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.       The upside: after that your arms would hurt so much you wouldn’t be able to pick up any more food!

Enjoy the food. Enjoy the game.

What to Eat for Luck in the New Year — and What to Avoid

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Pork products, fish, beans, cakes with coins, grapes, and pickled herring?

Food and symbolism play important roles in celebrations around the world. On special occasions different countries use certain foods not just to celebrate but often as a symbol of luck, wealth, and health.

What Not To Eat (Hint: Don’t Look Or Move Back)

Different cultures have foods that are supposed to be eaten at the stroke of midnight or sometime on January 1 to bring luck, fortune, and plenty (both money and food).

There are also foods not to eat. Things that move or scratch backwards — like lobsters, chickens, and turkeys — are to be avoided because they symbolize moving backward instead of progressing forward. To avoid any looking back, setbacks, or past struggles only things that move forward should be eaten.

In some cultures, a little food should be left on the table or on your plate to guarantee – or at least to hedge your bets – that you’ll have a well-stocked kitchen during the coming year.

Why Tempt Fate — Some Lucky Foods To Consider

There are many New Year’s foods and traditions — far too numerous to list – that are honored by people all around the world. Wouldn’t you want to consider piling some luck on your plate as you enter the New Year? Why tempt fate?

Here are some of the more common groups of good luck foods:

  • Round foods shaped like coins, like beans, black eyed peas, and legumes, symbolize financial prosperity, as do greens, which resemble paper money. Examples are cabbage, collard greens, and kale. Golden colored foods like corn bread also symbolize possible financial success in the New Year. Examples of round good luck foods are: lentils in Italy and Brazil, pancakes in Germany, round fruit in the Philippines, and black-eyed peas in the Southern US. Green leafy vegetables that symbolize paper money are collard greens in the Southern US and kale in Denmark.
  • Pork symbolizes abundance, plenty of food, and the fat of the land (think pork barrel legislation). It’s a sign of prosperity and the pig symbolizes plentiful food in the New Year. The pig is considered an animal of progress because it moves forward as it roots around for food. Pork products appear in many ways – ham, sausage, ham hocks, pork ribs, and even pig’s knuckles. Years ago, if your family had a pig you were doing well! Some examples of good luck pork products are roast suckling pig with a four leaf clover in its mouth in Hungary; pork sausage with lentils in Italy; and pork with sauerkraut in Germany.
  • In some countries, having food on your table and/or plates at the stroke of midnight is a sign that you’ll have food throughout the year.
  • Seafood, with the exception of the backward swimming lobster, symbolizes abundance and plenty and is a symbol of good luck. Fish also symbolize fertility because they produce multiple eggs at a time. It’s important that a fish be served whole, with the head and tail intact to symbolize a good beginning and a good end. Examples are herring and carp in Germany, pickled herring in Poland, boiled cod in
Denmark, dried salted cod in Italy, red snapper in Japan, and carp in
Vietnam.
  • Eating sweet food in order to have a sweet year is common in a number of countries. In Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Cuba,
Ecuador, and
Peru, twelve sweet grapes, one for each month of the year, are eaten at midnight in hope of having twelve sweet months. The order and sweetness of the grape is important. For instance, if the fifth grape is a bit sour, May might be a bit rocky. In some places the goal is to eat all of the grapes before the last stroke of midnight and in some countries a 13th grape is eaten just for good measure. There seems to be an awful lot of hedging of bets all around the world.
  • Another symbol for good luck involves eating food that’s in a ring shape – like doughnuts or ring shaped cakes. This represents coming full circle to successfully complete the year. Examples are Rosca de Reyes in Mexico and Olie Bollen (doughnuts) in the Netherlands.
  • Long noodles signify a long life. The Japanese use long buckwheat soba noodles – but you shouldn’t cut or break them because that could shorten life.
  • Sweets are symbolic of a sweet year and/or good luck. Cakes and breads with coins or trinkets baked into them are common in many countries. Greeks have a round cake called Vasilopita – made with a coin baked inside — which is cut after midnight. Whoever gets the coin is lucky throughout the year. Jews use apples dipped in honey on the Jewish New Year, Norwegians use rice pudding with an almond inside, Koreans use sweet fruits, and Egyptians have candy for children.

So fill your plate with a serving of luck. Don’t overlook resolutions. They’re not quite as tasty as most (not all) food traditions, but they do have longevity — they date back 4000 years to the ancient Babylonians!

Eat Out Eat Well Wishes You a Happy and Healthy New Year

Do You Leave Cookies For Santa?

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Is Santa Having Trouble Buckling His Belt?

It seems that Santa has some weight challenges – no small wonder with all of the cookies and milk left out for him on Christmas Eve! Plus, he uses a sleigh pulled by reindeer so he just slides down the chimney. That might be a tough task with that belly and big bag of presents, but it doesn’t use up a whole lot of calories.

On Christmas Eve, Santa visits an estimated 92 million households. Walking.about.com figures that if all households were evenly distributed across the earth, Santa would travel 0.78 miles between houses — for a total of 71,760,000 (71.8 million) miles.

What Are Santa’s Stats?

According to NORAD, Santa tips the scale at 260 pounds and he’s 5’7” tall, giving him a BMI of 40.7 — which, unfortunately, makes him obese.

Walking.about.com guessing that Santa weighs 250 pounds and thinking that he’s a pretty fast walker because he does have to get his deliveries done in one night, estimates that Santa burns 13 billion calories on Christmas Eve.

If Santa climbed stairs delivering his presents, Big12Hoops calculated that he would climb the equivalent of 9.5 billion stairs.   He would burn 0.11 calories for each stair, or 1.045 billion calories. That’s far fewer than 13 billion calories, but it’s still a whole lot of energy expenditure that would leave him mighty thin, maybe so thin that he could slip through a crack on Christmas morning.

Does Santa Need All The Milk and Cookies Left Out For Him?

Two small cookies and a cup of skim milk (no full fat dairy for Santa, he might have cholesterol issues) clock in at about 200 calories. If Santa snacked at each of the 92 million households, he would chow down on 18.4 billion calories.

That would mean he would gain 1,529,350 pounds every Christmas. If he walked instead of rode in his sleigh –Rudolph is probably well-trained enough to take the lead without Santa’s hands on the reins — he’d have to circle the earth 1,183 times to burn off the extra calories from the milk and cookies.

What If Santa Snacked On Veggies Instead Of Cookies?

If Santa had a cup of carrot and celery sticks rather than cookies and milk at each house, he’d be eating just 50 calories — which would add up to 4.6 billion calories for the evening. Since he burns off 13 billion calories by walking, he’d actually lose so much weight that he’d disappear from sight.

Maybe the best idea for him would be to have a nice combination of veggies at most households and cookies and low fat milk every thousand or so households. That probably would keep him happy, energetic, and in caloric balance!

But … Santa has been delivering presents and eating cookies for a very long time. He magically reappears every year as jolly as ever. He seems to be doing quite nicely with his usual routine, don’t you think?

 

Jack-o’-Lanterns, Pumpkins, Trick-or-Treating, and Candy – Why Do They Go Together?

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Jack-O'-Lantern

A Spooky Jack-o’-Lantern Tale

Have you ever wondered where the Jack-O’-Lantern comes from?

According to an Irish legend that goes back hundreds of years, a miserable old drunk named Stingy Jack — who liked to play tricks on his family, friends, and even the Devil — tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree.   Stingy Jack put crosses around the apple tree’s trunk so the Devil couldn’t get down and told the Devil that if he wouldn’t take his soul when he died, Stingy Jack would remove the crosses and let the Devil down.

When Jack died, Saint Peter, at the pearly gates of Heaven, told him that he couldn’t enter Heaven because he was mean, cruel, and had led a miserable and worthless life. Stingy Jack then went down to Hell but the Devil wouldn’t take him in. Ultimate payback! With nowhere to go Jack had to wander around in the darkness between Heaven and Hell.

Stingy Jack, Jack-O’-Lanterns, And Halloween

Halloween, celebrated on October 31, originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In Pope Gregory III, in the eighth century, designated November 1 as a day to honor all saints and soon All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain, with the evening before known as All Hallows Eve, later called Halloween. Halloween eventually evolved into a day filled with activities like trick-or-treating and carving jack-o-lanterns.

On All Hallows’ Eve the Irish made Jack-o’-lanterns by hollowing out turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes, and beets and then putting lights in them to keep away both the evil spirits and Stingy Jack.  In the 1800′s when Irish immigrants came to America, they discovered that pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve and the pumpkin became the Jack-O’-Lantern.

Trick Or Treating

Trick or treating is a relatively recent American activity. Costumes, doorbell-ringing, and the expectation of hand-outs started in different locations throughout the country in the late 1930s and early 1940s. When costumed kids rang doorbells in the late 40’s and early 50’s, they were likely to get coins, nuts, fruit, cookies, cakes, and toys as well as candy. It took a while for candy to become synonymous with Halloween – no doubt, with the full backing of candy producers.

Some Humorous (Maybe Scary) Info: If You Eat The Candy That Fills Those Jack-O’-Lanterns, How Far Do You Have To Walk To Work It Off?

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.

Happy Halloween!

 

Do You Swipe Candy From Your Kid’s Halloween Haul?

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Trick Or Treat

Ah — Halloween candy! It’s pretty hard to escape because it’s everywhere – on desks, in restaurants, even in my veterinarian’s office in a nice purple bowl with a dog bone painted on the side.

Halloween week accounts for about eight percent of yearly confectionery sales and 34% of seasonal candy sales (like Christmas and Valentine’s Day). Only Easter, the next largest candy holiday, comes close.

FYI: The top five candies of all time — click here for the list of the top 50 – even though you might not agree:

  1. Reese’s peanut butter cups
  2. Twizzlers
  3. Snickers
  4. Hershey’s Kiss
  5. M&Ms

Can’t resist – do you invade your kid’s Trick or Treat bag — what do you go for first?

Don’t feel guilty — If you’ve ever swiped candy from your kid’s trick or treat bag, you’re certainly not alone. According to the National Confectioners Association, 90% of parents confess they occasionally dip into their kid’s stash. I know I sure did.

It’s been estimated that, on average, a child in the US collects between 3,500 and 7,000 worth of candy calories on Halloween night.

Parents invade that collection big time — they eat one candy bar out of every two a child brings home.  Their favorite targets are snack-sized chocolate bars (70%), candy-coated chocolate pieces (40%), caramels (37%) and gum (26%).

In Case You Want To Pick The Least Caloric Candy . . .

Here are the calories in some popular Halloween candy – just in case you might want to minimize the caloric damage (you didn’t read that wrong — candy has a big range of calories and fat grams) – and, just so you know — minis are small square candies while snack-size and fun-size are usually about 2 inches long:

25 calories or less:

  • 3 Musketeers, Mini
  • Hershey’s Kiss
  • Smarties Candy Roll

30 – 50 calories each:

  • Airheads, Mini Bar
  • Kit Kat, Miniature
  • Milky Way, Mini
  • Peppermint Pattie, Fun size
  • Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Miniature
  • Snickers, Miniature
  • Starburst, 2 Fun Size pieces
  • Twix Caramel Cookie Bars, Mini

50 to 70 calories each:

  • 3 Musketeers, Fun Size
  • Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, snack size
  • Jolly Ranchers Lollipop
  • Skittles, Fun Size Bag
  • Sour Patch Kids, Treat Size
  • Swedish Fish, Treat Size
  • Tootsie Roll Pop

70 to 85 calories each:

  • Brach’s Candy Corn: 10 pieces
  • Butterfinger, Fun Size
  • Kit Kat, Fun size; 73 calories
  • Milky Way, Fun Size
  • M&Ms, Fun size bag
  • Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, Fun size
  • Snickers, Fun Size
  • Tootsie Rolls, 3 midgee pieces

Happy Halloween!