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How Many Calories Are In Your Cocktail?

July 11, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 1 Comment

Do you know that a standard alcoholic drink (in the US) is a drink that contains the equivalent of 14.0 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol.

That’s the amount of pure alcohol usually found in:

12 ounces of beer
8 ounces of malt liquor
5 ounces of wine
1.5 ounces or a “shot” of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor (gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey, etc.)

And, alcohol doesn’t fill you up the way food does because it doesn’t register as “food” in your GI tract or brain. Even though it doesn’t fill you up, it does have calories — 7 calories a gram – more than carbs and protein which clock in at 4 calories a gram and fat which has 9. It may not feel as though you’re putting calories into your body, but the fact is you can drink a lot of calories and still not feel stuffed (perhaps drunk, but not stuffed).

Is It Safer To Have Beer Or Wine Instead Of A Cocktail?

No. A 12 ounce bottle of beer has about the same amount of alcohol as a 5 ounce glass of wine or a 1.5 ounce shot of liquor. Since it is the amount – not the type — of alcohol in your drink that affects you the most, it is not safer to drink beer or wine rather than liquor if you are drinking the same amount of alcohol.

In other words, whether you have two 5 ounce glasses of wine, two 12 ounce bottles of beer, or two 1.5 ounces of liquor either straight or in a mixed drink — you are drinking the same amount of alcohol.

Alcohol And Mixers

The higher the alcoholic content (proof), the greater the number of calories:

80-proof vodka (40% alcohol, the most common type) has 64 calories/1oz
86-proof vodka (43% alcohol) has 70 calories/1 ounce
90-proof vodka (45% alcohol) has 73 calories/1 ounce
100-proof vodka (50% alcohol) has 82 calories/1 ounce

When you start adding mixers, the calories in a drink can more than double.

club soda has no calories
8 ounces of orange juice has 112 calories
8 ounces of tonic has 83 calories
8 ounces of ginger ale has 83 calories
8 ounces of tomato juice has 41 calories
8 ounces of classic coke has 96 calories
8 ounces of cranberry juice has 128 calories

Mixed drinks and fancy drinks can significantly increase the calorie count. The following calories are approximate – bartenders, recipes, and the hand that pours all vary. Use these figures as a guideline.

Frozen margarita: (4 ounces) 180 calories; (the average margarita glass holds 12 ounces), 540 calories)
Plain martini (2.5 ounces): 1 60 calories
Mimosa (4 ounces): 75 calories
Gin and Tonic (7 ounces): 200 calories
Mojito: (8 ounces): 214 calories
Pina Colada (6 ounces): 378 calories
Cosmopolitan (4 ounces): 200 calories
Skinnygirl margarita (4 ounces): 100 calories
Green apple martini (1 ounce each vodka, sour apple, apple juice): 148 calories
Bloody Mary (5 ounces): 118 calories
Coffee liqueur (3 ounces): 348 calories
Godiva chocolate liqueur (3 ounces): 310 calories
Vodka and tonic (8 ounces): 200 calories
Screwdriver (8 ounces): 190 calories
Long Island Iced Tea (8 ounces): 780 calories
White Russian (2 ounces of vodka, 1.5 ounces of coffee liqueur, 1.5 ounces of cream): 425 calories
P.F. Chang China Bistro Mai Tai: 433 calories
Rum and Coke (8 ounces): 185 calories
Chocolate martini: (2 ounces each of vodka, chocolate liqueur, cream, 1/2 ounce of creme de cacao, chocolate syrup): 438 calories
Jumbo and super-sized drinks with double shots and extra mixers could add up to 1,000 calories or more (a single giant glass of TGI Friday’s frozen mudslide has around 1,100 calories)

For more calorie information and tips about low-calorie summer eating get:

30 Ways to Have Low-Calorie Fun in the Sun: Your Guide to Guilt-Free Eating at Picnics, Amusement Parks, Barbecues & Parties available on Amazon.

Boardwalks and Ballparks: What’s To Eat?

July 2, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Sports stadiums, amusement parks, state fairs and street fairs. What do you usually do at these places – other than watch games and have a blast on the rides? EAT, of course!

Oh, the food! Oh the calories! So how can you be calorie aware when there are food vendors about every 20 feet hawking dogs, ice cream, and fried everything?

There Are Ways And Then There Are Ways

If you’ve got a will of iron you could ignore the food and drinks. But if you’re tempted at every turn, you can try to minimize the damage without taking away the fun. If you know you’re going to be having a stadium or boardwalk meal, do some thinking, planning, and sleuthing. The best choices are not always the obvious ones.

Do you need both peanuts and popcorn? Can you make do with a regular hot dog instead of a foot-long? Can you keep it to one or two beers instead of three? Can you choose the small popcorn instead of the jumbo tub? Can you ditch the soda — or maybe the second one — and replace it with water?

Make Your Best Choice To Save A Few Calories

It’s all about choices. You can enjoy your day and make the best caloric choice (we’re not necessarily talking best nutritional choice) and still enjoy traditional ballpark and amusement park food. Weigh your options – what’s your best choice?

Cotton Candy: Nothing but heated and colored sugar that’s spun into threads with added air. Cotton candy on a stick or wrapped around a paper cone (about an ounce) has around 105 calories; a 2oz. bag (common size) has 210. A lot of sugar, but not a lot of calories – albeit empty ones.

Funnel cake: The fried dough wonder and staple of fairs, boardwalks, and amusement parks, funnel cake is made by pouring dough through a funnel into cooking oil and deep frying the “funnels” of dough until they’re golden-brown and crispy – then topping the pieces with powdered sugar, syrup, or honey. Different cultures have varying versions of fried dough – sometimes it’s long strips and sometimes just round fried balls of dough. The calories vary enormously depending on the quantity and toppings. Just remember, regardless of the shape, they’re all dough fried in oil topped with a sweetener. That means high calories and low nutrition. You probably have to figure a minimum of around 300 calories for a 6 inch funnel cake (do they ever come that small?). Onward and upward from there!

Good Humor Ice Cream: Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bar (83g): 230 calories; Toasted Almond (113g): 240 calories; Candy Center Crunch: 310 calories; Low Fat Ice Cream Sandwich, vanilla: 130 calories

Cracker Jack (officially cracker jack, not jacks): candy-coated popcorn with some peanuts. A 3.5oz stadium size box has 420 calories but it does have 7g of protein and 3.5g of fiber.

Hamburger: 6oz. of food stand beef (they’re not using extra lean – the more fat, the juicier it is) on a bun has about 490 calories — without cheese or other toppings — which up the ante.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich, 6oz.: 280 calories – not a bad choice. 6oz. of chicken tenders clock in at 446 calories. Barbecue dipping sauce adds 30 calories a tablespoon.

Hot Dog: Most sold-out baseball stadiums can sell 16,000 hot dogs a day. A regular hot dog with mustard has about 290 calories: that’s 180 for the 2oz. dog, 110 for the bun, zilch for regular yellow mustard. Two tbs. sauerkraut adds another 5-10 calories and a punch of flavor, 2 tbs. ketchup adds 30, and 2 tbs. relish another 40. A Nathan’s hot dog racks up 320 calories; a foot-long Hebrew National 510 calories. A regular size corn dog has around 280 calories.

Fried Battered Clams: A boardwalk staple. 1 cup (5 large clams or 8 medium clams or 10 small clams) has around 222 calories.

Pizza: Stadium pizza is larger than a usual slice, about 1/6 of a 16-inch pie (instead of 1/8) making it about 435 calories a slice – add calories if you add toppings.

Super Nachos with Cheese: A 12oz. serving (40 chips, 4oz. cheese) has about 1,500 calories!!! Plain French fries look like a caloric bargain by comparison.

French Fries: A large serving has about 500 calories. A serving of Hardee’s chili cheese fries has 700 calories and 350 of them come from fat.

Potato Chips: One single serving bag has 153 calories (94 of them from fat).

Peanuts in the Shell: What would a baseball game be without a bag of peanuts? Stadiums can sell as many as 6,000 bags on game days. An 8oz. bag has 840 calories; a 12oz. bag has 1,260. Yes, they have some protein and fiber. But wow on the calories.

Soft Pretzel: One large soft pretzel has 483 calories – giant soft pretzels (7-8oz.) have about 700 calories.

Draft Beer: A stadium draft beer — 20oz. cup, the usual size –has about 240 calories. A light draft saves you 60 calories.

Coca Cola: A 12oz can has 140 calories –- and close to 10 tsp. of sugar.

Helmet Ice Cream: Your team’s mini-helmet filled with swirly Carvel, 550-590 calories.

Souvenir Popcorn: At Yankee Stadium a jumbo size has 1,484 calories and a souvenir bucket has 2,473 calories.

For more “Fun in the Sun” ideas, check out my new book: 30 Ways to Have Low-Calorie Fun in the Sun: Your Guide to Guilt-Free Eating at Picnics, Amusement Parks, Barbecues & Parties available through Amazon.

Try These For Some Lower Calorie Alternatives To Top Your Ice Cream

June 27, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

You can put just about anything on ice cream — and most likely — someone, somewhere in the world has chosen some pretty random and unique toppings to put on their plain old vanilla or some other esoteric flavor.

Toppings Can Add A Mountain Of Calories

The problem is, of course, that the standard fare: toppings like hot fudge, whipped cream, peanuts, walnuts in syrup, crushed heath bar, caramel sauce – can add hundreds of calories and not much nutrition to your sundae or cone. It’s likely that nutrition is not your first thought when visions of ice cream dance in your head, but calories (and perhaps nutrition) might be.

To save calories, the first thing you can do is to order a small serving of ice cream instead of a medium or large (or one scoop instead of two or three). Even if you indulge in your favorite full-fat flavor, you’ll save as many as 550 calories with a 5-ounce size instead of a 12-ounce.

Calories In Some Common Ice Cream Toppings

Smucker’s Spoonable Hot Fudge Topping: 2tbsp, 140 calories, 4g fat, 24g carbs, 2g protein
Smucker’s Spoonable Ice Cream Topping Pecans in Syrup Topping: 1tbsp, 170 calories, 10g fat, 20g carbs, 1g protein
Regular Redi Whip: 2tbsp, 20 calories, 2g fat, 1g carbs
Cool Whip, extra creamy: 2tbsp, 32 calories
Regular M&M’s: 10 pieces,103 calories, 5.2g fat, 12.1g carbs, 1.9g protein
Peanut M&M’s: about 16 pieces, 200 calories, 10.15g fat, 23.48g carbs, 3.72g protein
Peanuts (1oz): 160 calories, 14g fat, 5g carbs, 7g protein

Some Standbys That Are Lower In Calories

Rainbow Sprinkles (Mr. Sprinkles): 1 tsp, 20 calories, 0.5g fat, 3g carbs, 0g protein
Chocolate Sprinkles (jimmies): 1 tbsp, 35 calories, 0g fat, 6g carbs, 0g protein
Smucker’s Spoonable Ice Cream Topping, Light Hot Fudge, Fat Free: 2 tbs, 90 calories, 23g carbs, 2g protein
10 mini marshmallows: 22 calories, 0 fat, 5.7g carbs, .1g protein
18 gummi bears: 140 calories, 0 fat, 43.5g carbs, 0 protein

Think Outside The Box For Lower Calorie Choices

If the world is your oyster in terms of toppings, why not think about fruit, cereal, or a crushed up 100-calorie pack of anything? Here are some other suggestions:

Smucker’s Spoonable Pineapple Topping: 2 tbsp, 100 calories, 0g fat
Regular Redi Whip: 2 tbsp, 20 calories, 2g fat, 1g carbs
Fat Free Redi Whip: 2 tbsp, 5 calories, 0g fat, 1g carbs
Cool whip, light: 2 tbsp, 16 calories
Cool Whip, fat-free: 2 tbsp, 15 calories, 43.5g carbs, 0 protein
1 mini box of raisins (.5 oz): 42 calories, 0.1g fat, 11.1g carbs, 0.4g protein
One medium banana: 105 calories, 0 fat, 27g carbs, 1g protein
One cup strawberry halves: 49 calories, 0.5g fat, 11.7g carbs, 1g protein
Sugar-free Jello pudding: 60 calories
One cup Froot Loops: 118 calories, 0.6g fat, 26.7g carbs, 1.4g protein
One cup blueberries: 83 calories, 0.5g fat, 21g carbs, 1.1g protein
Crushed pretzel sticks, 1 oz: 110 calories, 1g fat, 23g carbs, 3g protein

Just so you know:

Sugar cone (Baskin-Robbins): 45 calories
Cake or wafer cone (Baskin-Robbins): 25 calories
Waffle cone (Baskin-Robbins): 160 calories

It’s Summertime: Are You Raiding The Cabinets And Fridge More Than Usual?

June 20, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

It’s summertime. School’s out. You’re on vacation. Maybe you have a beach or lake house or maybe you’re just home – but so are the kids – all day long. Vacation and kids: most likely you’ve let down your eating guard.

There’s food in the house that might not usually be there. It’s singing a siren song. It’s almost preordained that you’ll find yourself in your kitchen opening and closing cabinet doors or with cold air from the open fridge door in your face as you shove around containers full of ice cream, sugared cereal, chips, yesterday’s cake, and slices of cold pizza.

Once you’ve opened the first door – whether it’s the fridge or a cabinet, chances are you’re a goner unless someone interrupts you midstream (even that might not stop the rolling freight train). The notion of (sweet/salty/fatty/caloric food has embedded itself in your brain and has firmly taken root.

Calorie Savers:

The easiest thing to do is to not bring the food into the house. Most of us follow, whether we like it or not, a See It = Eat It pattern. If the food is right in front of your nose whether it’s on the counter or on the shelf in the fridge or in a cabinet, you will eat the food. If it’s sugary, salty, fatty food you will want more.

If you’re going to eat, use a plate and utensils. Always put your food on a plate or in a bowl — the smaller the better. The size of the plate – or bowl – or container can often determine how much you ultimately eat. Make it a smaller dessert bowl or plate, not a monster size cereal bowl or dinner plate. If you stand there with fork or spoon in hand and just attack the container, in the blink of an eye it’s possible to polish off an entire pint of ice cream, a double piece of cake or half (or maybe a whole) bag of cookies.

Eat with a teaspoon or small fork not with a tablespoon or a large fork or with your fingers. Large amounts of food disappear much more quickly with fingers or large utensils as shovels. The food disappears down the hatch so quickly that your brain doesn’t have time to register that you’ve eaten something – until you’ve probably overeaten way too much food and way too many calories.

Don’t bring home leftovers. Don’t let them invade your space. Don’t bring back the leftover pizza or the leftover cake from the picnic.

If you just can’t bring yourself to leave your leftovers in the hands of the restaurant: 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 — trigger cravings and eating.

How To Keep Grilled Food Safe To Eat

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

Ah! Warm weather! Picnics and barbecues! Awesome grilled food!

Whoops! Picnics, barbecues, and grilling can create the perfect environment for the bacteria that already reside in food to rapidly multiply and become the cause of a foodborne illness.

It’s really important to follow safe food handling rules when you’re cooking perishable foods like meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs and Unfortunately, it’s way too easy to get a little lax about following food handling rules when the grill takes center stage.

Here are some grilling guidelines:

Always wash your hands with soap and water before and after you handle the food. Did you pick up the raw burger or the piece of fish or chicken with your fingers to put it on the grill?

When you marinate your food, let the food sit in the marinade in the refrigerator — not on the counter — or worse, out in the sun next to the grill. Don’t use the marinade that the raw meat or poultry sat in on the cooked food. Instead, reserve part of the unused marinade to baste with or to use as a sauce.

Get those coals hot. Preheat the coals on your grill for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the coals are lightly coated with ash. If you’re using a gas grill, turn on the grill so it has enough time to thoroughly heat up.

Use a food thermometer (make sure you have one at home and one to pack for grilling at picnics) to be certain that the food reaches a safe internal temperature. The FDA recommends:

Steaks and Roasts: 145 degrees F (medium rare), 160 degrees F (medium)

Fish: 145 degrees F

Pork: 145 degrees F

Ground beef: 160 degrees F

Egg dishes: 160 degrees F

Chicken breasts: 165 degrees F

Whole poultry: 165 degrees F

Shrimp, lobster, and crabs: cook until pearly and opaque

Clams, oysters, and mussels: cook until the shells are open

When the food is cooked, don’t put it on the same platter that you used to carry the raw food out to the grill, or the same tongs or spatula, either – unless they’ve been washed first in hot, soapy water.

Reusing without washing can spread bacteria from the raw juices to your cooked or ready-to-eat food. Better yet, bring a clean platter and utensils with you to the grill and remove the ones that the raw food has been on – it’s too easy to mistakenly reuse the raw food ones.

When grilled food is “ready” keep it hot until it’s served by moving it to the side of the grill rack, just away from the coals — or the burner if you’re using gas. This will keep it hot but prevent it from overcooking.

If you reheat food, make sure it reaches 165°F.

Cook only the amount of food that you think people will eat. It’s easy to cook more, but it’s a challenge to keep leftovers at a safe temperature. Throw out any leftovers that haven’t stayed within the safe temperature range.