Eat Out Eat Well

Thanksgiving Eating Worries? You’ve Got Them Covered!

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A Time For Giving Thanks and a Celebration of Abundance

Those of us who are lucky enough to go to or host a Thanksgiving dinner are often faced with a dilemma:  overabundance.  The Thanksgiving meal has become associated with a true groaning table – a table loaded with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes in multiple formats, cranberry sauce, gravy, green bean casserole, brussel sprouts, and traditional family specialties. For closers there’s apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, ice cream, cookies, and whatever other desserts Grandma, Aunt Sue, and Mom decide to make or bring.

A Feast and a Caloric Overload

How can you enjoy your traditional Thanksgiving dinner and not feel like a slug for days afterward? The ironic thing is that the usual main dish is really lean poultry (turkey), and the main vegetables and condiments are nutritional powerhouses (sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, and cranberries).  The traditional dessert is made from a vegetable (pumpkin pie) or nuts (pecan pie) so you wouldn’t think this would be so difficult.

The calories in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner are estimated to range from 2,000 to 4,500, depending on what you put on your plate. Given that people of average size who get moderate activity should eat between 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day, Thanksgiving dinner is quite a hefty meal. Not everyone gains weight over the holidays, but if you do, those pounds rarely come off.

Who Wants to Count Calories on a Holiday?

Most of us don’t want to count calories on a day of celebration. If you deprive yourself of the traditional foods you come to associate with holidays, more often than not you end up paying the piper. That’s when you find yourself standing in front of an open fridge rummaging for leftovers because you feel deprived from the stare down you had with your favorite foods earlier in the day.

Have Your Own Plan of Attack

Create an eating plan of attack before the celebration day. You know you’ll eat a bit more – or maybe a bit more than a bit more – than on a typical day. Mathematically allow for your holiday meal. Remember, calories in – calories out. Compensate by eating a little lighter the days before and after. Add in a long walk.

Don’t starve yourself the day of the grand meal. If you do in an attempt to save up calories for a splurge, you’ll probably be so hungry by the time dinner is ready you’ll end up shoving food into your mouth faster than you can say turkey.

The Key Is Balance, Not Deprivation

Inevitably if you deprive or restrict yourself you eventually end up overeating. The mantra becomes – “it’s just one day.” The problem is the one day extends to leftovers the next day – then the weekend – then to Christmas parties – then to the New Year’s Eve party. It could even extend to Super Bowl Sunday!

Celebrations the day of are fine. Celebrating for weeks on end is not. Plus, you end up hating yourself!

Try some of these:

  • Give yourself permission to not eat something just because it’s tradition.
  • Only eat it if you want it. Eat what you want not what you think you should.
  • Say no to the friend or relative who is pushing the extra piece of pie. You’re the one stepping on the scale or zipping up your jeans the next day – not them.
  • Make some rules for yourself and commit to them.
  • Make a deal (with yourself) that you can eat what you want during dinner. Put the food on your plate and enjoy every last morsel. I’m not even suggesting that you leave some on your plate. But – that’s it. No seconds and no double-decking the plate.
  • Limit the hors d’oeuvres. They really pack in calories. Make eating one or two your rule.
  • Trade hors d’oeuvres for a luscious piece of pie for dessert.
  • Alcohol adds calories (7 calories/gram). Alcohol with mixers adds more calories. Plus, alcohol takes the edge off lots of things – including your ability to stick to your plan.
  • Drink water. It fills you up. Have a diet soda if you want. If you’re going to drink, limit the amount – alternate with water.
  • Control your environment. Don’t hang around the buffet table or stand next to the platter of delicious whatevers. Why are you tempting yourself?
  • Talk to someone. It’s hard to shove food in your mouth when you’re talking.
  • Get rid of leftovers. The best laid plans have been defeated by leftover stuffing.
  • Don’t nibble during clean-up (or preparation for that matter). Broken cookies, pieces of piecrust, and the last spoonfuls of stuffing haven’t magically lost their calories.

If you ignored a lot of this, you ate everything is sight, and your exercise was walking back and forth to the to the buffet table, put on the tourniquet. It was just one day — just don’t let it stretch into days or weeks.

Remember to enjoy the holidays. Be grateful. That’s the point, isn’t it?

I’ll be posting more holiday facts and tips on my blog: www.SocialDieter.com as we enjoy this celebratory season. I invite you to share some of your own.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

So Many Eggs — So Many Claims — How Do You Choose?

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It’s time to do some holiday baking. One essential ingredient of most baked goods is:  eggs.  Needless to say, the fragile little power packages enclosed by brown, white, and sometimes blue shells are key players for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, too.

When you shop for eggs there are a slew of different egg cartons – most of which sport all kinds of claims about nutrients and the personal space of the hens plastered front and center.

The dilemma: how to choose.  I would love my eggs to come from happy chickens that run around in lots of space  (like my Grandmother’s chicken coop that came with individual wooden nests for each chicken and a large outdoor pen).  I don’t know how to tell if hens are happy since they don’t smile, but I guess if they are sheltered, fed, have space to roam and lay lots of eggs they might qualify.

Egg Nutrition

One large egg has 72 calories, 16 in the white, 54 in the yolk.  Each has 6.3 grams of protein, 3.6 in the white, 2.7 in the yolk.  There are 5 grams of fat, 4.5 of which are in the yolk.  1.6 grams is saturated fat – all of which is in the yolk.  There are 212 mg of cholesterol, 210 of which are in the yolk.  (There’s the answer to egg white omelettes). There are a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals in these little powerhouses, a lot of which  — but not all — reside in the yolk.

The Claims On The Carton

The following information is from a Nutrition Action Healthletter Safe-Food Report.

Verified Or Certified Claims You Can Trust:

  • USDA Organic means that the hens have to be uncaged inside barns or warehouses and have to have an unspecified amount of outdoor access.  They have to be fed a vegetarian organic diet free of antibiotics and pesticides and can’t have had any antibiotics after they were three days old.  Beak cutting (trimmed beaks prevent the chickens from harming each other) is permitted.
  • American Humane Certified means that the hens can be confined in cages or they can be cage free.  Their beaks can be cut.
  • Animal Welfare Approved means that the hens are raised by independent family farmers and in flocks of no more than 500 birds that spend their adult lives outside.  They aren’t fed any animal byproducts and their beaks can’t be cut.  Their eggs can be found at farmers markets and restaurants.
  • Certified Humane means that the hens must be uncaged inside barns or warehouses but can also be kept indoors all the time.  Beak cutting is okay.
  • United Egg Producers Certified means that the producer must meet minimum voluntary industry standards which, according to the Humane Society, “permits routine cruel and inhumane factory farm practices.”

Claims That Have Not Been Certified By An Organic Or Animal Welfare Organization (aka the companies make the claim – can you trust them???)

  • Raised Without Antibiotics should mean that the hens haven’t been fed antibiotics at any time and if the hen was sick and given them, this claim cannot be used for her eggs.  FYI:  Routine use of antibiotics for hens is illegal.
  • Cage Free means that the hens live outside of battery cages in warehouses or barns but they usually don’t have outdoor access.  They typically have two to three times more space than their caged brethren.
  • Free Range or Free Roaming hens are cage free with some outdoor access although there are not requirements for how much or what kind of access.
  • Pasture Raised or Pastured hens romp for at least some time outside foraging for bugs and vegetation.

Then There Are The Nutrient Claims

Because caged and cage free hens usually eat the same diet based on corn there’s no nutritional difference in their eggs.  However, some egg producers supplement their hens’ diet with ingredients that they claim produce an increased nutrient value in the egg (like Vitamin E).  Always check the Nutrition Facts label for specifics rather than just trusting the claim.

Then there are the Omega 3 claims.  The three kinds of Omega 3 fats are DHA, EPA, and ALA.  The first two help reduce heart attack risk, lower blood triglyceride levels, and are very important components of your brain cells and retinas.  Their most plentiful source is fatty fish like salmon.

The third kind of Omega 3, ALA, doesn’t protect your heart as much as the other two.  Most of us get ALA thorough foods made with vegetable oils.

The Hoodwink

Here’s a heads-up:  The FDA has banned omega 3 claims on eggs but egg producers still make the claims.  Read on.

An egg typically has about 25mg of DHA and 25mg of ALA.  If the carton boasts that the eggs have omega 3s but doesn’t specify how much – or – if it says that there are 50mg of omega 3s per egg, chances are it’s just an ordinary egg with the naturally occurring amount of omega 3s and a leading claim.

Some companies supplement their hens’ feed with things like algae or fish meal which can boost the DHA in each yolk to about 100mg.  Adding canola oil or flaxseed to the feed can boost ALA to around 350mg.

If the carton claim is that the eggs have 300mg or more of omega 3s most of it is probably ALA and not the more desirable DHA or EPA.

What Do You Get When You Buy A Low Calorie Or Reduced Fat Product?

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What does low fat or reduced calorie really mean?

With the holidays rapidly approaching many of us are starting to scan recipes and plan menus – which means grocery shopping.  It also means trying to balance out the excess calories from holiday meals with some “lighter” fare – which also may mean grocery shopping.

Walk down the aisle – just about any aisle – in the supermarket and the labels on packages are plastered with claims of low fat, no fat, low this, low that, and extra lean.

What a dilemma!  Sounds great, all of this reduced fat and light or “lite” food – but what does it really mean?  Does light mean that the butternut squash soup is light as a feather or that it is lighter than the pea soup?  Does reduced calorie mean that the chocolate mousse has half the calories of the “regular” mousse or that it’s ten calories less?

Unfortunately, the answers are not always what they seem to be.  For instance, according to the FDA, a food is allowed to be labeled fat free if a serving contains less than 0.5 grams of fat.  So, something could have 0.4 grams of fat and still be called fat free.

Be Aware Of Definitions – And Check The Nutrition Labels

Definitions of Some Common Terms Used On Food Packages

  • Fat-free = less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving, with no added fat or oil.
  • Low fat = 3 grams or less of fat per serving.
  • Less fat = 25% or less fat than the comparison food.
  • Saturated fat free = Less than 0.5 grams of saturated fat and 0.5 grams of trans-fatty acids per serving.
  • Cholesterol-free = less than 2 mg of cholesterol per serving and 2 grams or less of saturated fat per serving.
  • Low cholesterol = 20 mg or less of cholesterol per serving and 2 grams or less of  saturated fat per serving.
  • Reduced calorie = at least 25% fewer calories per serving than the comparison food (the “regular” version of the same food).
  • Low calorie = 40 calories or less per serving.
  • Extra lean = less than 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol per 100 gram serving of meat, poultry, or seafood.
  • Lean = less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 g of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol per 100 gram serving of meat, poultry, or seafood.
  • Light (fat) = 50% or less of the fat in the comparison food.
  • Light (calories) = one-third fewer calories than the comparison food.
  • High fiber = 5 grams or more fiber per serving.
  • Sugar-free = less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving.
  • Sodium-free (salt-free) = less than 5 mg of sodium per serving.
  • Low sodium = 140 mg or less per serving.
  • Very low sodium = 35 mg or less per serving.

It’s a good idea to read labels, know what you’re getting,  and choose wisely.

Mushrooms, Beans, And More In Your Burger

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In my last post, Are There Veggies In Your Veggie Burger, I talked about the ingredients in some commercial veggie burgers. A veggie burger patty can be made from any combination of vegetables, legumes, nuts, dairy products, mushrooms, soy, wheat, or eggs.  Many commercial veggie burgers are soy based.  Defatted soybean meal, is the  primary, low-cost source of protein for these burgers and for many prepackaged meals – as well as for animal feed.

Then There’s The Extras

Although most veggie burgers are fairly low in calories and in fat and are often thought of as a healthy alternative (which they may or may not be), don’t forget the extras — they add a ton of calories, not all of them healthy.

The add-ons include the bun the burger comes on, some cheese, more veggies (maybe grilled with oil), and the dressing.  Mayo adds a ton of calories — Hellman’s has 90 calories and 10g of fat (2 saturated) per tablespoon.  Flavored mayonnaise, pesto, chipotle and others, is still mayonnaise – and still racks up the calories and fat grams.  Don’t be fooled by “special” sauces, either.  They are usually fat based – after all a restaurant wants their veggie burger to be tasty and filling.

If it’s a pure vegetable burger you’re aiming for, try a Portobello mushroom as the patty as in the recipe below.

Portobello Mushroom Burgers

Here’s the Mayo Clinic’s recipe for Portobello Mushroom Burgers (Serves 4)

One mushroom burger (note these stats are for one burger – the recipe is for four — has  283 calories, 8g protein, 9g fat (1 saturated), 140 mg sodium, 46g carbs, 9g fiber, 8g protein.

Ingredients: 4 large portobello mushroom caps, 5 inches in diameter
 * 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
 * 1/2 cup water
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1 minced garlic clove * 
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) * 
2 tablespoons olive oil * 
4 whole-wheat buns, toasted
* 4 slices tomato
* 4 slices red onion
*2 bibb lettuce leaves

  • Clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth, remove their stems, put them in a glass dish, stem (gill) side up.
  • Whisk the vinegar, water, sugar, garlic, cayenne pepper and olive oil fpr the marinade and drizzle it over the mushrooms. Cover and marinate in the fridge for about an hour, turning the mushrooms once.
  • Heat a grill or broiler. Lightly coat the grill rack or broiler pan with cooking spray and position it 4 to 6 inches from the heat source.
  • Grill or broil the mushrooms on medium heat, turning often, until tender, about 5 minutes on each side, basting with the marinade to keep them from drying out.
  • Put each mushroom on a bun and top with 1 tomato slice, 1 onion slice and 1/2 lettuce leaf. Serve immediately.

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Here’s another recipe from allrecipes.com that is primarily vegetables.

Per burger (without extras):  198 calories, 3g fat, 607 mg sodium, 33.1g carbs, 11.2g protein

Ingredients: 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed  *  1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces  * 1/2 onion, cut into wedges  *  3 cloves garlic, peeled  *  1 egg  *   1 tablespoon chili powder  *   1 tablespoon cumin  *   1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce  *   1/2 cup bread crumbs

  • Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat or preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly oil tin foil or a baking sheet.
  • Mash the black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
  • Finely chop the bell pepper, onion, and garlic in a food processor.  Stir into mashed beans.
  • Mix together the egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce and stir into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide into four patties.
  • If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Other Options

There are plenty of recipes for veggie burgers made with beans, lentils and chickpeas and with brown rice, bulgur, and faro, and other grains (as well as good quality bread crumbs) as binders.  Mushrooms are common because of their meaty flavor and bulk.  Use your favorite vegetable.  Be creative.  You can make wonderful veggie burgers with a high vegetable content, a high deliciousness quotient, and without non-plant additives and binders.

If you don’t want to go all veggie, think about perking up your beef or turkey burgers by adding veggies to them. It lightens up the calories and adds a nutrient punch.  The veggies can be roughly chopped, or, for the finicky – try pureeing them (not to liquid a consistency) and then adding them to burgers or meatloaf.

One of my sons played lacrosse in college.  At team barbecues they always had some portobellos to throw on the grill for the vegetarians on the team.  It’s as easy as tossing on hunks of meat.  Try it some time.  Enjoy.

Are There Veggies In Your Veggie Burger?

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I had a Portobello mushroom burger the other day.  The burger was a whole Portobello cap – not ground up stuff that always leaves me wondering what exactly is making up the brown burger shaped thing that I’m eating.

Don’t get me wrong – I like veggie burgers – I just don’t like unidentified mixtures described as a veggie burger.  That could mean a whole range of ground up veggies – perhaps the ones left over from last evening’s dinner.  It could also mean almost no veggies and a whole lot of fillers and non-meat protein additives to give the burger some bulk and to make the patty stick together.

Veggie Burgers Are Everywhere

You can find veggie burgers everywhere – Burger King has a BK Veggie Burger and the frozen food aisle is loaded with them.  But are they healthier than a hamburger or turkey burger?

A regular, not a whopper, monster, or even a large size hamburger eats up a big chunk of the  recommended daily limit of 15 to 30 grams of saturated fat (depending on caloric intake).  Most veggie burgers have none to one gram of saturated fat – without the bun, cheese, mayo, etc.

Most veggie burgers weigh 2.5 ounces and have 70 to 170 calories. A “standard” meat patty is three ounces after cooking (a quarter pound of uncooked ground beef yields a 3 ounce burger). A patty made from ¼ pound of ground chuck has 193 calories, 12 g of fat (4 saturated).  Obviously, the size of the burger and the type and leanness of the meat affects its nutrition content.

Why Eat A Veggie Burger?

Some people eat veggie burgers rather than traditional hamburgers to cut calories and saturated fat, to boost their dietary fiber intake, to cut back on red meat, or for the convenience of being able to cook a frozen veggie burger in a couple of minutes.

BUT — know what you’re eating.  Shockingly, not all veggie burgers are mostly veggies.  The ones with more soy and some oil produce a more burger like texture and the ones with more grains and vegetables are less meat-like.  However, based on the ingredient lists shown below – you should question how many vegetables you are getting.

Where’s The Veggies?

Boca Burger: 120 calories, 5g fat (1.5 saturated), 380 mg sodium, 6g cars, 5g fiber, 14g protein

  • Ingredients: water, soy protein concentrate, reduced fat cheddar cheese (pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese culture, slat (no typo this is from their website), enzymes, annatto (color), vitamin A palmitate, wheat gluten, corn oil, contains less than 2% of methylcellulose, hydrolyzed corn protein, wheat gluten and soy protein, slat, caramel color, cheese powder (cheddar cheese, milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), cream, salt, sodium phosphate, lactic acid, dried onions, yeast extract, natural flavor (non-meat), sesame oil, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, browned in corn oil.

Boca Grilled Vegetable Patty: 80 calories, 1g fat, 300mg sodium, 7g carbs, 4g fiber, 12g protein

  • Ingredients: water, soy protein concentrate, red bell peppers, corn succhini, green bell peppers, onions, wheat gluten, contains less than 2% of asiago cheese (pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, potassium sorbate as a preservative, low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese (cultured pasteurized part-skim milk, salt, enzymes), dried garlic, methylcellulose, salt, caramel color, dried onions, autolyzed yeast extra ct, natural flavor (non-meat), spice, dextrose

MorningStar Farms Grillers Vegan Veggie Burgers: 100 calories, 2.5g fat, 4g fiber, 12g protein  (from website, I couldn’t find sodium count)

  • Ingredients: water, textured soy protein concentrate, corn oil, contains two percent or less of autolyzed yeast extract, vegetable gum, natural flavors from vegetable sources, maltodextrin, soy fiber, salt, carrageenan, potato starch, onion powder, caramel color, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, konjac flour, sunflower oil, sesame seed oil, soy sauce (water, soybeans, wheat, salt), concentrated onion juice, ascorbic acid, vinegar powder, citric acid, aspartic acid, modified corn starch, malic acid, succinic acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid, wheat flour, soy lecithin

BK Veggie Burger (as described on their website):  A Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie Patty, garden crisp vegetables, whole grains, and spices all topped with lettuce, red ripe tomatoes, ketchup, creamy mayo, served on a sesame seed bun

  • Nutrition: 400 calories, 16g fat (2.5 saturated), 1020 mg sodium, 43g carbs (8 sugar), 22g protein

BK Hamburger: flame-broiled beef patty, crunchy pickles, yellow mustard, ketchup, sesame seed bun.

  • Nutrition: 260 calories, 10g fat (4 saturated), 490 mg sodium, 27g carbs (6g sugar), 13g protein

Enough said!!!  Come back on Friday for some choices for veggie burgers with a few more veggies in the mix!