Eat Out Eat Well

Snacking, Noshing, Tasting

Are You A Smart Snacker When You’re Out Shopping?

By Leave a Comment

There are food courts and coffee shops around every bend and on every corner – and all of them seem to sell peppermint and gingerbread goodies that scream, “Holiday.”  That can really test your willpower.

A hot skim latte is a great snack – soothing, calorie controlled, with a nice amount of protein.  A nice giant hot coffee drink filled with syrup and whipped cream – often clocking in at 400 to 500 calories — might be soothing but sure isn’t great for your waistline.

Ditto on mega sized soft pretzels, muffins, scones, and croissants. Think about carrying portion controlled nuts or a protein bar with you to make it a little easier to resist temptation.

And Remember, These Calories Still Count . . .

Do you tend to forget about the:

  • large pretzel with cheese topping that you bought at the mall to snack on while shopping
  • 3 mini candy canes you snagged from the receptionist’s desk
  • couple of samples of cheesecake you grabbed at Costco
  • grilled cheese sandwich you finished off of your child’s plate
  • cookie batter you tasted and licked from the bowl and beaters
  • leftovers in the pot that you finished because there was too small an amount to save
  • tastes of chocolate bark and spiced pecans your coworker offered you
  • Christmas cookies that seem to be everywhere

They Still Count

All calories do count — it’s just that all too frequently we neglect to add them – remember them – or acknowledge them (that would mean having to admit that you ate that candy bar).

You can try writing down everything that you eat – not at the end of the day but when you eat it  – you’re forced to acknowledge all of the random food that you pop into your mouth.  This might be especially helpful during holiday season – or during times of stress – when it’s easy to mindlessly overeat and then to overlook (and then wonder why your pants are tight).

Some Tips

  • Only eat it if you want it. Eat what you want not what you think you should.
  • Skip the everyday food – the stuff that’s available all of the time. If you’re going to indulge, splurge on the special stuff (and make it count).
  • Don’t put yourself in the face of danger – in other words, stay away from all of those place you know will have fantastic treats freely available for the taking – especially if they happen to be your trigger foods.

For more hints and tips about holiday eating get my book,  The Sensible Holiday Eating Guide: How To Enjoy Your Favorite Foods Without Gaining Weight, available from Amazon for your kindle or kindle reader.

 

Leftovers Will Defeat The Best Laid Diet Plans

By 1 Comment

You open the fridge door right after the holiday party and what do you see?  Leftover pie, cake, stuffing, turkey, ham, potatoes, lasagna, pizza – you name it.

With all of that tempting stuff staring at you, how can you possibly not nibble away?

The best laid plans have been defeated by left over stuffing – or pie – or lasagna (in my house, it’s pastitsio rather than lasagna).

Don’t forget, nibbling during clean up counts as leftovers, too. Broken cookies, pieces of piecrust, and the last spoonfuls of stuffing haven’t magically lost their calories.

The Two Most Effective Things To Do

1.  The first most effective way to handle leftovers:  Get Them Out Of The House through whatever means you choose.  Here are some “getting them out of the house” options:

  • Send them home with your family and friends — right away – as they’re going out the door.  The longer the leftovers are in your kitchen, the greater the chance you’ll eat them.
  • Throw them out.  Some people might consider it a sin to throw food out.  You need to weigh what works best for you and your conscience – whether to keep the food and eat it or to let the garbage man take it away.  You could always feed some animals if you like, too.
  • Bring it to someone in need.  There must be a food pantry or shelter that would welcome some extra food. There are many people who would appreciate a meal that they are unable to provide for themselves and their families.
  • Take it to the office or send it along with someone to take to his or her office.  There always seem to be ravenous people in offices.  Just don’t eat someone else’s leftovers as you try to get rid of yours.

2.  If you just can’t bring yourself to get your leftovers out of the house: Hide The Stuff That Tempts You.  Out of sight, out of mind is really true. We all tend to eat more when it’s right in front of us.  Food we like – especially higher calorie sugary, fatty, and salty foods, which means many holiday foods —  trigger cravings and eating.

  • Keep the veggies in the front of the fridge and the chocolate pudding in the back.
  • If the food hasn’t made its exit immediately, package it up and store put it in the back of the fridge where you can’t see it at first glance (and might forget about it).
  • Freeze it – although freezing alone isn’t enough to deter some leftover hunters (frozen butter cookies still taste great). Shove the food all the way in the back of the freezer behind the frozen peas where you can’t see it and have to move things around to get at it. It will help.
  • If you’ve bought jumbo size packages of anything in anticipation of holiday company and still have some food left in the packages — put that excess away, too.  Put it somewhere inconvenient so you’ll have to work to get at it. Once again: out of sight and, hopefully, out of mind.  Put it far away, too.  We tend to be lazy so if you have to exert energy to get the food it may take some of the desire out of it.  So store the food in the basement or garage — someplace out of the kitchen.

In Case You Keep The Leftovers

Here are guidelines to help you avoid getting sick along with stuffed.

  • Remember:  2 Hours–2 Inches–4 Days
  • Food can stay unrefrigerated for a maximum of 2 hours from the time it is taken out of the oven and then placed in the refrigerator.
  • Refrigerate or freeze leftovers within 2 hours of cooking by any method — otherwise throw the leftover food away.
  • Leftover food should be stored at a maximum of 2 Inches of thickness so it cools quickly.
  • Food should spend a maximum of 4 days in the refrigerator–otherwise freeze it.
  • The exception to 4 days in the fridge: stuffing and gravy should be used within 2 days. Reheat solid leftovers to 165 degrees F and liquid leftovers to a rolling boil. Toss what you don’t finish.
  • Frozen leftover turkey, stuffing, and gravy should be used within one month.
  • To successfully freeze leftovers, package them properly using freezer wrap or freezer containers. Use heavy-duty aluminum foil, freezer paper, or freezer bags for best results and don’t leave any air space. Squeeze the excess air from the freezer bags. Without proper packaging, circulating air in the freezer can create freezer burn – those white dried-out patches on the surface of food that make it tough and tasteless.
  • Leave a one-inch headspace in containers with liquid and half an inch in containers filled with semi-solids.

Those big holiday meals are coming up!  For more hints and tips about holiday eating get my book,  The Sensible Holiday Eating Guide: How To Enjoy Your Favorite Foods Without Gaining Weight, available from Amazon for your kindle or kindle reader.

Can You Deal With One Fantastic Holiday Treat A Day?

By Leave a Comment

Peppermint candy and holiday chocolates at the receptionist’s desk.  Candy canes at the dry cleaners.  A rotating selection of Christmas cookies on just about everyone’s desk.  Happy holiday food gifts from grateful clients. Your neighbor’s specialty pie. And that doesn’t include the fantastic spreads at holiday parties and family events!

It’s All So Tempting

It‘s incredibly difficult not to nibble your way through the day when you have all of these treats tempting you at every turn. How many times do your senses need to be assaulted by the sight of sparkly cookies and the holiday scent of eggnog or spiced roasted nuts before your hand reaches out and the treat is popped into your mouth?

Be Realistic

It’s the holidays and even though some of these treats are a week’s worth of calories, by depriving yourself of them you’re denying yourself the tradition of celebrating with food.

Make the distinction between mindful indulgence in the spirit of celebration as opposed to mindless indulgence in the spirit of trying to taste everything or to soothe your psyche by eating.  The first is part of the nurturing, sharing, and communal spirit of eating, the latter is an element of emotional and over eating.

Nix The Restrictive Thinking

Creating a restrictive mentality by denying yourself a treat that’s always been part of your holiday celebration means it’s just a matter of time until you start an eating fest that only ends when there’s no more left to taste. Think of this:  what would it be like to swear that you won’t eat a single Christmas cookie when those cookies have been a part of your Christmas since you were a little kid and you baked them with your Mom?

Pick One – And Make It Special

You know that you are going to indulge.  Pick your treat, limit it to one, and enjoy it. To help control the temptation, decide early in the day what your treat will be and stick with your decision. If you wait until later in the day when all the food is right in front of you and you’re hungry and tired, you’ll find that your resolve is not quite as strong!

Just remember that the added treats are added calories – on top of what your body already needs.  And, those treats are often forgotten calories – until you try to snap your jeans.  So remember to figure the treats into the overall scheme of things.

Of course, if you don’t want to indulge on any given day – no one is forcing you.  In the world of caloric checks and balances, that’s money in the band.

Make an informed choice, too.  Being informed doesn’t deprive you of deliciousness, but does arm you with an element of control.  If you know the calorie count of certain foods, you can make the best choice.  For instance, perhaps you enjoy both wine and eggnog.  If you know that one cup of eggnog has around 343 calories and 19 grams of fat and a five ounce glass of red wine has around 125 calories and no fat – which would you choose?

For more hints and tips about holiday eating get my book,  The Sensible Holiday Eating Guide: How To Enjoy Your Favorite Foods Without Gaining Weight, available from Amazon for your kindle or kindle reader.

 

Is There A Polar Bear In Your Box Of Animal Crackers?

By Leave a Comment

Holiday animal crackers — in the classic box with the string handle and a holiday polar bear cub and mama in a snow globe on a starry blue background – can probably be found in your local market.  What kid (and some adults) wouldn’t want to grab a box or two!  But is there a polar bear on the inside, too?

A Bit Or Two About Those Little “Crackers”

Animal crackers, those easy to pop into your mouth crackers (cookies) in the shape of zoo or circus animals, are made from a layered dough– the way biscuits are made — but are sweet like cookies. The classic ones are light colored, slightly sweet, and crunchy – but some companies make frosted or chocolate flavored kinds, too.

Biscuits called “Animals” arrived on American shores from England in the late 19th century. Around the start of the 20th century, domestic bakeries, predecessors of the National Biscuit Company, now called “Nabisco Brands,” started producing “Barnum’s Animals” which looked like the circus animals found in the Barnum and Bailey circus.

Originally the package looked like a circus cage on wheels and full of animals. Perforated paper wheels used to continue under the bottom of the box and could be opened up allowing the circus cage box to stand on its wheels.

The little box with the string that we know and love – and can still buy (although without the perforated wheels) — was designed for the 1902 Christmas season – and sold for five cents. The string was for hanging the box from Christmas tree.  Obviously a design that was a home run, although now sold for about two bucks a box.

Is There Circus In The Box?

In 1948, the name of the cookies officially became “Barnum’s Animal Crackers” although the animals have changed over the years.  There have  been 54 different animals – but not all of them play together in the same box.

Today, each package has 22 crackers and a toss up of animals. Lions, tigers, bears, and elephants will probably always be a part of the menagerie – but dogs and jaguars have yielded to hyenas and gorillas. I expected to find a whole bunch of polar bears in my holiday box with the polar bear on the front, but the winter white animal was nowhere to be found.   Here’s a selection of what I did find.

How Many???

More than 40 million bright red, yellow, or blue circus boxes, each with a variety of animals, are sold each year in the United States and abroad. An animal cracker takes about four minutes to bake and 15,000 cartons and 300,000 crackers are made each shift – which uses up about thirty miles of string for the packages, or nearly 8,000 miles of string a year.

Although the circus box has gone through updates and changes over the years, it remains bright, colorful and fun. There have been three different and limited edition boxes produced in the last decade, still the same shape and size, but with a different design on the outside of the box.

Ingredients And Nutrition

Here’s what you’ll find in a box.  Note that there are two servings, not one in each box so adjust the nutrition accordingly. 

It’s The Holiday Nibbling That Will Get You!

By Leave a Comment

Most of those waistline hugging, thigh bulging holiday calories don’t come from the “day of” huge holiday meals but from unrelenting nibbling over the holiday season.

It’s way too easy to add on an extra 500 calories a day over and above your average daily calorie needs.  An additional 500 calories a day translates into packing on about a pound in a week (7 x 500 = 3500 calories, or 1 pound).

Some common holiday indulgences that clock in at approximately 500 calories:

  • 12 ounces of eggnog
  • 1 piece of pecan pie
  • 3 ounces of mixed nuts
  • 1 large soft pretzel
  • Dunkin’ Donuts extra large hot chocolate
  • 22.5 Hershey’s Kisses
  • Starbucks’ Venti Peppermint Mocha with whipped cream
  • 4 (5oz.) glasses of wine
  • 5-7 Pigs-N-Blankets
  • 5 ounces of Brie cheese
  • 10 regular size candy canes
  • 2-3 large Christmas cookies
  • 2.5 potato latkes
  • 4 fun-sized Snickers and 20 pieces of candy corn
  • 4 ounces of chocolate fudge (without nuts)
  • 1 Dunkin’ Donuts blueberry crumb donut
  • 1 cup of Ben & Jerry’s chocolate ice cream

How many of these do you pop into your mouth during the holiday season when you’re out shopping or at a party?

For more hints and tips about holiday eating get my book,  The Sensible Holiday Eating Guide: How To Enjoy Your Favorite Foods Without Gaining Weight, available from Amazon for your kindle or kindle reader.