Snacking, Noshing, Tasting

What’s In Your Big Mac Or Fast Food Burger Besides Beef?

November 13, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Have you had a Big Mac in different parts of the country or even in different parts of the world? It tastes pretty much the same – which, in some ways, is rather comforting when you might be far from home.

Fast food is cheap, quick, reproducible in any outlet, often tasty, and consistent. To be all of those things makes it pretty difficult to use locally sourced and fresh ingredients.

Fast food restaurants might be trying to make their menus healthier by adding veggies and fruit, but the bottom line is that much of their food is processed and preserved – and that doesn’t happen without chemicals.

An occasional trip to Mickey D’s isn’t a disaster and the burger content is beef (although who knows the source of the cows, what parts of the cow are used, and what they’ve been fed). But what about the bun, the sauce, and the cheese that accompany the burger? How does the bun stay soft and how does the “special sauce” always taste the same?

Take a look at the ingredients in a Big Mac, a burger, and cheeseburger from McDonald’s (all info is from McDonald’s own site). Although McDonald’s is used as an example, almost all of the fast food chains use additives and preservatives in their food. One of the biggest shockers is the bun – ask a home baker or a bakery how many ingredients they put in their buns – then look at these. Then check out the sauce.

Then decide how frequently you want to indulge.

Big Mac:

Components: 100% BEEF PATTY, BIG MAC BUN, PASTEURIZED PROCESS AMERICAN CHEESE, BIG MAC SAUCE, SHREDDED LETTUCE, PICKLE SLICES, ONIONS

100% Beef Patty:

Ingredients: 100% Pure USDA Inspected Beef; No Fillers, No Extenders. Prepared with Grill Seasoning (Salt, Black Pepper).

Big Mac Bun:

Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil and/or Canola Oil, Contains 2% or Less: Salt, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Ammonium Sulfate, Ammonium Chloride, Dough Conditioners (May Contain One or More of: Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Azodicarbonamide, Mono and Diglycerides, Ethoxylated Monoglycerides, Monocalcium Phosphate, Enzymes, Guar Gum, Calcium Peroxide), Sorbic Acid, Calcium Propionate and/or Sodium Propionate (Preservatives), Soy Lecithin, Sesame Seed.

Big Mac Sauce:

Ingredients: Soybean Oil, Pickle Relish (Diced Pickles, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate [Preservative], Spice Extractives, Polysorbate 80), Distilled Vinegar, Water, Egg Yolks, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Onion Powder, Mustard Seed, Salt, Spices, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Mustard Bran, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Vegetable Protein (Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy and Wheat), Caramel Color, Extractives of Paprika, Soy Lecithin, Turmeric (Color), Calcium Disodium EDTA (Protect Flavor).

Crinkle Cut Pickles: Ingredients: Cucumbers, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Natural Flavors (Plant Source), Polysorbate 80, Extractives of Turmeric (Color).

Pasteurized Process American Cheese: Ingredients: Milk, Cream, Water, Cheese Culture, Sodium Citrate, Contains 2% or Less of: Salt, Citric Acid, Sodium Phosphate, Sorbic Acid (Preservative), Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid, Enzymes, Sodium Pyrophosphate, Natural Flavor (Dairy Source), Color Added, Soy Lecithin (Added for Slice Separation).

Hamburger:

Components: 100% BEEF PATTY, REGULAR BUN, KETCHUP, MUSTARD, PICKLE SLICES, ONIONS

Cheeseburger:

Components: 100% BEEF PATTY, REGULAR BUN, PASTEURIZED PROCESS AMERICAN CHEESE, KETCHUP, MUSTARD, PICKLE SLICES, ONIONS

100% Beef Patty: Ingredients: 100% Pure USDA Inspected Beef; No Fillers, No Extenders. Prepared with Grill Seasoning (Salt, Black Pepper).

Regular Bun: Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil and/or Canola Oil, Contains 2% or Less: Salt, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Ammonium Sulfate, Ammonium Chloride, Dough Conditioners (May Contain One or More of: Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Azodicarbonamide, Mono and Diglycerides, Ethoxylated Monoglycerides, Monocalcium Phosphate, Enzymes, Guar Gum, Calcium Peroxide), Sorbic Acid, Calcium Propionate and/or Sodium Propionate (Preservatives), Soy Lecithin.

Pasteurized Process American Cheese:

Ingredients: Milk, Cream, Water, Cheese Culture, Sodium Citrate, Contains 2% or Less of: Salt, Citric Acid, Sodium Phosphate, Sorbic Acid (Preservative), Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid, Enzymes, Sodium Pyrophosphate, Natural Flavor (Dairy Source), Color Added, Soy Lecithin (Added for Slice Separation).

Nutrition:

Big Mac, 7.6 oz: 550 calories, 29g fat, 10g saturated fat, 1g trans fat, 970mg sodium, 46g carbs, 25g protein

Hamburger, 3.5 oz: 250 calories, 9g fat, 3.5g saturated fat, 0.5 trans fat, 480mg sodium, 31g carbs, 12g proteinS

Cheeseburger, 4 oz.: 300 calories, 12g fat, 6g saturated fat, 0.5g trans fat, 680mg sodium, 33g carbs, 15g protein

What To Do When Your Mouth Is On Fire From Red Hot Chili Peppers

November 4, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

I was in a restaurant that specializes in chili – hot, hotter, and hottest. Four large thirtyish guys were sitting at the table next to mine. One guy ordered, “hottest,” with the kind of look on his face that says “I can handle it, no problem.”

Shortly after this big, burly guy dug into his chili he was sitting glassy eyed, rivulets of sweat dripping off of his bald head, practically unable to speak. The waitress, obviously having seen this happen before, came running over with a glass of milk with orders to “Drink up.”

Have you ever had this reaction to very spicy food — maybe even from a dish from your own kitchen when you got a little too heavy-handed with the chili powder? Or perhaps, like this guy, from being a little too macho and ordering “hottest” after assuring everyone that you can handle really hot and spicy food – despite warnings from the waitstaff.

What Causes The Burn?

Capsaicin is mostly responsible for the “heat” in chili peppers. The amount in different kinds peppers varies widely. Environmental factors and the maturity of the pepper also affect the “burn” factor.

Chiles grown in hot dry climates tend to be a little hotter and the capsaicin content in a pepper is the highest when peppers reach full maturity. Habanero peppers are always extremely hot because of their high capsaicin content but ancho and paprika chili peppers can be just as mild as a bell pepper.

How To Tame The Flame

What do you do when your mouth is sending a five-alarm signal, your face is on fire, and you are sweating enough to water every plant in the room?

To stop the mouth flames you need to neutralize the burning heat from the capsaicin that binds to your taste buds. Remember that you want to neutralize the capsaicin, not just make your mouth feel better, too (although that’s also an objective).

Solutions

Ice and water will feel pretty good, but it’s only a temporary feel-good fix. The burning pain will come roaring back. Capsaicin is soluble in both alcohol and fat so full fat dairy and alcohol are possible solutions.

Neutralizing the capsaicin will be the most effective. How do you do that? The most common things to counteract the heat of chilies are full fat dairy, acids, and sugar. They may all have some degree of effectiveness.

Capsaicin is soluble in alcohol and fat, and sometimes beer is suggested as a solution because the alcohol will help to neutralize the capsaicin molecules. But remember that beer is about 95% water and won’t really neutralize the capsaicin clinging to your tongue. The harder stuff might help but you’d have to drink a lot of it and you’d end up feeling no pain for other reasons.

Acid can cut through the heat so try vinegar, lemon or lime juice, or anything acidic that doesn’t mess with the taste of your food. Now you know why you often see lemon or lime wedges served with spicier food. Gives beer with lime new meaning, doesn’t it?

High fat dairy products like milk, cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and ice cream will coat your mouth and can break the bonds capsaicin forms with the nerve endings – and, since they’re cold, they feel pretty good, too. There’s a reason that spicy Mexican food is often served with sour cream and cheese.

Sugars bind to pain receptors more readily than capsaicin so sweet things might work, too. Sugar, fruit, honey, molasses, even carrots have all been used. Highly sweetened non-carbonated drinks may work. Try some sweet tea. Hoisin may work for Asian dishes or Lassi (sweet and dairy combination) if you are in an Indian restaurant. Have some fruit for dessert – it’s cold, sweet, and the more acidic fruit, like citrus and pineapple, add another layer of potential pain relief.

How Far Do You Have To Walk To Burn Off Halloween Candy?

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

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.

For kids — as a guideline, to burn off 7000 calories a one hundred pound child would have to walk for almost 44 hours or play full-court basketball for 14.5 hours.

Don’t Worry Too Much …

Just remember – we and our bodies have an amazing ability to compensate for occasional holiday overeating – as long as those holidays don’t turn into weeks that turn into months.

So, enjoy your trick or treating and all of the ghosts, princesses, pirates, animals, cars, trains, skeletons, witches, and any other creature that rings your doorbell shouting “trick or treat.”

Happy Halloween!

How Much Halloween Candy Will You Swipe From Kids’ Trick or Treat Bags?

October 28, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Come on, ‘fess up. What do you do? Do you just randomly grab candy out of trick or treat bags – or are you more selective? If your kids go trick or treating, when they get home do you dump everything in the bag on the table and go through it to hunt down your favorites?

Like it or not – candy rules on Halloween. Adults may dread the easy accessibility of candy – it’s everywhere – but secretly, a whole lot of us can’t wait to get our hands on our favorite kid candy.

Americans buy nearly 600 million pounds of candy for Halloween. On average, we eat 24 pounds of candy a year, probably a whole lot of it right around this time. The most popular types of candy, in order, are: chocolate, chewy candies, and hard candy.

What Do You Go For First?

Trick or Treat Bags – plastic pumpkins and colorful bags loaded with a collection of sweet memories and some dental nightmares.

If you’ve ever swiped candy from your kid’s trick or treat bag, don’t feel guilty. According to the National Confectioners Association you’re certainly not alone. Ninety percent of parents confess they occasionally dip into their kid’s stash.

And they do it big time! Parents eat one candy bar out of every two a child brings home. Favorite targets are snack-sized chocolate bars (70%), candy-coated chocolate pieces (40%), caramels (37%) and gum (26%).

How Many Calories Are In That Rick Or Treat Bag — Or Pumpkin?

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.

Mathematically, it takes around 3,500 calories to gain or lose a pound, so you’re looking at around a pound or two if you would choose to eat all of those mostly sugar and fat candy calories on top of your regular meals.

It’s Just One Night …

One evening of collecting (and eating) candy certainly isn’t going to make anyone overweight or obese. But a constant bombardment of candy, sweets, and other treats can certainly lead to weight and health challenges.

Try this. Have a talk with your family – or with yourself — ahead of Trick of Treating to plan on what to do the candy collection. Is it to be a one-day free for all and then the trash — or will the candy by doled out in measured amounts over a given period of time? Do what works for your family but it helps if the kids buy into the plan.

What’s amazing is that when kids are offered the option of choosing how much and what kind of candy to eat, most of them don’t go overboard – they make their selections, eat it, and that’s it. It then helps if the candy fades from sight. It can be doled out in smaller portions day by day – or it can magically diminish in quantity or disappear entirely – just not down the hatch of an all-too-willing adult.

8 Great Things To Know About Candy Corn

October 10, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Infographic courtesy of www.candyusa.com — Infographic from www.candyusa.com

1. Candy corn was created in the 1880s by the Wunderlee Candy Company. It was popular among farmers who loved the corn kernel shaped candy that looked different from a lot of other candy. The Goelitz Candy Company, famous for their candy corn, began selling their brand around 1900. They still make candy corn today, but their company name has changed to the Jelly Belly Candy Company (guess what else they make!).

2. Candy corn is a type of candy that’s over 130 years old. It’s called “mellow cream,” or candy that’s made from corn syrup and sugar with a marshmallow kind of flavor. It tastes rich, but it’s actually fat-free.

3. The original three colors of candy corn — orange, yellow, and white — mimic a corn kernel although each piece of candy is about three times the size of an actual kernel. The wide side of the triangular candy is yellow, it’s orange in the middle, and the pointy end is white.

3. Although 75% of the annual candy corn production is for Halloween, you can find it year round in varying holiday colors.

Indian corn has a chocolate brown wide end, orange center and pointed white tip, often available around Thanksgiving
Blackberry cobbler candy corn can be found in eastern Canada around Halloween
Reindeer corn, for Christmas, is red, green, and white
Cupid corn for Valentine’s Day is red, pink, and white
Bunny corn for Easter is only a two-color candy, and comes with a variety of pastel bases (pink, green, yellow, and purple) with white tips all in one package.

4. Brach’s Candy Corn:

There are nineteen pieces in a serving.
A serving has140 calories (7.4 calories per kernel), zero grams of fat, 70 mg of sodium, 36 grams of carbs, and no protein.
A large bag of Brach’s candy corn is 22 ounces and has about 300 pieces.
Ingredients in Brach’s candy corn: sugar, corn syrup, confectioner’s sugar glaze, salt, honey, dextrose, artificial flavor, gelatin, titanium dioxide color, yellow 6, yellow 5, red 3, blue 1, sesame oil.

5. According to the National Confectioners Association:

candy makers will produce nearly 35 million pounds of candy corn this year
this is equal to about 9 billion individual kernels of corn, enough to circle the moon nearly 21 times if laid end-to-end
candy corn is so popular that it has its own day: October 30 is National Candy Corn Day.

6. How candy corn is made:

Originally it was made by hand.
Sugar, water, and corn syrup were cooked into a slurry (a thin mud consistency) in large kettles. Fondant (a sweet, creamy paste made from corn syrup, sugar, and water) and marshmallow were whipped in to give it a smooth texture and a soft bite.
The hot mixture was poured into “runners,” or hand-held buckets that held 45 pounds of candy mixture. Men called “stringers” walked backwards as they poured the steaming mixture into trays coated with cornstarch and imprinted with kernel-shaped molds. They made three passes; one each for the orange, white and yellow colors.
Today, the recipe is much the same but production is mechanized. A machine fills trays of kernel-shaped holes with cornstarch to hold the candy in corn triangle shapes. The holes are partially filled with white syrup, then orange syrup, followed by yellow syrup. The mold is allowed to cool, the mixture hardens for about 24 hours, then a machine empties the trays, the kernels to fall into chutes, and finally the candy corn is glazed to make it shine.

7. Candy corn and candy corn flavor is big – you find it in drinks, bagels, cookies, and ice cream.

Nabisco has a limited-edition of candy-corn Oreos with a yellow-and-orange cream filling sandwiched between vanilla wafers.
There are also candy corn M&Ms with this description on Amazon: “Two classic candies join together to put a new spin on a traditional fall favorite.M&M’s candy corn white chocolate candies combine M&M’s chocolate candies and candy corn. In the distinctive orange, yellow and white candy corn colors, these bright candies will bring a festive and delicious approach to snacking and decorating this fall.”

8. A survey of Americans found:

46.8%think the whole piece of candy corn should be eaten at once
42.7% think you should be start eating at the narrow, white end
10.6% like to start eating at the wider yellow end