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What Are You Drinking To Toast The New Year?

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So many of us toast to the New Year with drink in hand – alcoholic or not.

Here’s a quick primer so you can make some informed choices:

  • A standard drink is 1.5 ounces of hard liquor, 5 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer.
  • Nutritionally:
  1. 12 ounces of beer has 153 calories and 13.9 grams of alcohol
  2. 12 ounces of lite beer has 103 calories and 11 grams of alcohol
  3. 5 ounces red wine has 125 calories and 15.6 grams of alcohol
  4. 5 ounces of white wine has 121 calories and 15.1 grams of alcohol
  5. 1 1/2 ounces (a jigger) of 80 proof (40% alcohol) liquor has 97 calories and 14 grams of alcohol
  • Alcohol has 7 calories per gram but doesn’t fill you up the way food does, so you can drink a lot and not feel stuffed.
  • Alcohol lowers your inhibitions and your resolve not to eat everything at the buffet table often flies right out the window.
  • Eating something before drinking can help blunt alcohol’s intoxicating effects.
  • Drinking light beer rather than regular saves about 50 calories a bottle.
  • Mixed drinks and fancy drinks significantly up the calories.   For instance,
  1. A frozen margarita has about 45 calories an ounce
  2. A plain martini, no olives or lemon twist, has about 61 calories an ounce
  3. An 8-ounce white Russian made with light cream has 715 calories.
  4. The alcohol, heavy cream, eggs, and sugar in a cup of eggnog has about 343 calories and 19 grams of fat
  5. Mulled wine, a combination of red wine, sugar/honey, spices, orange and lemon peel has about 210 to 300 calories per 5 ounces, depending on how much sweetener is added.
  • Watch your mixers — per ounce club soda has no calories, tonic has10, classic coke has 12, Canada Dry ginger ale has 11, orange juice has 15, and cranberry juice has 16.
  • And, if you’re toasting to health and happiness in the New Year with champagne – it’s a comparative caloric bargain at about 19 calories an ounce! To your health!

My very best wishes for a very happy and healthy New Year.

I invite you to receive more healthy eating facts, tips, and trivia by signing up for delivery of My foodMAPs directly to your email inbox or RSS feed.  Just enter your email address in the box in the left hand margin (on the MyfoodMAPs home page).  While you’re at it, please sign up for my monthly newsletter, Eat Out, Eat Well.  I look forward to keeping you informed and entertained.

Winter Holiday Weight Gain: Is It Seven Or Is It One . . .

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Pound?  Doesn’t it feel like at least seven pounds of weight gain, all of it blubber?

A lot of us start indulging at Thanksgiving (some at Halloween) and don’t stop the free style calorie fest until those onerous New Year’s Resolutions.  Then, because we feel guilty about indulgences, we swear we won’t touch another cookie or piece of cake or candy until we lose massive amounts of weight.

That resolution is doomed to fail because it is unrealistic.  Banning something entirely (unless it is for very specific reasons) equates to deprivation. That almost always leads to you know what: admitting you can’t stand it and chowing down on a box of cookies, half a pie, or three candy bars (definitely super-sized) in a row. [Read more…] about Winter Holiday Weight Gain: Is It Seven Or Is It One . . .

A Holiday Eating Tip: Pick One Fantastic Treat

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Chocolate bark 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.  And that doesn’t include the fantastic spreads at holiday parties and family events!
[Read more…] about A Holiday Eating Tip: Pick One Fantastic Treat

Dinner Plates: Size Matters!

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Plates:  Bigger Isn’t Better

The size of our dinner plates might be contributing to our country’s obesity problem.

Since 1960, the surface area of our average dinner plate has increased 36%. Today, the average dinner plate measures 11 to 12 inches across, but a few decades ago they were 7 to 9 inches. By comparison, a European plate averages 9 inches and some of our restaurants use plates that are about 13 inches across.

Supersized Eating

Just as serving sizes in restaurants have been supersized and package sizes in the market have grown, so have the plate, bowl, and glass sizes we use in our homes — by 36% in some cases.

Our ideas about portion sizes and how much we need to eat and drink to feel full have grown along with the size of our dishware.

Six ounces of cooked rice with a little chili looks like a good portion on an 8 inch plate. The same amount on a 12 inch plate would look paltry  and probably cause the typical person to add more rice to the plate — which ends up increasing the portion size and calories.

What To Do

The fact of the matter is that we eat most of what’s on our plate regardless of the size of the plate.

But, when you switch to a smaller plate you eat a smaller serving. According to research done at Cornell, when you switch from a 12 inch plate to a 10 inch plate you eat 22% less.

So, you can control your portion sizes by downsizing the size of your plate. You can switch from a dinner plate to a salad plate or search vintage stores for older plates that are smaller in size.

Go Small – But Not Too Small

It sounds too good to be true, but using smaller dishes can also help you feel full even when you’re eating less. Amazingly, studies show that people are more satisfied with less food when they are served on 8 inch salad plates instead of on 12 inch dinner plates.

Use smaller plates and bowls. It’ll keep the portions smaller and you feeling fuller.

But — be careful not to go too small with your plate.  With too little food you might end up going back for seconds. A plate 2 inches smaller than the one you normally use is probably about right.

Protein In The Morning: It’s A Good Thing

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I had a weird day yesterday.  Everything was out of sync.  It started with breakfast.  With rare exception, I have nonfat Greek yogurt with fruit and two tablespoons of Grape Nuts every morning.

Yesterday was an exception.  I didn’t have a bad breakfast – for a lot of people.  It just wasn’t a good breakfast for me.

I ate at a local diner and ordered the “special” oatmeal with walnuts and apples.  The steaming bowl arrived with the oatmeal liberally sprinkled with walnut halves and stewed apples that were quite sweet and floating in a generous amount of syrup.

Sweet Stuff In The Morning:  Yea Or Nea

The simple fact is that I cannot eat sweet stuff in the morning.  I also cannot eat oatmeal unless it’s accompanied by some kind of protein.  If I do eat either, two things happen:  I feel crummy by mid morning and I am hungry the rest of the day – especially for more sweet stuff.

I know – no one twisted my arm to order the “special” oatmeal.  I did it all by myself.  It sounded delicious – it tasted delicious, too.  But then again I really like my yogurt with fruit and Grape Nuts.  I just felt like something different.

The way my body processes food is unique to me – just as your metabolic processes are unique to you.  But, based on my research I apparently am not alone in my sweets in the morning issue and the roller coaster ride it creates for my blood sugar.

I need protein in the morning.  Most of my clients have a protein breakfast, too.  As a matter of fact, most people I work with eat the same breakfast every day – and they’re happy to do so.  Once you find what works for you, eating a structured breakfast takes less time and sets you up for your day.

Research Supports Protein For Breakfast

There’s good research to support a breakfast of eggs, protein shakes, yogurt (preferably nonfat Greek yogurt because it has no added sugar and 20 grams of protein for an 8 oz serving), or other protein selections.

A study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that the amount and the time of day that you eat protein affect your feeling of fullness during the entire day.  The researchers concluded that when people ate food with high quality protein from sources like eggs and lean Canadian bacon for breakfast they felt fuller throughout the day as compared to eating a larger amount of protein at lunch or dinner.

Make Your Breakfast Count

According to the study’s authors, most Americans usually eat a pretty small amount of protein at breakfast:  about 15% of their total daily protein intake.

Although consumer research shows that 92% of Americans say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, less than half (46%) eat breakfast every day of the week.

SocialDieter Tip:

Eat breakfast every day.  Find out what food works best for your body and make a habit of incorporating it into your breakfast lifestyle.  You have a chance to increase your protein intake in the morning  which will give you sustained benefits through out the day.  With a little planning you can have an easy and ready to grab protein breakfast waiting for you as you get ready to head out the door.