Travel, On Vacation, In the Car

Are You A Dashboard Diner?

August 12, 2017 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

person eating in car

How many ketchup drips, chocolate smears, coffee stains, or cookie crumbs and sugar sprinkles do you have in your car (or on your clothes)? Is your daily road trip to work or a weekend or vacation drive an endless fest of fast food, junk food, and all kinds of snacks? Does your dashboard or vacant passenger seat serve as your kitchen table?

If you’re nodding your head, you’re a dashboard diner. It’s way too easy to indulge your dashboard dining gremlin at fast food and doughnut shop drive-thrus or gas station mini-marts with their canisters of coffee and cold cases of soda along buddied up with an array of baked goods and king size candy bars.

What is it about mini-mart and rest stop food? It seems to touch that primal urge to devour sweet and/or salty stuff that’s loaded with calories. Or, maybe we just remember stopping at rest stops as a kid on family road trips. Whatever the reason, potential trouble lurks for anyone with a proclivity for dashboard dining.

The Trap And The Danger Of Rest-Stops And Mini-Marts

Inside, there’s an endless stream of high carb, high fat, high calorie, and processed food just begging you to plunk down your money so you can immediately indulge (watch how many people start eating the food they’ve bought before they even pay) or take with you.

The real danger – aside from the damage to your waistline – is that high-carb processed foods spike then crash your blood sugar —making you really tired and cranky.

Drowsy drivers are most definitely not safe drivers.
Cranky drivers make life miserable for everyone in the car – not a great tone to set if you’re going on vacation.

Rest-Stop And Mini-Mart “Gotchas”

Candy is an impulse purchase; 49 percent of shoppers admit to unplanned purchases of candy. It seems that we want to treat ourselves and candy is an affordable luxury.

Check out the placement of candy the next time you’re in a mini-mart or convenience store — it’s positioned to grab your attention. Vividly colored wrappers reach out to you from high-traffic areas of the store: the checkout area, the aisle that leads to the check out, and on the way to the restrooms.

Know that your senses are going to be assaulted and have a plan for what you will and will not buy. If you’ve decided you want M&Ms go straight to them and don’t get sidetracked by a new kind of chips, or seasonal displays, or the latest and greatest deal on a king-sized package of candy.

Coffee, unlike candy, isn’t an impulse purchase. Nearly 96% of customers intend to buy a cup of coffee before they walk in. Here’s the impulse buy: stores put candy, baked goods, and chips near the coffee to entice you to buy them. As a man standing in line in front of me at a popular gas station mini-mart muttered, “I stop here for coffee every morning and I’ve gained 20 pounds since they put in the Krispy Kreme donut display between the door and the cash register.”

Some Helpful Tips

Nuts have protein and crunch, won’t cause swings in your blood sugar, and are almost always stocked. Tread a little gently — nuts aren’t low in calories. For a one-ounce serving of nuts you might find at rest stops: 49 shelled pistachios, 162 calories; 23 almonds, 169 calories; 18 cashews, 163 calories; 19 pecans, 201 calories; 10-12 macadamias, 203 calories; 39 peanuts (technically a legume), dry roasted, 170 calories.
Some mini-marts have fruit (bonus: oranges and bananas come in their own natural wrapper and don’t have to be washed) and almost all have dried fruit – it’s a good idea to balance the higher sugar content of the dried fruit with the fat and protein in nuts or cheese.
Sometimes you can find individual bowls of whole grain cereals, although check labels because some cereals are loaded with sugar. To go with it, grab a small container of low-fat milk or a container of yogurt.
Protein bars can be good, better, and best. Check the labels for higher protein and lower sugar. Some can be the equivalent of a candy bar and are so large (with so many calories) that they are made to be meal replacements. A protein bar for a snack should be around 150 calories. Meal replacement bars have around 300 calories or more. Look for at least 15 grams of protein.
If you’re really hungry, choose a sandwich or burrito over donuts, pastry, and cookies. Check out how fresh it is, though. What’s appealing early in the morning when the shelves are first stocked might not be so appealing at 10PM if it has been sitting around all day and lots of people have picked up the sandwich, squeezed it, and put it back again.
Beef jerky or beef sticks (or nuggets) are good, portable protein snacks. A one-ounce serving usually has around 80 calories and 5 grams of fat or less.
A hard-boiled egg is a good choice, too. Just make sure it’s been refrigerated and hasn’t been sitting around for a couple of days.
If you must go with crunchy stuff, stick with popcorn, pretzels, soy crisps, or baked or popped chips in single-serving bags to keep portions in check. Sometimes bags might look small, but still contain multiple servings. Remember that the salty stuff will make you thirsty so stock up on water. There’s something to be said for snacks that take time to eat one by one when you’re spending a lot of time in the car.

Remember …

Drink water. People sometimes confuse thirst with hunger, so you can end up eating extra calories when a glass of water is really all you need. If plain water doesn’t cut it, try drinking flavored still or sparkling water. We need water for fluids such as tears, sweat, and urine, and to allow chemical processes to take place in our bodies. Dehydration can cause fatigue and there’s some evidence that even mild dehydration can slow metabolism and drain your energy.
If you just want to leave your rest stop purchases to chance, at least have your own mental list of some good, better, and best choices of food to buy. The danger is that candy, chips, fries, and doughnuts will start calling your name the minute you walk in the door. If you know that you’re going to head straight for the nuts, or popcorn, or even a burger, that’s great, as long as the giant chocolate chip cookie and the bargain 99 cent 32 ounce soda doesn’t grab you first. Try to decide what you’re going to buy before you go in and then stick to your decision.
Too much sugar causes a spike and then a nose dive of your blood sugar levels. The consequence is that you’re initially energized and then can get very drowsy and unfocused as your blood sugar plummets. Not exactly what you want when you’re driving.

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How Many Calories Are In Your Favorite Summer Drinks?

August 6, 2015 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

It’s hot. You’re thirsty. You want something cool – or maybe ice cold – to drink.

Check Out The Calories

A lot of cool, refreshing drinks come with a hefty dose of calories. You might be surprised how many are in a drink you’ve been having for years.

According to CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest), carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet. It’s easy to forget about the calories in sugared sports drinks, sweetened ice teas, juices, and alcoholic beverages.

Alcohol isn’t a caloric bargain – it has 7 calories per gram (protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram and fat has 9 calories per gram). Add sweetened juices, syrups, or soda to your alcohol, and you could be drinking a significant portion of your suggested daily calorie allowance.

It helps to do some research to figure out what’s your best choice to grab from the deli, the food truck, the coffee shop, or at the bar.

Can you be satisfied with a bottle of beer that has around 100 calories rather than another brand that has around 300 – or water with a hint of flavor instead of a sports drink?

To help you with your choices, here are the calories in some summer favorites:

Water and Sports Drinks

Gatorade, 12 ounces: 80 calories
Gatorade G Orange, 12 ounce bottle: 80 calories
Gatorade G2 Perform Low Calorie Orange, 8 ounces: 20 calories
SoBe Lifewater, 20 ounces: 90 calories
Sobe Lifewater 0 calories Black & Blue Berry, 8 ounces: 0 calories
Glaceau Smart Water, 33.8 ounces: 0 calories
Vitamin Water, 20 ounces: 125 calories
Vitamin Water 10, 20 ounces: 25 calories
Perrier Citron Lemon Lime, 22 ounce bottle: 0 calories
Vitamin Water Focus Kiwi-Strawberry, 20 ounce bottle: 125 calories
Hint Blackberry, 16 ounce bottle: 0 calories
Powerade, Grape, 8 ounces: 50 calories
Propel Kiwi-Strawberry, 8 ounces: 10 calories
Water (as much as you want): 0 calories

Iced Coffee and Tea Drinks

Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta, 16 ounces: 430 calories
Dunkin’ Donuts Sweet Tea, 16 ounces: 120 calories
Starbuck’s Coffee Frappuccino, 16 ounces (grande): 240 calories
Starbuck’s Coffee Frappuccino light, 16 ounces grande: 110 calories
Tazo Unsweetened Shaken Iced Passion Tea: 0 calories
Iced Brewed Coffee with classic syrup, 12 ounces (tall): 60 calories
Red Bull Energy Drink, 8.4 ounces, 110 calories

Soda and Non-Carbonated Drinks

Mountain Dew, 20 ounce bottle: 290 calories
Coke Classic, 20 ounce bottle: 233 calories
Diet coke, 20 ounce bottle: 0 calories
Snapple Orangeade, 16 ounces: 200 calories
San Pelligrino Limonata, 11.15 ounce can: 141 calories
Can of Coke, 12 ounces: 140 calories
Bottle of 7Up, 12 ounces: 150 calories
Root beer float, large, 32 ounces: 640 calories

Beer (12 ounce bottle)

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale: 330 calories
Samuel Adams Boston Lager: 180 calories
Guinness Extra Stout: 176 calories
Pete’s Wicked Ale: 174 calories
Harpoon IPA: 170 calories
Heineken: 166 calories
Killian’s Irish Red: 163 calories
Long Trail: 163 calories
Molson Ice: 160 calories
Samuel Adams Brown Ale: 160 calories
Budweiser: 144 calories
Corona Light: 105 calories
Coors Light: 102 calories
Heineken Light: 99 calories
Budweiser Select: 99 calories
Miller Light: 96 calories
Amstel Light: 95 calories
Anheuser Busch Natural Light: 95 calories
Michelob Ultra: 95 calories
Miller MGD 64: 64 calories
Beck’s Premier Light: 64 calories

Wine

Red Wine, 5 ounces: 129 calories
White Wine, 5 ounces: 120 calories
Sangria, 8 ounces: 176 calories

Alcoholic Drinks

Mojito, 7 ounces: 172 calories
Frozen Magarita, 4 ounces: 180 calories (the average margarita glass holds 12 ounces, 540 calories)
Mimosa: 137 calories
Gin and Tonic: 175 calories

Do Your Road Trips Mean Dashboard Dining?

July 23, 2015 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

How many ketchup drips, chocolate smears, coffee stains, and greasy crumbs do you have in your car (or on your clothes)?

Is your road trip an endless food-fest of fast food, junk food, and all kinds of snacks — with your dashboard or vacant passenger seat acting as your table?

If you’re nodding your head, you’re a dashboard diner. What is it about mini-mart and rest stop food that seems to touch that primal urge to eat sweet and/or salty stuff that’s probably loaded with calories and lacking in nutrition?

The Trap And The Danger

When you walk through rest stop or gas station doors, there’s an endless stream of high carb, high fat, high calorie, and processed food just begging you to plunk down your money so you can immediately indulge (watch how many people start eating the food they’ve bought before they even pay).

The real danger – aside from the damage to your waistline and poor nutrition — is that high-carb processed foods spike then crash your blood sugar — making you really tired and cranky.

Drowsy drivers are most definitely not safe drivers.
Cranky drivers make life miserable for everyone in the car – not a great tone to set if you’re going on vacation.

Some Mini-Mart And Rest-Stop “Gotchas”

Candy is an impulse purchase; 49 percent of shoppers admit to unplanned purchases of candy. It seems that we want to treat ourselves and candy is an affordable luxury.

Check out the placement of candy the next time you’re in a mini-mart or rest stop — it’s positioned to grab your attention. Vividly colored wrappers reach out to you from high-traffic areas of the store: the checkout area, the aisle that leads to the check out, and on the way to the restrooms.

Visually, you’re going to be assaulted by the unending display of colorful packages, so have a plan for what you will and will not buy. If you’ve decided you want M&Ms go straight to them and don’t get sidetracked by the large display of new kinds of chips, seasonal displays, or the latest and greatest deal on a king-sized package of some kind of candy.

Coffee, unlike candy, coffee isn’t an impulse purchase. Nearly 96% of customers intend to buy a cup of coffee before they walk in. Here’s the impulse buy: stores put candy, baked goods, and chips — near the coffee to entice you to buy them. As a man standing in line at a gas station mini-mart muttered, “I stop here for coffee every morning and I’ve gained 20 pounds since they put in the Krispy Kreme donut display between the door and the cash register.”

Helpful Tips

Nuts have protein and crunch, won’t cause swings in your blood sugar, and are almost always stocked. Tread a little gently — nuts aren’t low in calories. For a one-ounce serving of nuts you might find at rest stops:

49 shelled pistachios, 162 calories
23 almonds, 169 calories
18 cashews, 163 calories
19 pecans, 201 calories
10-12 macadamias, 203 calories
39 peanuts (technically a legume), dry roasted, 170 calories

Some mini-marts have fruit (bonus: oranges and bananas come in their own natural wrapper and don’t have to be washed) and almost all have dried fruit — but balance the higher sugar content of the dried fruit with the fat and protein in the nuts.

Sometimes you can find individual bowls of Cheerios or whole grain cereals, although check labels because some cereals are loaded with sugar. Grab a small container of low-fat milk or a container of yogurt to go with it.

Protein bars can be good, better, and best. Check the labels for higher protein and lower sugar. Some can be the equivalent of a candy bar and are so large (with so many calories) that they are made to be meal replacements. A protein bar for a snack should be around 150 calories. Meal replacement bars have around 300 calories or more. Look for at least 15 grams of protein.

If you’re really hungry, choose a sandwich or burrito over donuts, pastry, and cookies. Check out how fresh it is, though. What’s appealing early in the morning when the shelves are first stocked might not be so appealing at 10PM when it’s been sitting around all day and lots of people have picked up the sandwich, squeezed it, and put it back again.

Beef jerky or beef sticks (or nuggets) are good, portable protein snacks. A one-ounce serving usually has around 80 calories and 5 grams of fat or less.

A hard-boiled egg is a good choice, too. Just make sure it’s been refrigerated and hasn’t been sitting around for a couple of days!

If you really want crunchy stuff, stick with popcorn, pretzels, soy crisps, or baked or popped chips in single-serve bags to keep portions in check. Sometimes bags might look small, but contain multiple servings. Remember that the salty stuff will make you thirsty so stock up on water. There’s something to be said for snacks that take time to eat one by one when you’re driving.

Remember to drink water. It’s easy to confuse thirst with hunger so you can end up eating extra calories when a glass of water is really all you need. If plain water doesn’t cut it, try drinking flavored still or sparkling water. Dehydration can cause fatigue and there’s some evidence that even mild dehydration can slow metabolism and drain your energy.

For Safe Picnic Food Don’t Forget Your Drive Time

July 2, 2015 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

The picnic food that’s sitting in your car might turn out to be a big problem. Packaged food — like crackers — usually do fine in high temperatures, but meat, dairy, cut-up fresh fruit, salads, and prepared foods are another story.

Perishable food may contain bacteria that can cause food-borne illnesses. Food that sits in a temperature danger zone while in your car, at a picnic, or campsite can cause those bad guys to multiply exponentially.

Most bacteria don’t go crazy below 40°F or above 140°F. The temperature range in between 40 and 120 degrees, known as the “Danger Zone,” is where they multiply rapidly and can reach harmful levels. A single bacterium that divides every half hour can result in 17 million offspring in 12 hours!

Car Temperatures Can Be Brutal

The temperature rises quickly inside a closed car — even when it’s only moderately warm outside.

A study found that at 9AM when the outside temperature was 82 degrees, the temperature inside a closed car was 109 degrees. At 1:30PM it was 112 degrees outside and 124 degrees inside a closed car.

Cracking the windows helped, but only a little. At 10AM, with four windows cracked, it was 88 degrees outside but 103 degrees inside the car. At 2PM at 110 degrees outside it was 123 degrees inside the car.

Picnic Food and Temperature Control

To prevent bacteria in food from rapidly multiplying food has to be kept within a temperature range.

Don’t let your picnic food stay in the “Danger Zone” (between 40° F and 140° F) for more than 2 hours, or only for one hour if the outdoor temperature is higher than 90° F. This bears repeating: perishable food can stay safely unrefrigerated for two hours if the air temperature is less than 90 degrees and only for one hour if the temperature is 90 degrees or higher.
Keep hot foods hot: above 140°F. Keep cold foods cold: below 40°F.
Remember to include preparation, storage, serving, and transportation time in determining how long food has been out of the fridge or off the heat.

Transporting, Preparing, And Serving

To prevent food-borne diseases, food safety is crucial both when you transport your food and when you prepare and serve it.

If you’re buying prepared food, dairy or other perishable food, or food to grill, do what you have to do to keep hot food hot and cold food cold.
Think about your route and how many errands you have to run. Buy beer and paper plates before you pick up your food — not after food shopping while your purchased food bakes in the car.
Keep a cooler, cold packs, or insulated bags in your car for perishable items. Buy a bag of ice if necessary. Make sure your cooler hasn’t turned into a portable oven because it’s been sitting in the car for too long.
Be certain that raw meat and poultry are wrapped securely to prevent their juices from cross-contaminating other foods and from dripping on fruit and veggies that you’ve already washed.

At The Picnic Site

Food spoilage and cross-contamination are major warm weather challenges, especially when you’re at remote sites (like a camps or parks) without kitchens and running water. Cross-contamination during preparation, grilling, and serving food is a prime cause of food-borne illness.

How will you keep things clean – not just the food, but the platters, utensils, and your hands? Is there a source of potable (drinking) water that you can use for cooking and cleaning? You don’t want to use water that’s not safe to drink to wash your food or utensils. If there isn’t, bring water or pack clean, wet cloths, moist towelettes, or paper towels for cleaning your hands and surfaces.
Wash your hands before and after handling food, and don’t use the same platter and utensils for both raw and cooked meat and poultry.
Keep hot food hot and cold food cold the entire picnic. The temperature spikes in direct sunlight so keep coolers in the shade.
Food shouldn’t be out of the cooler or off the grill for more than 2 hours (one hour when the temperature is above 90°F).
Keep perishable food like meat, chicken, and mayonnaise-based salads in the fridge and don’t stock the cooler until right before you leave home. Keep the cooler in the coolest part of the car while you’re traveling.
If you’re going on a long trip consider freezing the food and putting it into the cooler frozen, allowing it to defrost (to a cold temperature, not warm) in transit.
Hot take-out food like ribs and chicken should be eaten within two hours of when it was plucked from the store. If you buy it well before you’re planning to leave, first chill the food in your refrigerator and pack it in an insulated cooler just before you leave.
Pack beverages in one cooler and perishable foods in another so the perishable foods won’t be repeatedly exposed to warm outdoor air temperatures when the cooler if opened repeatedly for drinks. A full cooler will hold its cold temperature longer than one that’s partially full. Pack plenty of extra ice or freezer packs to maintain a constant cold temperature.

Throw out any perishable food from road trips, picnics, or barbecues that’s been out too long or that has not adequately chilled or heated. “If in doubt, throw it out.”

How Big Are Your Snacks? Are They As Big As Lunch or Dinner?

September 3, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Do you get so hungry mid-morning or mid-afternoon that you grab whatever you can from a cart, vending machine, the snack room or fridge — and chow down?

if you do, you’re not alone. According to research, snacking, including drinking beverages at times other than during a regular meal,accounts for more than 25% of Americans’ calorie intake everyday. Snacking has turned into “a full eating event,” or a fourth meal, averaging about 580 calories each day.

Eating while you’re doing something else, called secondary eating, has also increased. Between 2006 and 2008, the amount of time we spend eating breakfast, lunch and dinner stayed at 70 minutes but secondary eating doubled from 15 minutes a day in 2006 to nearly 30 minutes in 2008. There was nearly a 90% jump in the time spent on secondary drinking: from 45 to 85 minutes. (Ever wonder why Starbuck’s is so crowded?)

There’s an increase in snacking across the board, but beverages account for 50% of snack calories. It’s way too easy to forget the calories in drinks. And, we spend about 12% of our total food money at the supermarket on packaged snacks.

What’s A Snack?

A snack shouldn’t be a fourth meal. Most recommendations are that a snack be between 150 and 200 calories and have some protein for both satiety and to help keep your blood sugar level stable. Some fiber in the snack helps keep you full.

Here are some examples – just be aware of portion sizes (for instance, don’t eat half a jar of peanut butter or a huge wedge of cheese):

Hummus with baby carrots or other vegetables
½ cup of low-fat cottage cheese with fruit or whole grain crackers
An apple, orange, peach, or grapes (or other fruit) with either ¼ cup almonds (or other nuts) or an ounce of cheese or a part skim cheese stick
Non-fat, unsweetened yogurt with ½ cup of whole grain cereal and/or fruit
A 12-ounce non-fat latte or cappuccino
Whole-grain crackers with peanut, nut, or seed butter
Trail mix with nuts, seeds, raisins, and cereal (cereal can cut down on the calories while increasing the volume – nuts are a high calorie food)
A whole grain (especially if it’s high fiber) English muffin or slice of toast and low-fat cream cheese or a slice of reduced fat (2%) cheese
A portion controlled serving of nuts

Smart Snacking Tips

Make sure your snack is 200 calories or less and has protein and fiber to help keep you full and satisfied.
100-calorie snack packages are usually processed and probably are not great for you choices. Check the ingredients, protein, and fiber content.
Beware of “healthy” or “halo-food” snacks like some sugary cereals, some sweetened, flavored yogurts, some so-called protein bars, yogurt-covered pretzels, and sports drinks.
Ask yourself if you’re snacking out of boredom, stress, or if you’re really hungry.
Don’t let yourself get so hungry that it’s impossible to control what and how much you have for a snack.
There are many choices. Pick snacks that you enjoy and can look forward to eating.
Keep healthy snacks in your desk drawer, your kitchen cabinet, or in your car so when you’re really hungry you have a good choice readily available. Otherwise it’s way too easy to succumb to the vending machine, newsstand, food truck, or the donut or apple fritter staring at you when you pay for your coffee.

Do you know someone who’s off to college?

Get my book for some easy, doable tips on how to eat well in dining halls and dorm rooms. Available in print and as an ebook from Amazon and as an ebook from Barnes & Noble.