Manage Your Weight

Is Frozen Yogurt Healthy?

August 26, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Is frozen yogurt actually healthy or are you being hoodwinked by “yogurt” in the name?

What’s In Frozen Yogurt?

Milk and milk by-products are the main ingredients in frozen yogurt.

Frozen yogurt companies have their own recipes, but most common frozen yogurts contain yogurt cultures, sweetener, corn syrup, milk solids, gelatin, flavoring, and coloring.

Sugar makes up 15-17% of frozen yogurt and adds flavor, body, and thickness. If you’re thinking healthy bacteria and frozen yogurt, you need to check the brand. Frozen yogurt isn’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration — although it is by some states — and it may or may not contain live bacterial cultures.

Frozen yogurt is lower in fat than most ice creams because it’s made with milk instead of cream. Most of the nonfat “original” or “plain” flavors are usually the lowest in calories at about 30-35 calories per ounce with about 20g of sugar.

Frozen yogurt, which comes in a multitude of flavors, wears a healthy food “halo” but doesn’t always warrant one. Some brands and flavors are “healthier” than others — depending on the company’s recipe and the quality and quantity of ingredients which produce a product with varying levels of sweetness/tartness, fat content, consistency, and flavor. Of course, it’s up to you to gauge the “healthiness” of what and how much you add on top of your soft swirl!

Some Frozen Yogurt History

Frozen yogurt is relatively new – certainly compared to other frozen desserts. There is a tale, perhaps a myth, of Roman Emperor Nero (AD 54–68) sending his slaves into the mountains to get snow to mix with nectar, fruit pulp, and honey. Frozen yogurt, as we know it, was invented in Massachusetts in 1970 when a Hood dairy employee put regular yogurt through a soft-serve ice cream machine. The first “frogurt” cone was served by a Harvard Square store on February 3, 1971.

During the health craze of the 1980’s frozen yogurt went mainstream and then sort of fizzled. Its popularity rebounded when self-serve stores began allowing customers to control their portion size, mix and match flavors, pick from dozens of toppings, and pay by weight.

Calorie Tips

Despite variation in recipes, frozen yogurts are fairly comparable when calories are compared. For instance, a half cup serving of Pinkberry has 116 calories, 0g fat and 20g of sugar; TCBY’s 98% fat free vanilla has 120 calories, 2g fat, and 17g of sugar; and Ben & Jerry’s vanilla frozen yogurt has 130 calories, 1.5g fat, and 16g of sugar.
If you have a choice, choose soft serve rather than hard serve. Soft serve has air whipped into it making lighter in weight and lower in calories.
Pick the smallest cup. When you start with a smaller cup rather than a large one, you’re already ahead of the game. Despite the fact that you swear you won’t fill up a large cup, you almost always do.
Try putting the self-serve yogurt on top, not under, the toppings. Make space-filling low calorie fruit like berries or fresh pineapple your first layer. Then add things with crunch and volume, like cereal. Follow with the yogurt, then perhaps a teaspoon of candy crunch on top. Starting with yogurt often means putting a lot of yogurt in the cup followed by a lot of toppings. Layering low calorie volume food on the bottom can save you a lot of calories.
Try not to mix flavors. Swirling a couple sounds like fun, but taste buds are funny. When you pick just one flavor and topping your taste buds are happy and you probably end up feeling more satisfied than if you have a variety of flavors.

Calories in Frozen Yogurt

One cup of low fat frozen yogurt runs about 210 calories. More specifically, for a one cup serving of different varieties of generic frozen yogurt:

Frozen yogurt: Calories: 214; Fat: 2.94g; Carbs: 39.24g; Protein: 9.40g

Nonfat frozen yogurt: Calories: 164; Fat: 0.65g; Carbs: 34.84g; Protein: 5.96g

Low fat frozen yogurt: Calories: 214; Fat: 2.94g; Carbs: 39.24g; Protein: 9.40g

Chocolate frozen yogurt (soft serve): Calories: 230 | Fat: 8.64 | Carbs: 35.86g; Protein: 5.76g

Vanilla frozen yogurt (soft serve): Calories: 234; Fat: 8.06g; Carbs: 34.84g; Protein: 5.76g

Frozen yogurt (non-chocolate flavors): Calories: 210; Fat: 2.70g; Carbs: 38.24g; Protein: 9.14g

Chocolate frozen yogurt (not soft serve): Calories: 226; Fat: 3.90g; Carbs: 43.22g;Protein: 10.48g

Frozen flavored yogurt (non-chocolate, not self serve): Calories: 221; Fat: 6.26g; Carbs: 37.58g; Protein: 5.22g

Nonfat chocolate frozen yogurt: Calories: 172; Fat: 1.32g; Carbs: 35.19g; Protein: 8.95g

Some Frozen Yogurt Toppings

It’s easy to convince yourself that you’re really doing well (and you might be) by eating frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. But, some toppings can turn frozen yogurt into a caloric nightmare – especially when you keep piling them on.

Here are the calorie counts are for one ounce of various toppings:

Fruit (fresh and not):

Strawberries: 9 calories
Blueberries: 16 calories
Blackberries: 12 calories
Rasberries: 15 calories
Pineapple: 17 calories
Mango: 17 calories
Grated sweetened coconut: 131 calories

Nuts:

Slivered almonds: 170 calories
Chopped peanuts: 166 calories
Chopped walnuts: 184 calories

Cereals:

Cap’n Crunch: 114 calories
Cinnamon Toast Crunch: 123 calories
Froot Loops: 97 calories
Granola: 138 calories

Cookies/Pretzels/Candy:

Oreo topping: 112 calories
Pretzels covered in chocolate swirl: 130 calories
Milk chocolate M&Ms: 146 calories (1/4 cup has 210 calories)
Gummi bears: 90 calories (14 pieces have 120 calories)
Nestle crunch bar topping: 37 calories
Heath bar, crumbled: 170 calories
Chocolate sprinkles: 25 calories
Rainbow sprinkles: 30 calories

An Easy Way To Avoid Second Helpings

August 14, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Do you skimp on putting food onto your plate thinking that it will keep your calorie count down?

What happens? You eat the skimpy portion – decide you’re still hungry – and then go back, maybe two or three times, for more.

And if you keep the serving dishes on the table right in front of you, it’s way too easy to keep refilling your plate – or just stick your fork out and eat from the platter.

Get Those Serving Dishes Off The Table

If you want to make it a little easier for yourself to save on calories, one thing you can do is to get those serving dishes off of the table. When serving dishes are left on the table men eat 29% more and women 10% more than when those serving dishes stay on the counter.

Why?

It’s harder to grab seconds if you have to get up to get them. Sticking out your fork and shoveling more onto your plate while your butt remains firmly planted in your chair makes it far too easy to refill your plate without much thought about the quantity of food that’s going into your mouth.

Men chow down on more servings than women because they tend to eat fast – impatiently gobbling food while they wait for everyone else in the family to finish. As a result, they end up eating seconds and thirds while other people are still on firsts. Women usually eat more slowly so they’re not as likely to get to the seconds and thirds.

To help avoid the temptation of going back for seconds:

Let this be your mantra: no seconds. Figure out a reasonable portion of food that is within reason but not so skimpy that you’re nowhere near satisfied when you’re finished.
Keep the serving dishes off of the table.
Choose your food, fill your plate from the stove or from the serving dishes on the counter, and that’s it. No seconds.

Do you know someone going off to college? Give him or her a copy of my book 30 Ways to Survive Dining Hall and Dorm Room Food: Tips to Avoid the Freshman 15. You can get it from Amazon (print and ebook), and as an ebook from Barnes & Noble and iBooks.

What Are Good Road Trip Snacks?

August 7, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 1 Comment

Eating While You Drive Can Be Tricky

Have you ever tried to eat a sandwich with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and pickles? It’s hard enough to do when you can eat over a plate on a stable table – trying to eat it in a car means ending up holding two pieces of bread with a lap full of pickles and tomatoes.

Road trip food should meet certain “save your clothes and car” requirements:

It won’t fall apart, isn’t sticky or slimy, isn’t juicy/watery, and won’t break into a million little pieces when you try to eat it
It fits into a cooler (remember ice packs) or doesn’t need to be refrigerated
It’s reasonably healthy and tasty
It’s grab and go –you don’t need a knife, fork, or spoon to eat it (unless you pull over and have your own picnic) and it doesn’t need to be assembled
It doesn’t stink – how long do you want to drive smelling of onions, garlic, or stinky cheese.
Remember napkins, moist towelettes, and something for garbage.

Road Trip Snacks That Are Easy To Eat

Grab and go food is the name of the game. It’s dangerous to be distracted while you’re driving, so if you can eat something that’s non-messy and easily held in one hand, the food distraction is minimized.

Candy bars and bags of chips are pretty easy to eat — especially if you don’t mind chocolate smears on you and your car, fingers stained orange from chips, and crumbs everywhere you look. But how do you feel after eating them? If that candy bar is going to make you feel drowsy or lousy, maybe something that’s a little more nutritious and packs some protein is a better idea.

Some Suggestions

This is by no means an extensive list – it is meant to get you to think about what fuels you and leaves you feeling energetic, not grumpy and tired.

Anything in a pita: Pick your favorite protein food and some not too slippery vegetables and pile them into a pita. Make sure you just create a pocket and don’t cut all the way through. The pocket and the texture of the pita hold the interior ingredients in nicely.

Cheese and crackers: Try some cheese sticks or the smaller easy open wax encased snack-sized cheeses (Baby Bel). Bread sticks and whole grain crackers pair well with cheese and fruit.

Grapes, cherry or grape tomatoes, baby carrots or any other hand held fruit or vegetables: Great road trip fruit and vegetables because they are bite-sized and not messy – with no residue. Apples and pears are easy handheld food, too, although you have leftover residue (easily solved with a garbage bag) and possible juice down the arm.

Nuts: tasty, nutritious, with some protein – and easy to eat one by one. Pairs well with some dried fruit and/or cheese.

Peanut butter (or almond or sunflower butter) and jelly sandwiches: choose dense bread that won’t get soggy. Sandwich the jelly between the nut butter – spread the nut butter on both pieces of bread and put the jelly inside so it’s less likely to ooze out.

Jerky: High in protein, comes in single serve portions, and easy to eat while you’re driving.

Leftover pizza, grilled chicken, or other meat.

Already peeled hard-boiled eggs.

Whole grain cereal with crunch: combine it with some dried fruit and/or nuts and you have your own trail.

Granola or protein bars: they come in lots of flavors and textures – just read the label, especially the grams of protein to make sure you’re not eating a candy bar in disguise.

Popcorn: check the label for added ingredients, but popcorn can be a great crunchy snack that’s not a caloric disaster (unless it has a lot of added fat and sugar).

If You Hit the Vending Machines for a Snack or Two …

It’s almost inevitable that sooner or later you’ll have your next sharing moment with a vending machine: you share your money and the machine shares its calories.

When you’re tempted to kick a vending machine when it’s swallowed your money with no food in return – be gentle — they actually have a holy history!

Around 215 BC the mathematician Hero invented a vending device that accepted bronze coins to dispense holy water. Vending didn’t really became economically viable until 1888 when the Adams Gum Company put gum machines on New York City’s elevated train platforms. You got a piece of Tutti-Frutti gum for a penny.

Now they’re everywhere: in your hotel, in train stations, and just about every rest stop. They call your name when you’re especially vulnerable: you’re stressed, tired, bored, and your blood sugar is traveling south—all of which means the sweet, fatty, and salty junk food behind those glass windows is all the more alluring.

When a vending machine calls your name, choose wisely. There are good, better, and best choices to be made.

Even Though Your Options Aren’t Perfect, Make The Best Choice For You

Try to pick something with some protein. Too much sugar will spike then crash your blood sugar making you cranky, drowsy, and hungry for more sweet and fatty food. Not good for driving or for the other passengers in the car.
You can almost always find packages of nuts, or popcorn, or pretzels, or dried fruit.
Your choice depends on what you want: protein or sweet satisfaction, fill-you-up fiber or salty crunch.

Common Vending Machine Choices

Crunchy

Baked Lays Potato Chips: 130 calories, 2 grams of fat, 26 grams of carbs, 2 grams of protein

Baked Doritos, Nacho Cheese: 170 calories, 5 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbs, 3 grams of protein

Cheez-It Baked Snack Crackers: 180 calories, 9 grams of fat, 20 grams carbs, 4 grams of protein

Ruffles Potato Chips: 240 calories, 15 grams of fat, 23 grams of carbs, 3 grams of protein. 12 Ruffles potato chips have 160 calories, 10g fat

Cheetos, Crunchy: 150 calories, 10 grams of fat, 13 grams of carbs, 2 grams of protein

Fritos (28g, about 32 chips): 160 calories, 10g fat

Sun Chips Original: 210 calories, 10 grams of fat, 28 grams of carbs, 3 grams of protein

Snyder’s of Hanover Mini Pretzels: 160 calories, no fat, 35 grams of carbs, 4 grams of protein.

Rold Gold Pretzel sticks (28g, 48 pretzels): 100 calories, 0g fat

White Cheddar Cheese Popcorn, Smartfood: 120 calories, 8 grams of fat, 11 grams of carbs, 2 grams of protein

Nuts/Seeds

Planters Sunflower Kernels: 290 calories, 25 grams of fat, 9 grams of carbs, 11 grams of protein

Planters Salted Peanuts: 290 calories, 25 grams of fat, 8 grams of carbs, 13 grams of protein

Planter’s Dry Roasted Peanuts, one ounce: 170 calories, 14g fat, 2g sugars

Blue Diamond Almonds, one ounce: 170 calories, 14g fat 0 sugars

Planter’s Nut & Chocolate Trail Mix, one ounce: 160 calories, 10g fat, 13g sugars

Cookies/Pastry/Bars

Mini Chips Ahoy: 270 calories, 13 grams of fat, 38 grams of carbs, 3 grams of protein

Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts (2 pastries): 410 calories, 10 grams of fat, 75 grams of carbs, 4 grams of protein

Hostess Fruit Pie, apple: 470 calories, 20 grams of fat, 70 grams of carbs, 4 grams of protein

Fig Newtons: 200 calories, 4 grams of fat, 40 grams of carbs, 2 grams of protein

Quaker Chewy Low-Fat Granola Bar, Chocolate Chunk: 90 calories, 2 grams of fat, 19 grams of carbs, 1 gram of protein

Nature Valley Granola Bar, Crunchy Oats and Honey (2 bars): 190 calories, 6 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbs, 4 grams of protein

Candy

Skittles: 240 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 56 grams of carbs, no protein

Twix (2 cookies): 250 calories, 12 grams of fat, 34 grams of carbs, 2 grams of protein

3 Musketeers, king size: 200 calories, 6 grams of fat, 36 grams of carbs, 1 gram of protein

Peanut M&Ms: 250 calories, 13 grams of fat, 30 grams of carbs, 5 grams of protein

Snickers, regular size: 250 calories, 12 grams of fat, 33 grams of carbs, 4 grams of protein

Is there a road trip in your future?

The Summer issue of Eat Out Eat Well Magazine is ready to help you eat well when you’re in the car or grabbing some food at rest stops or roadside diners.

Get it now from iTunes or the Google Play Store for $1.99 an issue or $4.99 for a yearly subscription (four seasonal issues).

Calories and Alcohol In Beer: How Many and How Much?

July 17, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Have you ever noticed that alcohol doesn’t fill you up the way food does? Here’s why: it doesn’t register as “food” in your GI tract or your brain.

The bad news: it doesn’t fill you up but it does have calories — 7 calories a gram – more than carbs and protein which have 4 calories a gram and fat which has 9. So, even though it might not seem as though you’re putting calories into your body, you could be taking in a lot of calories and not feel stuffed (perhaps drunk, but not stuffed).

How Much Alcohol is in Beer?

A standard drink in the United States is equal to 14.0 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol. Generally, that’s the amount of pure alcohol 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 (e.g., gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey)

Is Beer or Wine Safer to Drink than Liquor?

No. Don’t be fooled. One 12-ounce beer has about the same amount of alcohol as one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5-ounce shot of liquor. It’s the amount of alcohol consumed that affects a person most, not the type of alcoholic drink.

How Many Calories Are in Your (12 ounce) Beer 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

Calorie Saver:

Analyze your beer choice. Since there’s a very wide variation in the calories in beer, can you be satisfied with one of the lower calorie brews?

Road trip: is there one in your future?

The Summer issue of Eat Out Eat Well Magazine is ready to help you eat well when you’re in the car or grabbing some food at rest stops or roadside diners.

Get it now from iTunes or the Google Play Store for $1.99 an issue or $4.99 for a yearly subscription (four seasonal issues).

If You Consider Toppings an Ice Cream Essential, Check These Out

July 10, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

You can put just about anything on ice cream, but the standard fare — toppings like hot fudge, whipped cream, peanuts, walnuts in syrup, crushed heath bar, caramel sauce – can add hundreds of calories and not much nutrition to your sundae or cone.

Some common ice cream toppings:

Smucker’s Spoonable Hot Fudge Topping, 2 tablespoons: 140 calories, 4g fat, 24g carbs, 2g protein
Smucker’s Spoonable Pecans in Syrup Topping, 1 tablespoon: 170 calories, 10g fat, 20g carbs, 1g protein
Regular Redi Whip, 2 tablespoons: 20 calories, 2g fat, 1g carbs
Fat Free Redi Whip. 2 tablespoons, 5 calories, 0g fat, 1g carbs
Cool Whip, extra creamy, 2 tablespoons: 32 calories
Cool whip, light, 2 tbsp,16 calories
Cool Whip, fat-free: 2 tbsp, 15 calories, 43.5g carbs, 0 protein
Regular M&M’s, 10 pieces: 103 calories, 5.2g fat, 12.1g carbs, 1.9g protein
Peanut M&M’s, about 16 pieces: 200 calories, 10.15g fat, 23.48g carbs, 3.72g protein
Peanuts, one ounce: 160 calories, 14g fat, 5g carbs, 7g protein
Rainbow Sprinkles (Mr. Sprinkles), 1 teaspoon: 20 calories, 0.5g fat, 3g carbs, 0g protein
Chocolate Sprinkles (jimmies), 1 tablespoon: 35 calories, 0g fat, 6g carbs, 0g protein
Smucker’s Spoonable Light Hot Fudge Topping, Fat Free, 2 tablespoons: 90 calories, 23g carbs, 2g protein
10 mini marshmallows: 22 calories, 0 fat, 5.7g carbs, .1g protein
18 gummi bears: 140 calories, 0 fat, 43.5g carbs, 0 protein

Think Outside The Box For Lower Calorie, but Still Delicious, Toppings

The world is your oyster in terms of toppings, so why not think about fruit, cereal, or a crushed up 100-calorie pack of anything? Here are some suggestions:

Smucker’s Spoonable Pineapple Topping, 2 tablespoons: 100 calories, 0g fat
1 mini box of raisins (0.5 ounces): 42 calories, 0.1g fat, 11.1g carbs, 0.4g protein
One medium banana: 105 calories, 0 fat, 27g carbs, 1g protein
One cup strawberry halves: 49 calories, 0.5g fat, 11.7g carbs, 1g protein
Sugar-free Jello pudding: 60 calories
One cup Froot Loops: 118 calories, 0.6g fat, 26.7g carbs, 1.4g protein
One cup blueberries: 83 calories, 0.5g fat, 21g carbs, 1.1g protein
Crushed pretzel sticks, 1 ounce: 110 calories, 1g fat, 23g carbs, 3g protein

Eat Out Eat Well Magazine Issue 03 Summer 2014 — Road Trips! Eat Out Eat Well Magazine Issue 03
Summer 2014

Is there a road trip in your future?

The Summer issue of Eat Out Eat Well Magazine is ready to help you eat well when you’re in the car or eating at rest stops or roadside diners.

Get it now from iTunes for $1.99 an issue or $4.99 for a yearly subscription (four seasonal issues). Soon to be available for android, too.