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Pizza: 7 Calorie Saving Tips

April 14, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

PizzaGraphic7Tips

If your mouth waters at the thought of melted cheese and pepperoni on thick or thin crust, take comfort that you’re not alone:

American men, women, and children eat, on average 46 slices of pizza a year.

94% of Americans eat pizza regularly

In the US, 61% prefer regular thin crust, 14% prefer deep-dish, and 11% prefer extra thin crust

62% of Americans prefer meat toppings; 38% prefer vegetables

36% order pizza topped with pepperoni

Good Food or Junk Food?

Pizza can be pretty good food – both in calories and nutrition. On the other hand it can be pretty lousy – both in calories and nutrition.

It’s difficult to estimate the number of calories and fat grams in a slice of pizza because the size and depth of the pies and the amount of cheese, meat, or other toppings vary enormously.

Here’s the good news: pizza can be a healthy food choice filled with complex carbs, B-vitamins, calcium, protein, vitamin A, and vitamin C and calorically okay if you choose wisely and don’t eat more than your fair share.

The not so good news: the amount of fat, calories, and the variation in portion size. If your mouth starts to water at the thought of golden brown crust and cheesy goodness — here’s the downer: that luscious slice of pizza that should be about the size of two dollar bills – not the size of a small frying pan or a quarter of a 12” circle.

7 Ways To Build a Better Slice of Pizza

Order thin crust rather than a thick crust or deep dish.
Resist the urge to ask for double cheese — better yet, go light on the cheese or use reduced-fat (2%) cheese (if they have it).
Ask for a pizza without cheese but topped with veggies and a little olive oil. You can always sprinkle on a little grated parmesan for flavor; one tablespoon has only 22 calories.
Instead of cheese go for big flavors from onion, garlic, or olives but use them somewhat sparingly because of the oil. And don’t forget anchovies – a lot of flavor for minimal calories.
Choose vegetable toppings instead of meat (think about the fat content in sausage, pepperoni, and meatballs) and you might shave 100 calories from your meal. Pile on veggies like mushrooms, peppers, olives, tomatoes, onion, broccoli, spinach, and asparagus. Some places have salad pizza – great if it’s not loaded with oil.
Order a side salad (careful with the dressing) and cut down on the amount of pizza. Salad takes longer to eat, too.
If you’re willing (and not embarrassed or grossed out), try blotting up the free-floating oil that sits on top of a greasy slice with a napkin. Blotting (it’s easy to do this on the kind of hot slice where the oil runs down your arm when you pick it up) can soak up a teaspoon of oil worth 40 calories and 5 grams of fat.

Deep Dish, Hand Tossed, Thin Crust?

Check out the difference in calories for the same size slice (1/8^th of a pie) between the classic hand-tossed pizza, the deep dish, and the crunchy thin crust for the same toppings. Then check out the difference in calories for the toppings.

Domino’s 14 inch large classic hand-tossed pizza

America’s Favorite (Peperoni, mushroom, sausage, 1/8 of pizza): 390 calories
Bacon Cheeseburger (Beef, bacon, cheddar cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 420 calories
Vegi Feast (Green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, extra cheese, 1/8 of pizza): 340 calories

Domino’s 14 inch large ultimate deep dish pizza

America’s Favorite (Peperoni, mushroom, sausage), 1/8 of pizza: 400 calories
Bacon Cheeseburger (Beef, bacon, cheddar cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 430 calories
Vegi Feast (Green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, extra cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 350 calories

Domino’s 14 inch large crunchy thin crust pizza

America’s Favorite (Peperoni, mushroom, sausage, 1/8 of pizza: 280 calories)
Bacon Cheeseburger (Beef, bacon, cheddar cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 310 calories
Vegi Feast (Green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, extra cheese), 1/8 of pizza: 230 calories

Mall Pizza: There’s A Range

A slice of Sbarro’s Low Carb Cheese Pizza has 310 calories and 14 grams of fat.
A slice of Sbarro’s Low Carb Sausage/Pepperoni Pizza has 560 calories and 35 grams of fat.
A slice of Sbarro’s Fresh Tomato Pizza clocks in at 450 calories with 14 grams of fat.
Any of Sbarro’s “Gourmet” pizzas have between 610 and 780 calories a slice and more than 20 grams of fat.
A slice of Costco Food Court Pepperoni Pizza has 620 calories and 30 grams of fat.
“Stuffed” pizzas are even worse—790 calories minimum and over 33 grams of fat per slice.

Bunny Ears, Bunny Tails, and Lots of Eggs: Which Do You Head for First?

March 24, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Easter candy, 100 and 200 calories

Peeps, jellybeans, and chocolate eggs are extremely popular types of Easter candy, but the National Confectioners Association says that on Easter, children head for chocolate Easter bunnies first.

No matter how old we are, we all have our preferred way of attacking the chocolate rabbit. Just so you know where you rank, 76% of us eat the ears first, 13% bite off the feet, and 10% go for the tail. Sixty-five percent of adults prefer milk chocolate; 27% prefer dark chocolate.

Bunnies aren’t the only chocolate treat of the season. Chocolate eggs — solid, hollow, decorated, candy-coated, and filled with sweetness – give the bunnies a race through the grass.

Easter Bunnies and Eggs – the Confectionary Type

Chocolate Easter eggs, along with chocolate bunnies, first made their appearance in the 1800’s. They can be found everywhere and at every price point, some decorated with flowers and others wrapped in foil. You can find them in chain stores, discount stores, high-end chocolatiers, and sitting in a bowl on just about every receptionist’s desk.

Easter is the second ranked holiday for candy purchases in the United States (just behind Halloween) and solid, hollow, and filled chocolate Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies are extremely popular choices.

Hollow and Solid Chocolate Easter Eggs

Today’s Easter eggs are mostly sweet chocolate made from cocoa solids, fat, sugar, and some form of milk. The first chocolate eggs were solid and made of a ground roasted cacao bean paste. Hollow eggs didn’t come on the scene until sometime later when a type of “eating chocolate” was developed. By the turn of the 19^th century the improved process of making chocolate, along with newer manufacturing methods, made chocolate Easter eggs an Easter gift of choice.

Decorated with Flowers and Wrapped in Shiny Foil

John Cadbury developed the first French eating chocolate in 1842, but the first Cadbury Easter eggs didn’t arrive until 1875. A far cry from today’s Cadbury Crème egg, early Cadbury eggs were smooth surfaced dark chocolate filled with small silver candy balls called dragees.

Today’s Cadbury Crème Egg has a chocolate shell and a filling that’s a mix of white and yellow fondant made of sugar and water beaten into a crème. Since the first egg was made in the 1920s, new varieties include fillings of caramel, chocolate, mint, and peanut butter.

The average calories in popular types of chocolate Easter eggs:

Hershey’s

Cadbury Chocolate Crème Easter Egg, 1 egg (39g): 180 calories, 8g fat, 25g carbs
Cadbury Crème Egg, original milk chocolate with soft fondant crème center, 1 egg (39g): 170 calories, 6g fat), 28g carbs
Cadbury Mini Eggs, 1 package (1.4 ounces): 190 calories, 9g fat, 27g carbs
Cadbury Mini Caramel Eggs, 4 pieces (1.3 ounces): 180 calories, 9g fat, 23g carbs
Cadbury Mini Egg, 12 eggs (40g): 200 calories, 9g fat, 28g carbs
Milk Chocolate (foil) Eggs, 7 pieces (1.4 ounces): 200 calories, 12g fat, 24g carbs
Candy Coated Eggs, 8 pieces (1.3 ounces): 180 calories, 8g fat, 27g carbs

Dove

Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Eggs, 6 eggs: 240 calories, 14g fat, 26g carbs
Foil Dark/Milk Chocolate Eggs, 6 eggs (1.5 ounces): 230 calories, 14g fat, 26g carbs

Reese’s

Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Eggs, 5 pieces (38g): 190 calories, 12g fat, 21g carbs
Reese’s Pastel Eggs, 12 pieces (1.4 ounces): 190 calories, 8g fat, 25g carbs
Reese’s Giant Peanut Butter Egg (whole egg, 6 ounces): 880 calories, 52g fat, 100g carbs

M&M’s

Milk Chocolate Speck-Tacular Eggs: 1/4 Cup (12 pieces): 210 calories, 10g fat, 29g carbs
M&M’s Peanut Butter Eggs, ¼ cup: 220 calories, 13g fat, 23g carbs
M&M’s Pretzel Eggs, ¼ cup: 180 calories, 6g fat, 28g carbs

Snickers

Original Peanut Butter Egg (1.1 ounce): 160 calories, 10g fat, 18g carbs
Snickers Mini Filled Egg (0.9 ounce): 130 calories, 6g fat, 17g carbs

Russell Stover

Caramel Egg (1 ounce): 130 calories, 6g fat, 19g carbs
Truffle Egg (1 ounce): 140 calories, 8g fat, 15g carbs

Whoppers

Robin Eggs, 8 pieces (1.4 ounces): 180 calories, 5g fat, 3g carbs
Mini Robin Eggs, 24 pieces (1.4 ounces): 190 calories, 5g fat, 35g carbs

Nestle

Butterfinger Eggs, 5 pieces (1.5 ounces): 210 calories, 11g fat, 29g carbs
Crunch Eggs, 5 pieces (1.3 ounces): 190 calories, 10g fat, 25g carbs

The average calories in popular types of chocolate Easter bunnies:

Solid Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny (2.5 ounces): 370 calories (average)

Dove Solid Chocolate Easter Bunny, whole bunny (4.5 ounces): 675 calories

Cadbury Solid Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny: 890 calories

Lindt Dark/Milk Chocolate Bunny (1.4 ounces): 225 calories

Sees Whole Bunny (4.5 ounces): 650 calories

Reese’s Peanut Butter/Reester, whole bunny (5 ounces): 720 calories

Russell Stover, whole bunny (4 ounces): 630 calories

Kosher Chocolate Candy

According to the Hershey Company website, Hershey’s candy coated milk chocolate eggs, chocolate crème eggs, peanut butter eggs, and all hershey’s kisses arel OUD.

How Much Easter Candy You Can Eat for 180 Calories or Less?

Most of us don’t need a reason to indulge on a holiday – it is a celebration, after all. But, just in case you want to “carefully” indulge on Easter candy, here’s how much of your favorite candy you can gobble down to the tune of 100 calories:

17 Brach’s jellybeans = 102 calories (6 calories each)

5 Peeps = 98 calories (28 calories for one Peep)

6 Cadbury mini eggs = 96 calories (16 calories for one mini egg)

2/3 of a Cadbury Crème egg = 100 calories (one egg is 150 calories)

5 Cadbury mini crème eggs = 100 calories (one Cadbury mini crème egg has 40 calories)

2/3 of a Cadbury caramel egg = 113 calories (one Cadbury caramel egg has 170 calories)

2 Cadbury mini caramel eggs = 90 calories (one Cadbury mini caramel egg has 45 calories)

2/3 Reese’s peanut butter egg = 113 calories (one Reese’s peanut butter egg has 170 calories)

5 Hershey’s milk chocolate eggs = 102 calories (one Hershey’s milk chocolate egg has 29 calories)

4 Reese’s Peanut Butter Mini eggs: 160 calories

Jelly Beans: One by One or by the Handful?

March 20, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Jellybeans -- What's Your Favorite Color?

Should jellybeans come with a warning label: “STOP NOW or you’ll keep eating until they’re gone?” It’s pretty darn hard not to love those little nuggets of sweetness that come in multitudes of colors and flavors and get stuck in your teeth! The proof: Americans eat 16 billion jellybeans at Easter – if they were lined up end to end they would circle the earth nearly three times.

Where Did Jellybeans Come From?

The gummy insides of jellybeans are thought to have originated from the centuries old treat, Turkish Delight. Jellybean outsides are just like the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17^th century, for the Jordan almond.

The modern jellybean became popular during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged citizens to send candy to Union soldiers. Jellybeans were the first bulk candy and they became one of the staples of the penny candy that was sold by weight in the early 1900s. Because of their egg shape, which can be taken as representing fertility and birth, they became popular as Easter candy around 1930.

Standard jellybeans come in fruit flavors but there are now a huge number of flavors like spiced, mint, tropical, popcorn, bubble gum, pepper, and cola. They also come in a sugar free version (seems weird, but true – don’t you wonder how many chemicals are in those?). Teenee Beanee jelly beans and Just Born jellybeans are Pareve & O/U; Jelly Bellies are certified OU Kosher.

Do You Eat Them By The Handful Or Pick and Choose?

Do you eat your jellybeans one at a time, or do you gobble them up by the handful? What about colors and flavors – do you pick out your favorites or just eat them altogether?

70% of kids aged 6–11 say they prefer to eat Easter jellybeans one at a time
23% say they eat several at once
Boys (29%) are more likely to eat a handful than girls (18%)
Kids say their favorite Easter jellybean flavors are cherry (20%), strawberry (12%), grape (10%), lime (7%), and blueberry (6%)

What’s In The Hard Shelled Nugget Of Sweetness?

Jelly beans are primarily made of sugar and also usually contain gelatin (Jelly Bellies don’t), corn syrup, modified food starch, and less than 0.5% of citric acid, sodium citrate, artificial flavors, confectioners glaze, pectin, carnauba wax, white mineral oil, magnesium hydroxide, and artificial colors.

The traditional jellybean has flavor only in the shell. In 1976, the Jelly Belly (Goelitz) Candy Company introduced their gourmet jellybeans, Jelly Bellies, which are smaller and softer than the traditional kind and are flavored both inside and outside. Jelly Belly makes about 50 different flavors of gourmet jellybeans.

Calories In Jellybeans:

Even though they may give you Technicolor insides, jellybeans are fat free. On average:

10 small jellybeans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs
10 large jellybeans (1 ounce or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs
10 Jelly Bellies have 40 calories (4 calories a piece), or about 100 calories in a single serving (25 beans)

Jelly Bellies

Jelly Bellies were invented in 1976 and were the first jellybeans to be sold in single flavors and a menu of flavor choices.
It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jellybean.
Very Cherry was the most popular Jelly Belly flavor for two decades until 1998, when Buttered Popcorn took over. Very Cherry moved back into the top spot by only 8 million beans in 2003.
Jelly Bellies were the first jellybeans in outer space – they were sent on the space shuttle Challenger (1983) by President Reagan, a big jellybean fan.
Jelly Bellies don’t contain gelatin and are suitable for vegetarians, but some strict vegans may have issues with the beeswax and shellac used to give them their final buff and polish.
Jelly Belly jellybeans do not contain any wheat, rye, barley, or oats in the basic recipe. The modified food starch used to manufacture them is cornstarch and all ingredients are free of dairy.

Bread, Farl, Cake, or Spotted Dog?

March 14, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

St. Patrick's Spotted Dog

Green bagels and green milkshakes. It must be St. Patrick’s Day. There’s also corned beef and cabbage – and “Irish soda bread” with a cruciform, or cross, slashed on top. Have you ever wondered why the shape of the cross is slashed on the top of the bread – and why it’s known as soda bread?

Soda Bread and Native Americans

The earliest reference to the chemical reaction that makes soda bread rise is actually credited to American Indians. Centuries before soda bread became popular in Ireland, Native Americans added pearl-ash (potash), the natural soda in wood ashes, along with an acidic ingredient, to make bread rise.

Soda bread became popular in Ireland when bicarbonate of soda, also known as bread soda, became available to use as a leavening agent. Bread soda made it possible to work with the “soft” wheat grown in Ireland’s climate. “Hard” wheat flour, the main kind used in the US today, needs yeast to rise properly. “Soft” wheat flour doesn’t work well with yeast but is great for “quick breads” like soda bread.

According to The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread the earliest published recipe for soda bread was in a London magazine in 1836 – also later repeated in several US papers – that refers to a “receipt for making soda bread” found in a newspaper in Northern Ireland. The claim: “there is no bread to be had equal to it for invigorating the body, promoting digestion, strengthening the stomach, and improving the state of the bowels.” Sounds like tasting good wasn’t a big priority!

In 19th century Ireland, making bread was part of daily life and most families lived in farmhouses where kitchens had open hearths, not ovens. Bread soda meant that anyone who didn’t have an oven (most people in Ireland in the 1800’s didn’t) could make soda bread.

The bread soda wasn’t perishable and was relatively inexpensive. Buttermilk, a by-product of making butter, and the soft wheat for flour, the other components of soda bread, were commonly available. The bread was cooked on a griddle or in a bastible, a big cast-iron pot with a lid that could be put right into coals or a turf fire.

Brown or White, Cake or Farl?

“Plain” soda bread often appears with a main meal — to soak up gravy – or at breakfast. It comes both brown and white, and in two main types, cake and farl.

Traditional brown Irish soda bread is basic table bread made from whole meal flour, baking soda (bread soda), salt, and buttermilk. White soda bread, made with white flour, is considered slightly more refined than brown soda bead and is sometimes considered a more special occasion bread.

Cake tends to be found more in the south of Ireland while people in Northern Ireland seem to prefer farl — although both can be found in the North and South, sometimes with different names. Cake is soda bread that is kneaded, shaped into a flattish round, then deeply cut with a cross on the top. Now it’s normally baked in an oven.

For farl the dough is rolled into a rough circle and cut all the way through — like a cross — into four pieces or farls (“farl” is a generic term for a triangular piece of baking). It’s usually baked in a heavy frying pan on a griddle, or on top of the range or stove. It’s flatter and moister than cake. Each farl is split in half “the wide way” before it’s eaten and is best when hot. It’s also allowed to cool and then grilled or fried as part of other dishes — especially Ulster Fry, a local breakfast where golden and crispy soda bread and potato farls are fried in reserved bacon fat and then served with Irish bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomato and egg.

What’s Spotted Dog?

There are regional variations of the basic soda bread recipe – even though some purists would say there should be no additions to the dough.

In Donegal caraway seeds were traditionally put in the bread. In earlier and leaner times when raisins or dried fruit were luxuries, a fistful of them or maybe even a little sugar or an egg — if either could be spared — would have been put into the white flour version of the bread during the harvest as a treat for the working men.

The non-traditional varieties of soda breads that are made with raisins, caraway, orange zest, and other add-ins are often called Spotted Dog.

What About The Cross On Top?

Before baking, a cross is traditionally cut on the top of the soda bread loaf with a knife – often said to ward off the devil and to protect the household.

Legend and symbolism aside, there’s a practical reason for the cruciform shape to be cut into the top of the dough. Slashing the dough lets heat penetrate into the thickest part of the bread and allows the bread to stretch and expand as it rises.

Slashing a round loaf with a cruciform shape ends up dividing the bread into quadrants that can be easily broken apart (the breaking of the bread). But, since Ireland is a Catholic country, the symbolism of the cross can also be interpreted as blessing (crossing) the bread and giving thanks.

One serving (74 g) of Irish Soda Bread with raisins and caraway seeds has 214 calories, 3.67g fat, 41.51g carbs, and 4.86g protein.

Fluorescent Squishy PEEPS – Do You Love ‘em or Hate ‘em?

March 11, 2016 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Marshmallow PEEPs

If you have a thing for the fluorescent marshmallow bunnies and chicks that were hatched over 50 years ago, you’re not alone. They got their name – PEEPS — because they were originally modeled after the yellow chick.

Every year, PEEPS are the subject of lots of design contests (you’d be amazed what you can make out of peeps) and scientific experiments (some claim them to be indestructible). Just Born, the parent company of PEEPS, claims to produce enough PEEPS in one year to circle the Earth twice. Their website even boasts a fan club and a section for recipes.

Some Peep Trivia

Each Easter season, Americans buy more than 700 million Marshmallow Peeps shaped like chicks, bunnies, and eggs, making them the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy.
As many as 4.2 million Marshmallow Peeps, bunnies, and other shapes can be made each day.
In 1953, it took 27 hours to create a Marshmallow Peep. Today it takes six minutes.
Yellow Peeps are the most popular, followed by pink, lavender, blue, and white.
Peeps seem to be almost indestructible and are famous for their two-year shelf life. Scientists at Emory University claimed that Peeps eyes “wouldn’t dissolve in anything.” They tried to dissolve Peeps with water, sulfuric acid, and sodium hydroxide. No luck.

Soft Or Crunchy?

People have definite Peeps preferences. Some like them nice and soft, others like to leave them out in the air to age to perfection and acquire a little crunch on the outside.

They’ve been microwaved (careful, they expand and can really make a mess in your microwave), frozen, roasted, used to top hot chocolate, and added to recipes. Because their outer sugar coating tends to burn, they don’t toast well on sticks like regular marshmallows.

What’s In Them?

Send a PEEP to a lab for analysis and you’ll find sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, less than 0.5% of the following ingredients: yellow #5 (tartrazine), potassium sorbate (a preservative), natural flavors, dye, and carnauba wax
They’re gluten and nut free but they are not Kosher
There are sugar free PEEPS that are made with Splenda
Five little chicks (42g, one serving size) will set you back 140 calories, 0g fat, 1g protein, and 36g carbs