Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food

Boardwalk, Street Fair, Or Roller Coaster: What Do You Eat?

August 15, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Cotton candy or funnel cake? Corn dog or fried clams? The food of summer. What do you usually eat beachside or after the roller coaster?

Oh, the choices! Oh the calories! How can you possibly not chow down on thousands of calories when there are food vendors about every 20 feet hawking dogs, ice cream, and fried everything?

There Are Ways And Then There Are Ways

If you’ve got a will of iron you could ignore the food and drinks. But if you’re tempted at every turn, try to minimize the damage without taking away the fun. If you know you’re going to be having a stadium or boardwalk meal, do some thinking, planning, and sleuthing. The best choices are not always the obvious ones. If you always eat fried clams at the beach or cotton candy at the fair or ballpark, plan for it, have it, and enjoy it.

But give the total picture some thought. Do you need both peanuts and popcorn? Can you make do with a regular hot dog instead of a foot-long? Can you keep it to one or two beers instead of three? Can you choose the small popcorn instead of the jumbo tub? Can you ditch the soda — or maybe the second one — and replace it with water?

Make Your Best Choice To Save A Few Calories

It’s all about choices. Just make the best choice (which isn’t necessarily the best nutritional choice) and still enjoy traditional boardwalk and amusement park food. It’s really possible to make some reasonable choices that scream boardwalk or amusement park – and yet still aren’t a caloric disaster. Weigh your options – what do you want to do and what’s your best choice?

Use Some Of These Facts As Guidelines:

Cotton Candy: Nothing but heated and colored sugar that’s spun into threads with added air. Cotton candy on a stick or wrapped around a paper cone (about an ounce) has around 105 calories; a 2oz. bag (common size) has 210. A lot of sugar, but not a lot of calories – albeit empty ones.

Funnel cake: The fried dough wonder and staple of fairs, boardwalks, and amusement parks, funnel cake is made by pouring dough through a funnel into cooking oil and deep frying the “funnels” of dough until they’re golden-brown and crispy – then topping the pieces with powdered sugar, syrup, or honey. Different cultures have varying versions of fried dough – sometimes it’s long strips and sometimes just round fried balls of dough. The calories vary enormously depending on the quantity and toppings. Just remember, regardless of the shape, they’re all dough fried in oil topped with a sweetener. That means high calories and low nutrition. You probably have to figure a minimum of around 300 calories for a 6 inch funnel cake (do they ever come that small?). Onward and upward from there!
Good Humor Ice Cream: Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bar (83g): 230 calories; Toasted Almond (113g): 240 calories; Candy Center Crunch: 310 calories; Low Fat Ice Cream Sandwich, vanilla: 130 calories

Cracker Jack (officially cracker jack, not jacks): candy-coated popcorn with some peanuts. A 3.5oz stadium size box has 420 calories but it does have 7g of protein and 3.5g of fiber.

Hamburger: 6oz. of food stand beef (they’re not using extra lean – the more fat, the juicier it is) on a bun has about 490 calories — without cheese or other toppings — which up the ante.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich, 6oz.: 280 calories – not a bad choice. 6oz. of chicken tenders clock in at 446 calories. Barbecue dipping sauce adds 30 calories a tablespoon.

Hot Dog: Most sold-out baseball
stadiums can sell 16,000 hot dogs a day. A regular hot dog with mustard has about 290 calories: that’s 180 for the 2oz. dog, 110 for the bun, zilch for regular yellow mustard. Two tbs. sauerkraut adds another 5-10 calories and a punch of flavor, 2 tbs. ketchup adds 30, and 2 tbs. relish another 40. A Nathan’s hot dog racks up 320 calories; a foot-long Hebrew National 510 calories. A regular size corn dog has around 280 calories.
Fried Battered Clams: A boardwalk staple. 1 cup (5 large clams or 8 medium clams or 10 small clams) has around 222 calories.

Pizza: Stadium pizza is larger than a usual slice, about 1/6 of a 16-inch pie (instead of 1/8) making it about 435 calories a slice – add calories if you add toppings.

Super Nachos with Cheese: A 12oz. serving (40 chips, 4oz. cheese) has about 1,500 calories!!! Plain French fries look like a caloric bargain by comparison.

French Fries: A large serving has about 500 calories. A serving of Hardee’s chili cheese fries has 700 calories and 350 of them come from fat.

Potato Chips: One single serving bag has 153 calories (94 of them from fat).

Peanuts in the Shell: What would a baseball game be without a bag of peanuts? Stadiums can sell as many as 6,000 bags on game days. An 8oz. bag has 840 calories; a 12oz. bag has 1,260. Yes, they have some protein and fiber. But wow on the calories.

Soft Pretzel: One large soft pretzel has 483 calories – giant soft pretzels (7-8oz.) have about 700 calories.

Draft Beer: A stadium draft beer — 20oz. cup, the usual size –has about 240 calories. A light draft saves you 60 calories.

Coca Cola: A 12oz can has 140 calories –- and close to 10 tsp. of sugar.

Helmet Ice Cream: Your team’s mini-helmet filled with swirly Carvel, 550-590 calories.

Souvenir Popcorn: At Yankee Stadium a jumbo size has 1,484 calories and a souvenir bucket has 2,473 calories.

Is Frozen Yogurt Healthy? What About Toppings?

July 30, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Is frozen yogurt actually healthy or are you being bamboozled by the name?

What’s In It?

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. Frozen yogurt, which isn’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (but is by some states), might or might 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.

It comes in a multitude of flavors and can be bought in cartons, as frozen bars or cups, or soft-serve. The recipes and quality of ingredients used by different brands create products with varying levels of sweet/tart, fat content, consistency, and flavor.

Some Frozen Yogurt History

Frozen yogurt 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 ’80s frozen yogurt went mainstream and then sort of fizzled. Its popularity rebounded big-time with self-serve stores that allow customers to mix and match flavors, pick from dozens of toppings, and pay by weight.

Self-serve yogurt shops also allow customers to control their portion size, subsequent price, and flavors and toppings.

Frozen yogurt continues to wear a healthy food “halo” but doesn’t always warrant one. Some varieties are “healthier” than others — depending on the company’s recipe and the quality and quantity of ingredients and added toppings.

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. Tip: DO reverse the order of your cup.
Put the self-serve yogurt on top, not under, layered 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.

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 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

Calories In 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

For more tips get 30 Ways to Have Low-Calorie Fun in the Sun: Your Guide to Guilt-Free Eating at Picnics, Amusement Parks, Barbecues & Parties available in print and for e-readers from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Is There Less Alcohol And Fewer Calories In a Serving Of Wine Than There Is In Beer Or A Standard Drink?

July 25, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

That’s not a trick question. A standard alcoholic drink (in the US) is a drink that contains the equivalent of 14.0 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol, or the amount usually found in:

12 ounces of beer
8 ounces of malt liquor
5 ounces of wine (not dessert wine or port)
1.5 ounces or a “shot” of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor (gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey, etc.)

So, if you’re comparing a standard portion of one form of alcohol to another, there is the approximate equivalent of alcohol in each drink.

But – take note of the portion sizes. If the hand that pours puts 10 ounces of wine into a large wine glass (not unheard of) you are actually getting twice the amount of alcohol that you would get in a 12 ounce bottle of beer of a standard shot glass (1.5 ounces) of 80-proof liquor.

Calories From Alcohol Don’t Make You Feel Full

When you drink your calories your body doesn’t actually feel satisfied. Except for perhaps milk or other protein drinks, fluid intake doesn’t typically trigger production of the hormones that tell your brain that you’ve fed your stomach. Most liquid calories don’t produce “satiety” or the feeling of “being full,” which your brain takes as the cue to stop eating.

This is especially true if you’re slowly sipping your drink — but research has shown that even if the temporary bloat you feel after rapidly downing a beer is no substitute for satiety.

(FYI: even if you don’t feel full, the alcohol you’ve drunk still has 7 calories per gram compared to 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates and protein and 9 calories per gram for fat.)

How Many Calories Are In Your Glass Of Wine?

The standard serving of wine (5 ounces) is probably visually smaller than you think. Wine glasses can generally hold a lot more, and depending on who’s pouring, can be filled with many more than 5 ounces.

Most standard servings of wine have 125-150 calories, but the calories can double depending on the size of the glass and how far it’s filled up. Sweet and dessert wines are more caloric than table wine and champagne, although the serving size is generally smaller.

For comparison, on average, a 12 ounce bottle of beer has around 153 calories and 1.5 ounces (a jigger) of 80 proof liquor has around 97 calories.

As an experiment, try filling up your usual wine glass – using water—to simulate the amount of wine you would usually pour, and then measure that amount in a measuring cup. You might be shocked to find that the serving you’re used to pouring is double the standard serving size.

You may have your preference – most of us do – but whether it’s red, white, dry, sweet, or sparkling, it is really easy to overlook the calories in those long-stemmed glasses.

If you have dessert wine after dinner it’s about double the calories per ounce although the standard serving is less: usually 2 to 3 ounces. So add on about another 100 to 150 calories for each glass of that smooth dessert wine.

Approximate Calories in One Ounce Of Various Wines:

Champagne: 19 calories

Red wine (burgundy, cabernet): 25 calories

Dry white wine (Chablis, reisling, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc): 24 calories

Rose: 20 calories

Sweet white wine (moselle, sauterne, zinfandel): 28 calories

Port (about 20% alcohol): 46 calories

Sweet dessert wine (tokaji, muscat): 47 calories

Sangria: about 22 calories (recipes vary)

For more tips get 30 Ways to Have Low-Calorie Fun in the Sun: Your Guide to Guilt-Free Eating at Picnics, Amusement Parks, Barbecues & Parties available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Calorie Alert: Beware Oil Slicks On Your Food

July 15, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

It looks so good! Your tomatoes and mozzarella arrive with drizzled decorative squiggles of colorful basil oil on top. But are those squiggles only decorative?

Flavorful, Caloric, and Decorative

The squiggles are attractive and probably provide some deliciousness, but they’re also adding what might amount to a fair amount of calories.

It’s so easy to be fooled by fatty sauces and dressings on innocent looking vegetables. Vegetables are great. Veggies smothered with butter, cheese, croutons, and/or bacon are loaded with calories. Restaurants love to use oil and butter for flavor and to make the veggies glistening and mouth watering so they’re often “rinsed” with oil just before they’re sent to your table.

With salad dressings and sauces, the amount of dressing or sauce on a dish is heavily dependent on the hand of the pourer, even when a standard size ladle is used. You can always ask for sauce on the side, vegetables not to be rinsed, and with no butter or oil added.

If your food is cooked in stock or steam instead of in oil, you save 120 calories per tablespoon of oil. Flavored oil drizzled on top of your food – like basil oil – will add another 40 calories a teaspoon. Do you need it or want it?

For more tips get 30 Ways to Have Low-Calorie Fun in the Sun: Your Guide to Guilt-Free Eating at Picnics, Amusement Parks, Barbecues & Parties available on Amazon.

How Many Calories Are In Your Cocktail?

July 11, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 1 Comment

Do you know that 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.)

And, 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, it does have calories — 7 calories a gram – more than carbs and protein which clock in at 4 calories a gram and 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).

Is It Safer To Have Beer Or Wine Instead Of A Cocktail?

No. 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 drinking 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.

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.

Frozen margarita: (4 ounces) 180 calories; (the average margarita glass holds 12 ounces), 540 calories)
Plain martini (2.5 ounces): 1 60 calories
Mimosa (4 ounces): 75 calories
Gin and Tonic (7 ounces): 200 calories
Mojito: (8 ounces): 214 calories
Pina Colada (6 ounces): 378 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
Long Island Iced Tea (8 ounces): 780 calories
White Russian (2 ounces of vodka, 1.5 ounces of coffee liqueur, 1.5 ounces of cream): 425 calories
P.F. Chang China Bistro Mai Tai: 433 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)