Eat Out Eat Well

Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food

What Are You Drinking To Toast The New Year?

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So many of us toast to the New Year with drink in hand – alcoholic or not.

Here’s a quick primer so you can make some informed choices:

  • A standard drink is 1.5 ounces of hard liquor, 5 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer.
  • Nutritionally:
  1. 12 ounces of beer has 153 calories and 13.9 grams of alcohol
  2. 12 ounces of lite beer has 103 calories and 11 grams of alcohol
  3. 5 ounces red wine has 125 calories and 15.6 grams of alcohol
  4. 5 ounces of white wine has 121 calories and 15.1 grams of alcohol
  5. 1 1/2 ounces (a jigger) of 80 proof (40% alcohol) liquor has 97 calories and 14 grams of alcohol
  • Alcohol has 7 calories per gram but doesn’t fill you up the way food does, so you can drink a lot and not feel stuffed.
  • Alcohol lowers your inhibitions and your resolve not to eat everything at the buffet table often flies right out the window.
  • Eating something before drinking can help blunt alcohol’s intoxicating effects.
  • Drinking light beer rather than regular saves about 50 calories a bottle.
  • Mixed drinks and fancy drinks significantly up the calories.   For instance,
  1. A frozen margarita has about 45 calories an ounce
  2. A plain martini, no olives or lemon twist, has about 61 calories an ounce
  3. An 8-ounce white Russian made with light cream has 715 calories.
  4. The alcohol, heavy cream, eggs, and sugar in a cup of eggnog has about 343 calories and 19 grams of fat
  5. Mulled wine, a combination of red wine, sugar/honey, spices, orange and lemon peel has about 210 to 300 calories per 5 ounces, depending on how much sweetener is added.
  • Watch your mixers — per ounce club soda has no calories, tonic has10, classic coke has 12, Canada Dry ginger ale has 11, orange juice has 15, and cranberry juice has 16.
  • And, if you’re toasting to health and happiness in the New Year with champagne – it’s a comparative caloric bargain at about 19 calories an ounce! To your health!

My very best wishes for a very happy and healthy New Year.

I invite you to receive more healthy eating facts, tips, and trivia by signing up for delivery of My foodMAPs directly to your email inbox or RSS feed.  Just enter your email address in the box in the left hand margin (on the MyfoodMAPs home page).  While you’re at it, please sign up for my monthly newsletter, Eat Out, Eat Well.  I look forward to keeping you informed and entertained.

How Much Do Americans Love Sugar? This Much: 475 Extra Calories A Day

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The season of sugar plum fairies, ribbon candy, and sparkly cookies (and even fruit cake)  is upon us.  For about the past ten years we’ve been warned about watching how much sugar we’re eating and we still haven’t really listened.

According to the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee, Americans average 475 calories from added sugars every day.  That’s a lot more than the recommended daily max of 100 calories (six teaspoons) from added sugars for women and 150 calories (nine teaspoons) for men.  Think of it this way, that extra added 475 calories of sugar is the equivalent of 30 teaspoons a day.

A big problem with added sugars is that they both add calories and those “empty” calories displace the other nutritious foods.

Where Do Our Calories Come From?

Added sugars and solid fats account for about 35% of the calories in the average American’s diet. The recommended maximum is 5-15%.

About 36% of the added sugars come from sugary soft drinks — so cutting back on them is a good place to start trimming.

Natural vs. Added Sugars

Natural sugars are found in foods like milk and yogurt (lactose) and in fruit (fructose) as well as in many other foods. Because these sugars are found along with other healthy components in the foods, they’re considered okay.

Unfortunately, nutrition labels don’t differentiate between natural and added sugars.  Look for any form of sugar in the food’s ingredient list.

Look for all forms (typical sugars end in –ose like lactose, glucose, fructose) including brown, raw, or invert sugar and/or “syrup” including corn, high fructose corn, and malt syrup. Also look for honey, molasses, agave nectar, evaporated cane juice, and fruit juice concentrate.  Don’t be fooled by these. They sound healthy but are really just other forms of sugar.

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Examples Of Foods With Added Sugar

A 16 ounce soda has about 11 teaspoons of added sugar. Although most of our extra added sugar comes from soda, sweetened beverages like fruit drinks, sports drinks, and teas; desserts; candy; and breakfast cereals all contribute.

Here are some examples of the added sugar in some common foods. This is just the added sugar, not the natural sugar that might also be in these foods.

  • Cola, 8 oz. 22 grams
  • Cranberry juice cocktail, 8 oz., 20 grams
  • Chocolate Milk, reduced-fat, 8 oz., 14 grams
  • Tea, instant, sugar-sweetened, 8 oz., 21 grams
  • Applesauce, sweetened (1 cup), 16 grams
  • Baked beans, canned (1 cup), 15 grams
  • Oreo-type cookies (3), 12 grams
  • Cranberries, dried (1/3 cup), 25 grams
  • Fruit cocktail in syrup (1 cup), 26 grams
  • Granola bar (1 oz), 12 grams
  • Jellybeans, (1 oz, 10 large), 20 grams
  • Popcorn, caramel-coated (1 oz), 15 grams
  • Fruit yogurt (6 oz container), 19 grams

Dinner Plates: Size Matters!

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Plates:  Bigger Isn’t Better

The size of our dinner plates might be contributing to our country’s obesity problem.

Since 1960, the surface area of our average dinner plate has increased 36%. Today, the average dinner plate measures 11 to 12 inches across, but a few decades ago they were 7 to 9 inches. By comparison, a European plate averages 9 inches and some of our restaurants use plates that are about 13 inches across.

Supersized Eating

Just as serving sizes in restaurants have been supersized and package sizes in the market have grown, so have the plate, bowl, and glass sizes we use in our homes — by 36% in some cases.

Our ideas about portion sizes and how much we need to eat and drink to feel full have grown along with the size of our dishware.

Six ounces of cooked rice with a little chili looks like a good portion on an 8 inch plate. The same amount on a 12 inch plate would look paltry  and probably cause the typical person to add more rice to the plate — which ends up increasing the portion size and calories.

What To Do

The fact of the matter is that we eat most of what’s on our plate regardless of the size of the plate.

But, when you switch to a smaller plate you eat a smaller serving. According to research done at Cornell, when you switch from a 12 inch plate to a 10 inch plate you eat 22% less.

So, you can control your portion sizes by downsizing the size of your plate. You can switch from a dinner plate to a salad plate or search vintage stores for older plates that are smaller in size.

Go Small – But Not Too Small

It sounds too good to be true, but using smaller dishes can also help you feel full even when you’re eating less. Amazingly, studies show that people are more satisfied with less food when they are served on 8 inch salad plates instead of on 12 inch dinner plates.

Use smaller plates and bowls. It’ll keep the portions smaller and you feeling fuller.

But — be careful not to go too small with your plate.  With too little food you might end up going back for seconds. A plate 2 inches smaller than the one you normally use is probably about right.

Mushrooms, Beans, And More In Your Burger

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In my last post, Are There Veggies In Your Veggie Burger, I talked about the ingredients in some commercial veggie burgers. A veggie burger patty can be made from any combination of vegetables, legumes, nuts, dairy products, mushrooms, soy, wheat, or eggs.  Many commercial veggie burgers are soy based.  Defatted soybean meal, is the  primary, low-cost source of protein for these burgers and for many prepackaged meals – as well as for animal feed.

Then There’s The Extras

Although most veggie burgers are fairly low in calories and in fat and are often thought of as a healthy alternative (which they may or may not be), don’t forget the extras — they add a ton of calories, not all of them healthy.

The add-ons include the bun the burger comes on, some cheese, more veggies (maybe grilled with oil), and the dressing.  Mayo adds a ton of calories — Hellman’s has 90 calories and 10g of fat (2 saturated) per tablespoon.  Flavored mayonnaise, pesto, chipotle and others, is still mayonnaise – and still racks up the calories and fat grams.  Don’t be fooled by “special” sauces, either.  They are usually fat based – after all a restaurant wants their veggie burger to be tasty and filling.

If it’s a pure vegetable burger you’re aiming for, try a Portobello mushroom as the patty as in the recipe below.

Portobello Mushroom Burgers

Here’s the Mayo Clinic’s recipe for Portobello Mushroom Burgers (Serves 4)

One mushroom burger (note these stats are for one burger – the recipe is for four — has  283 calories, 8g protein, 9g fat (1 saturated), 140 mg sodium, 46g carbs, 9g fiber, 8g protein.

Ingredients: 4 large portobello mushroom caps, 5 inches in diameter
 * 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
 * 1/2 cup water
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1 minced garlic clove * 
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) * 
2 tablespoons olive oil * 
4 whole-wheat buns, toasted
* 4 slices tomato
* 4 slices red onion
*2 bibb lettuce leaves

  • Clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth, remove their stems, put them in a glass dish, stem (gill) side up.
  • Whisk the vinegar, water, sugar, garlic, cayenne pepper and olive oil fpr the marinade and drizzle it over the mushrooms. Cover and marinate in the fridge for about an hour, turning the mushrooms once.
  • Heat a grill or broiler. Lightly coat the grill rack or broiler pan with cooking spray and position it 4 to 6 inches from the heat source.
  • Grill or broil the mushrooms on medium heat, turning often, until tender, about 5 minutes on each side, basting with the marinade to keep them from drying out.
  • Put each mushroom on a bun and top with 1 tomato slice, 1 onion slice and 1/2 lettuce leaf. Serve immediately.

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Here’s another recipe from allrecipes.com that is primarily vegetables.

Per burger (without extras):  198 calories, 3g fat, 607 mg sodium, 33.1g carbs, 11.2g protein

Ingredients: 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed  *  1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces  * 1/2 onion, cut into wedges  *  3 cloves garlic, peeled  *  1 egg  *   1 tablespoon chili powder  *   1 tablespoon cumin  *   1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce  *   1/2 cup bread crumbs

  • Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat or preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly oil tin foil or a baking sheet.
  • Mash the black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
  • Finely chop the bell pepper, onion, and garlic in a food processor.  Stir into mashed beans.
  • Mix together the egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce and stir into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide into four patties.
  • If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Other Options

There are plenty of recipes for veggie burgers made with beans, lentils and chickpeas and with brown rice, bulgur, and faro, and other grains (as well as good quality bread crumbs) as binders.  Mushrooms are common because of their meaty flavor and bulk.  Use your favorite vegetable.  Be creative.  You can make wonderful veggie burgers with a high vegetable content, a high deliciousness quotient, and without non-plant additives and binders.

If you don’t want to go all veggie, think about perking up your beef or turkey burgers by adding veggies to them. It lightens up the calories and adds a nutrient punch.  The veggies can be roughly chopped, or, for the finicky – try pureeing them (not to liquid a consistency) and then adding them to burgers or meatloaf.

One of my sons played lacrosse in college.  At team barbecues they always had some portobellos to throw on the grill for the vegetarians on the team.  It’s as easy as tossing on hunks of meat.  Try it some time.  Enjoy.

Are There Veggies In Your Veggie Burger?

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I had a Portobello mushroom burger the other day.  The burger was a whole Portobello cap – not ground up stuff that always leaves me wondering what exactly is making up the brown burger shaped thing that I’m eating.

Don’t get me wrong – I like veggie burgers – I just don’t like unidentified mixtures described as a veggie burger.  That could mean a whole range of ground up veggies – perhaps the ones left over from last evening’s dinner.  It could also mean almost no veggies and a whole lot of fillers and non-meat protein additives to give the burger some bulk and to make the patty stick together.

Veggie Burgers Are Everywhere

You can find veggie burgers everywhere – Burger King has a BK Veggie Burger and the frozen food aisle is loaded with them.  But are they healthier than a hamburger or turkey burger?

A regular, not a whopper, monster, or even a large size hamburger eats up a big chunk of the  recommended daily limit of 15 to 30 grams of saturated fat (depending on caloric intake).  Most veggie burgers have none to one gram of saturated fat – without the bun, cheese, mayo, etc.

Most veggie burgers weigh 2.5 ounces and have 70 to 170 calories. A “standard” meat patty is three ounces after cooking (a quarter pound of uncooked ground beef yields a 3 ounce burger). A patty made from ¼ pound of ground chuck has 193 calories, 12 g of fat (4 saturated).  Obviously, the size of the burger and the type and leanness of the meat affects its nutrition content.

Why Eat A Veggie Burger?

Some people eat veggie burgers rather than traditional hamburgers to cut calories and saturated fat, to boost their dietary fiber intake, to cut back on red meat, or for the convenience of being able to cook a frozen veggie burger in a couple of minutes.

BUT — know what you’re eating.  Shockingly, not all veggie burgers are mostly veggies.  The ones with more soy and some oil produce a more burger like texture and the ones with more grains and vegetables are less meat-like.  However, based on the ingredient lists shown below – you should question how many vegetables you are getting.

Where’s The Veggies?

Boca Burger: 120 calories, 5g fat (1.5 saturated), 380 mg sodium, 6g cars, 5g fiber, 14g protein

  • Ingredients: water, soy protein concentrate, reduced fat cheddar cheese (pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese culture, slat (no typo this is from their website), enzymes, annatto (color), vitamin A palmitate, wheat gluten, corn oil, contains less than 2% of methylcellulose, hydrolyzed corn protein, wheat gluten and soy protein, slat, caramel color, cheese powder (cheddar cheese, milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), cream, salt, sodium phosphate, lactic acid, dried onions, yeast extract, natural flavor (non-meat), sesame oil, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, browned in corn oil.

Boca Grilled Vegetable Patty: 80 calories, 1g fat, 300mg sodium, 7g carbs, 4g fiber, 12g protein

  • Ingredients: water, soy protein concentrate, red bell peppers, corn succhini, green bell peppers, onions, wheat gluten, contains less than 2% of asiago cheese (pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, potassium sorbate as a preservative, low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese (cultured pasteurized part-skim milk, salt, enzymes), dried garlic, methylcellulose, salt, caramel color, dried onions, autolyzed yeast extra ct, natural flavor (non-meat), spice, dextrose

MorningStar Farms Grillers Vegan Veggie Burgers: 100 calories, 2.5g fat, 4g fiber, 12g protein  (from website, I couldn’t find sodium count)

  • Ingredients: water, textured soy protein concentrate, corn oil, contains two percent or less of autolyzed yeast extract, vegetable gum, natural flavors from vegetable sources, maltodextrin, soy fiber, salt, carrageenan, potato starch, onion powder, caramel color, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, konjac flour, sunflower oil, sesame seed oil, soy sauce (water, soybeans, wheat, salt), concentrated onion juice, ascorbic acid, vinegar powder, citric acid, aspartic acid, modified corn starch, malic acid, succinic acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid, wheat flour, soy lecithin

BK Veggie Burger (as described on their website):  A Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie Patty, garden crisp vegetables, whole grains, and spices all topped with lettuce, red ripe tomatoes, ketchup, creamy mayo, served on a sesame seed bun

  • Nutrition: 400 calories, 16g fat (2.5 saturated), 1020 mg sodium, 43g carbs (8 sugar), 22g protein

BK Hamburger: flame-broiled beef patty, crunchy pickles, yellow mustard, ketchup, sesame seed bun.

  • Nutrition: 260 calories, 10g fat (4 saturated), 490 mg sodium, 27g carbs (6g sugar), 13g protein

Enough said!!!  Come back on Friday for some choices for veggie burgers with a few more veggies in the mix!