Eat Out Eat Well

Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food

Why Not A Non-Fat Caffe Latte?

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Valley Of Fatigue

When I was a kid there was a commercial on TV for Welch’s Grape Juice.  The gist of the commercial was that when you hit your 3 or 4PM energy drain – or what they called the “valley of fatigue” — a nice glass of Welch’s grape juice would help you climb right out of the bottom of that valley.

Of course, an 8 oz glass of the purple juice with 170 calories, and 42 grams of carbohydrates (40 of which are sugars), will certainly give you a pop of energy.  However, since it’s all sugar, that immediate blood sugar spike will quickly turn into a dropping blood sugar – leaving you with less energy – and probably crankier – than before.

Here’s A Better Choice

How about a non-fat skim caffe latte instead.  You could be at a mall, in a train station, an airport, sitting at your desk, or walking down the street.  There’s a Starbuck’s or a Dunkin’ Donuts, or a zillion other coffee shops if not right in front of you, then most likely around the next corner or down the road apiece.

Why Is A Non-Fat Skim A Good Idea?

Three reasons — maybe there are more, but here are three good ones:

  • Easy to find – coffee shops are everywhere
  • It’s a finite size – you ask for a certain size, you get it, you drink it and then it’s gone (unlike the rest of the cookies remaining in the box that will continue to tempt you)
  • You get a nice satisfying, long-lasting, and portable hot drink to sip with a good amount of protein and no fat; whether it’s caffeinated or decaffeinated is your choice

Nutritional Stats For a Non-Fat Caffe Latte

Starbucks’ Non-Fat Caffe Latte (espresso and non-fat milk)

  • Tall (12 oz):  100 calories, 10 grams of protein
  • Grande (16 oz):  130 calories, 13 grams protein
  • Venti (20 oz):  170 calories, 16 grams protein

Note:  Try to avoid flavored lattes which add (in sugars) 50 calories to the tall, 70 calories to the grande, and 80 calories to the venti and drops the protein count for each by a gram.

Are There Really Strawberries In Special K Red Berries And Nuts In Honey Nut Cheerios?

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Cereal, Cereal, And More Cereal

Wow!  160 bowls of cereal a year, give or take, is the average American intake.  The most popular:  General Mills’ Cheerios, claiming  12.6% of the breakfast cereal market share.

How To Pick A Good Cereal

  • Step #1: check the ingredients and nutrition panel carefully. The very first ingredient should be a whole grain.  Scan through the label for the words “partially hydrogenated.”  If you find them put the box back on the shelf.  You don’t want trans fats in your cereal.
  • Step #2:  Look for cereals that have 13 grams or less of sugar per serving.  Check for added sugars  — you want none or next to none.  Raisins, dried and freeze-dried fruit  add quite a few grams of sugar to the listing on the nutrition panel where they aren’t distinguished from added sugars. Check the list of ingredients instead.
  • Step #3:  Check the amount of fiber (you want a lot).  The daily recommendation is 25 grams of fiber a day so it’s important to pick cereals that contain at least 3 grams per serving. A better choice are those with 5 grams of fiber or higher.
  • Step #4: If you are counting calories, choose cereals that ideally will have less than 120 calories a serving.

What About Fruit In The Cereal?

A bunch of cereals have real freeze-dried berries, apples, and bananas added in. That’s generally a good thing.   If the freeze dried fruit makes the switch from sugar laden cereal to a more nutritious high fiber low sugar cereal easier, then go for it.

So Are There Nuts In Honey Nut Cheerios And Strawberries In Special K Red Berries?

Amazingly, yes to the strawberries and no to the nuts.

For a one cup serving, Special K Red Berries has 120 calories, 2 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugars, and 2 grams of protein.

Ingredients:  rice, whole grain wheat, sugar, wheat bran, freeze-dried strawberries, high fructose corn syrup, soluble wheat fiber, salt, malt flavoring,  ascorbic acid, reduced iron, alpha tocopherol, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamin hydrochloride, riboflavin, vitamin A palmitate, folic acid, Vitamin B12.

A 3/4 cup serving of Honey Nut Cheerios has 110 calories, 2 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugars, and 2 grams of protein.

Ingredients:  whole grain oats (oncludes the oat bran), sugar, modified corn starch, honey, brown sugar syrup, corn bran, salt, corn syrup, oat fiber, corn syrup solids, tripotassium phosphate, canol and/or rice bran oil, guar gum, natural almond flavor, vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) added to preserve freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Zinc and Iron, Sodium Ascorbate, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Folic Acid,Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3.

Do you see nuts listed? No.  There aren’t any actual nuts.  There is “natural almond flavor.”  What’s that you ask?   It’s benzaldehyde which is usually derived from peach and apricot pits.

What’s A Good Cereal Choice For Breakfast?

There are a number of choices that fit the bill.  A good one is Kashi Go Lean (original).  A serving size is one cup with 140 calories, 10 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugars, and 13 grams of protein.

Ingredients:  Soy grits, Kashi seven whole grains & sesame (hard red wheat, brown rice, whole grain oats, triticale, barley, rye, buckwheat, sesame seeds), evaporated cane juice syrup, corn meal, corn flour, soy protein, wheat bran, oat fiber, corn bran, honey, evaporated cane juice, natural flavors, calcium carbonate, salt, annatto color.

Remember that adding milk ups the protein content of your breakfast. Full, 2%, and 1% milk adds fat, too, so try to stick with non-fat milk in your cereal bowl.

What’s For Lunch At Amusement Parks?

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Boardwalk, Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York

The Boardwalk at Coney Island

I spent most of Saturday at Coney Island.  It was an absolutely beautiful day and I was there for a birthday party.  What a fantastic idea.

We all had lunch at a Peruvian chicken place.  Chicken, rice and beans, plantains, and some French fries thrown in for good measure.  The chicken was marinated and roasted, the plantains sauteed in butter and brown sugar.  The rice and beans were just that — white rice and brown beans.

Given the other options, this was not a bad meal.  The chicken was very tasty and not fried.  The plantains were very sweet and the rice and beans were not greasy.  The French fries were crispy — but still French fries.  No green food or other veggies in sight.

Birthday cake:  Homemade and decorated with jelly beans.  Birthday girl:  Loved it.

The Alternatives

These are pictures of  what was mostly available.  Although all of these photos were taken on the boardwalk   at Coney Island (near the New York Aquarium), this kind of food is what can be found at many amusement parks.  Peruvian chicken was certainly the best food option in this case.  An even better one could be to bring your own lunch if you want to — otherwise, build this type of meal into your eating for the day.  Whichever choice you make, enjoy.  I certainly did.

Some Summer Trivia: Key Moments In The Life Of Junk Food

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Junk Food Has Been Around For A While . . .

Quite a while, as a matter of fact.  It’s been around for centuries in all cultures and all over the world, but America has done one heck of a job coming up with a whole slew of varieties of junk food;  then branding, mass producing, and eating it. According to the New York Times, the history of junk food as we know it is an American back story interlaced with genius, serendipity,  and plain old cleverness.

Junk Food:  A Phenomenon That Changed America

Andrew F. Smith, author of the Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food includes soft drinks, ready made burgers, salty snacks, candy, and ice cream – foods with little or no nutritional value and/or high fat and calories — in his definitions of junk and fast food.  He sees junk food “as an incredible phenomenon that’s changed America, for better and worse.”

A Look Back At Some Favorites

From the New York Times

  • 1896:  Cracker Jack – America’s First Junk Food?

Yes indeed, according to Mr. Smith.  The molasses, popcorn, and peanut combo was first sold by street vendor brothers at  Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair.  They perfected it by 1896 and called their treat Cracker Jack.  They ultimately created a product that was, and is, salable and commercially viable and salable.

  • 1905:  Tootsie Rolls — The First Individually Wrapped Penny Candy

Originally manufactured in New York City,  their production changed junk food because they were the first individually wrapped penny candy. The chewy chocolate taste was — and still is — a bonus.

  • 1923:  Popsicle Patent

By accident, on a cold night in San Francisco in 1905, an 11 year old left a powdered soda drink on the porch with a stirring stick still in it. The next morning: frozen sweet stuff on a stick.  Years later, Frank W. Epperson applied for a patent for his discovery.  He initially called the treats Epsicles but his children called them Pop’s ’sicles.  Unilever now sells two billion of them each year in the US.

  • 1928:  Dubble Bubble, Stretchier Gum

Walter E. Diemer, an accountant for Philly’s Fleer Chewing Gum Company, fooled around trying to produce a gum base that could be blown into bubbles.  When he finally had a batch that was  stretchier and less sticky than most other gums, he sent 100 pieces to a candy shop and they sold out in one afternoon.

Fleer started selling the gum, calling it Dubble Bubble. Even though it became a global sensation, Mr. Diemer never received any royalties and retired from Fleer in 1970. He felt that he’d done something with his life by making kids happy around the world.

  • 1930:  Twinkies, Two For A Nickel

James A. Dewar, manager of a Chicago baking plant during the Depression, saw that shortcake pans used during strawberry season just sat around the rest of the year. He put them to use by baking little cakes injected with  banana cream filling, and called them Twinkies (inspired by a billboard that advertised Twinkle Toe shoes).  Price:  two for a nickel. Bananas were rationed during World War II so he replaced the banana cream with vanilla cream. Hostess now bakes 500 million Twinkies a year.

Do you have any favorite junk food trivia?

What Do You Eat With Your Movie?

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I went to the movies Saturday night.  It was a long, long day and I was tired – so my guard was down.  As I walked into the theater the first thing that hit me was the wafting and delicious smell of freshly popped (and it was freshly popped in this theater) popcorn. I could have had a label plastered across my forehead:  sucker coming around the corner, start filling the popcorn bag!  Elbow in my husband’s ribs:  buy some!

It was the first time I’ve had movie theater popcorn in about two years.  Not that I don’t love it – I do.  I also know a little bit about it.  Thing is, after writing another post about popcorn I even asked the guy behind the concession stand several months ago what they pop their popcorn in.  “Oh, I think it’s some combination of coconut oil and other stuff.”  Fat gram numbers spiraled and multiplied in my head. Yet, the siren call of freshly popped popcorn was too strong to overcome.

I Don’t Care, I’m Going To Have It Anyway

I had set myself up for a “I don’t care, I’m going to have it anyway” caloric splurge.  Why?  I was hungry, tired,  and it was the tail end of a very busy week.  And, two other important factors:  our friends had already bought their popcorn (ever sit next to someone who is eating something you really like and that smells delicious?) and I really love popcorn.

SocialDieter Tip:

I’m not suggesting that you – or I – should never have movie theater popcorn. What I am suggesting is that If you are going to have popcorn it should be figured into your overall caloric balance.  Popcorn today – lots of fruit and veggies the next day – or maybe earlier in the day.  The same thing is true if your weakness is that box of Raisinets – or Goobers – or Milk Duds.

Not the greatest foods in the world, but if you are going to have them as an occasional splurge build the splurge into your day – or weekly – food plan. If you’re going to eat the stuff, at least do it mindfully.  Oh – you could also not eat anything during the movie, it is only about two hours – or, you could bring some healthy snacks like a lower calorie protein bar or trail mix with you (a crunchy apple doesn’t lend itself to quiet eating).  And ditch the soda for plain old water.

FYI: Some Popular Movie Theater Snacks – And Their Calorie Counts

(Note the serving sizes, movie theater boxes of candy are often huge and may be double or triple the size shown below.)

Popcorn, Nachos, Soft Pretzel

  • Buttered popcorn, small, 5 cups:  470 calories, 35g fat
  • Buttered popcorn, large, 20 cups:  1640 calories, 126g fat
  • Cheese nachos, large (4 oz):  1100 calories, 60g fat
  • Soft pretzel, large (5 oz):  480 calories, 5g fat

Soda and Lemonade

  • Coke, small (18 oz:218 calories, 0g fat
  • Coke, large (44 oz):  534 calories, 0g fat
  • Minute Maid Lemonade (18 oz):  248 calories, 0g fat
  • Minute Maid Lemonade (44 oz):  605 calories, 0g fat

Candy

  • Junior Mints, 3 0z box:  360 calories, 7g fat
  • Sno Caps, 3.1 oz box:  300 calories, 15g fat
  • Milk Duds, 3oz box:  370 calories, 12g fat
  • Raisinets, 3.5 oz bag:  400 calories, 16g fat
  • Goobers, 3.5 oz box:  500 calories, 35g fat
  • Twizzlers, 6oz bag:  570 calories, 4g fat
  • M&Ms, 5.3oz bag:  750 calories, 32g fat
  • Peanut M&Ms, 5.3 oz bag:  790 calories, 40g fat
  • Reese’s Pieces, 8oz bag:  1160 calories, 60g fat