Eat Out Eat Well

Animal Crackers: Giraffes And Tigers But Crackers Or Cookies?

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The Red (or yellow or blue) Box With The String

Remember that cute little red, yellow or blue box with the string on top and tiny little animals on the front and back?  After you open the box and the heavy waxed paper inside you’re rewarded with crunchy little animal crackers, usually in the shape of animals you find at the circus or the zoo.

How Long Have Animal Crackers Been Around?

In the late 1800s, biscuits called “Animals” were imported from England to the United States and in 1871 Stauffer’s Biscuit Company baked their first batch stateside.

Barnum’s Animals (Crackers), named for P. T. Barnum who ran the circus, the “Greatest Show on Earth,” were first made in New York City in 1902 by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco).   Barnum, an amazing self-promoter, had absolutely nothing to do with the labeling on the box and he never got a cent for it.

The famous string appeared when Nabisco designed the box to look like a circus wagon cage and then attached a string so it could be hung as an ornament from a Christmas tree.  It sold it for 5 cents a box. As we know, the package was such a success that it remains a year round treat – 40 million are made a year — although not at the same price!

Are They Crackers Or Cookies?

The crunchy little animals resemble crackers because they are made with layered dough.  But, because the dough is sweetened they have a cookie taste and consistency.

Over the years, 54 different animals have been represented. The most recent, chosen by consumer vote, is the koala. It beat out the penguin, the walrus and the cobra.  Some other animals are  tigers, cougars, camels, rhinoceros, kangaroos, hippopotami, bison, lions, hyenas, zebras, elephants, sheep, bears, gorillas, monkeys, seals, and giraffes.

Are They Good – Or At Least Okay for You?

The little box with the string contains about two servings.

  • Each serving (about 17 crackers) has 120 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbs, 1 gram of fiber, and 2 grams of protein.
  • The ingredients are:  enriched flour, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, soybean oil, yellow corn flour, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, calcium carbonate, baking soda, salt, soy lecithin, artificial flavor.
  • Although trans fat is not listed in the nutrition facts, the ingredients contain partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil (partially hydrogenated means trans fat).

When a product contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving, the FDA requires that the content be listed in the package’s Nutrition Facts box as “0g”. When a label shows 0 grams trans fat per serving and lists a “partially hydrogenated” vegetable oil (such as soybean or cottonseed, among others) in the ingredients, the product may contain up to 0.49 grams of trans fat per serving.

Other companies do make organic and/or whole grain animal crackers and should you be concerned about ingredients these would make a better choice.  Unfortunately, they do not come in the classic box with the string which, at least for my sons, was part of the allure.

Free Food Is Everywhere

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You arrive for an early morning meeting.  Front and center is a platter loaded with bagels, danish, and doughnuts just waiting to be eaten –and to be washed down by copious amounts of coffee.  For so many this is the early morning pick-me up – and the beginning of a blood sugar roller coaster ride.

If you didn’t have time to grab some, have no fear – if all the platters aren’t picked clean the remnants will surely end up in the snack room next to the birthday cake (it’s always somebody’s birthday) or the leftover cookies from someone’s party the night before.

Perhaps you shop at Costco on the weekend.  At least three tables will be manned by someone offering you samples of hot pizza, luscious cheesecake, or tooth-picked pigs ‘n blankets just waiting to be quickly and neatly popped into your mouth.

Maybe you then make a stop at the cleaners, the tailors, the veterinarians, or the hair salon.  There it is – the giant bowl piled high with freebie candy.  You can dig deep for the kind you like – Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, mini Snickers, or Tootsie Roll pops.  You name it — it’s usually there for the taking.

Going to a wedding that night?  How do you escape the platters of salami, cheese, mini quiches, and then the desserts covered with icing, whipped cream, and powdered sugar?

What’s The Problem With Free Food?

Nothing if you don’t care about calories, how nutritious your food is, and how you are going to feel after indulging on an overload of sugar, fat, and salt.  I do know many  “starving” students who have fed themselves on free food.  The question is:  did they ultimately benefit from the hit to their bellies with no impact on their wallets?

Occasional dips into free food are probably not going to really hurt anyone in reasonable health.  But, on a consistent basis there is certainly a downside to your health.  There could me a more immediate concern, too.  A whole bunch of non-nutritious (junk, processed, and high calorie) food eaten right before a time when intense concentration and focus is necessary (translation:  exams and presentations) could certainly have a negative impact.

Most of us find it pretty darn hard to ignore “free food,” the food that’s just there for the taking. It’s everywhere – and we have become accustomed to valuing cheap calories.  Think about it:  when was the last time that you resisted the peanuts, pretzels, or popcorn sitting on the bar counter?  What about the breadbasket – that’s usually free, too.

We don’t have to eat any of this stuff.  But we do.  Why?  Some of us have trouble passing up a giveaway – even if it might be cheap, processed food.  Some of us see it as a way to save money – even with possible negative health consequences.  And a lot of us use “free” as an excuse to eat or overeat junk food or the sweet, salty, fatty foods that some call addicting.

And what about those calories?  Just because it’s free doesn’t mean the calories are, too.  It’s all too easy to forget about those calories you popped in your mouth as you snagged a candy here and tasted a cookie there.  Yikes.  You could eat a day’s worth of calories cruising through a couple of markets and food stores.

Things To Think About Before The Freebies Land In Your Mouth

You might want to come up with your own mental checklist that, with practice, will help you evaluate whether or not it’s worth it to you to indulge.  If you decide to taste the salami and have a cookie and a piece of cake, at least you will have made a mindful decision with consideration of the consequences rather than mindlessly indulging.  Ask yourself:

  • Is it fresh, tasty, healthy food?  It might be if you’re at a wedding or an event, it’s probably not it it’s being handed out at the supermarket or sitting in a large bowl at the cleaners.
  • Is it clean?  Think about this – how many fingers have been in the bowl of peanuts or have grabbed pieces of cheese or bunches of cookies off of an open platter?
  • Do you really want it – or are you eating it just because it’s there?
  • Is it loaded with fat, sugar, and salt adding up to mega calories that significantly impact your daily caloric allowance?  Every calorie counts whether it’s popped in your mouth and gone in the blink of an eye or savored more slowly and eaten with utensils off of a plate.
  • If you fill up with the non-nutritious free food, are you skimping on the good nutritious stuff later on because you are simply too full to eat it?
  • If you eat some free food, does it open the flood gates so that you continue to indulge? Loading up on simple sugars – the kind found in candy, cookies, cake, and many processed foods – causes your blood sugar level to spike and then to drop – soon leaving you hungry once again, and pretty darn cranky, too.

You Do Have Choices

You don’t have to eat food because it’s free.  No one is forcing you to make some more room on the platter.  Beware of the cascading effect.  If you allow yourself to sample the candy, pizza, cheesecake, popcorn, or pieces of cookie, are you giving yourself permission (perhaps in disguise) to overindulge in food you might not ordinarily eat?  If cost is an issue, there are many ways to find and cook nutritious food at a lower cost.  If you plan to indulge make sure you do it mindfully, not mindlessly:  build it in.  Eat a lighter lunch and don’t go shopping or to an event when you’re starving.  That’s almost a certain ticket to chowing down on almost everything in sight.

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.

Why Not A Non-Fat Caffe Latte?

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Valley Of Fatigue

When I was a kid there was a commercial on TV for Welch’s Grape Juice.  The gist of the commercial was that when you hit your 3 or 4PM energy drain – or what they called the “valley of fatigue” — a nice glass of Welch’s grape juice would help you climb right out of the bottom of that valley.

Of course, an 8 oz glass of the purple juice with 170 calories, and 42 grams of carbohydrates (40 of which are sugars), will certainly give you a pop of energy.  However, since it’s all sugar, that immediate blood sugar spike will quickly turn into a dropping blood sugar – leaving you with less energy – and probably crankier – than before.

Here’s A Better Choice

How about a non-fat skim caffe latte instead.  You could be at a mall, in a train station, an airport, sitting at your desk, or walking down the street.  There’s a Starbuck’s or a Dunkin’ Donuts, or a zillion other coffee shops if not right in front of you, then most likely around the next corner or down the road apiece.

Why Is A Non-Fat Skim A Good Idea?

Three reasons — maybe there are more, but here are three good ones:

  • Easy to find – coffee shops are everywhere
  • It’s a finite size – you ask for a certain size, you get it, you drink it and then it’s gone (unlike the rest of the cookies remaining in the box that will continue to tempt you)
  • You get a nice satisfying, long-lasting, and portable hot drink to sip with a good amount of protein and no fat; whether it’s caffeinated or decaffeinated is your choice

Nutritional Stats For a Non-Fat Caffe Latte

Starbucks’ Non-Fat Caffe Latte (espresso and non-fat milk)

  • Tall (12 oz):  100 calories, 10 grams of protein
  • Grande (16 oz):  130 calories, 13 grams protein
  • Venti (20 oz):  170 calories, 16 grams protein

Note:  Try to avoid flavored lattes which add (in sugars) 50 calories to the tall, 70 calories to the grande, and 80 calories to the venti and drops the protein count for each by a gram.

What Do Crossing The Street And Eating Have in Common?

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Look Both Ways

Don’t you look both ways before you cross the street — or shouldn’t you?  That’s called being mindful of your surroundings and potential problems – like a car or bike speeding toward you.

Check In With Yourself

The same thing is true with eating:  check in with yourself and ask if you’re really hungry.  Is your stomach growling and your blood sugar low?  Or is it the wafting smell of the freshly baked bread coming from the open door of a bakery or the sight of just out of the oven chocolate chip cookies that creates an irresistable urge to eat  – even if you’ve just had a good sized and satisfying lunch.

There’s the rub: in situations like that you are eating in response to external cues (what you see, hear, smell, or even think) rather than checking in with your body and determining if you are actually hungry.

Be Mindful

It’s called mindful eating for good reason:  you are being mindful, or thoughtful, about whether you really need or want to eat versus eating because your emotions are sending you “feed me” messages.   You know, the kind of messages that make you scarf down the mini snickers bars and the Reese’s peanut butter cups (and then some)  from your kids’ Halloween candy or propel you to taste (big serving size tastes, of course) of all three pies Aunt Mary had for Thanksgiving.

Make Your Decision

Try to let your body talk to you – and then listen to it.  There will always be occasions — certain celebrations come to mind — when it may be important or the right thing to do to eat a piece of cake or a cookie or an ice cream cone.

Before the food starts its path to your mouth, stop and ask yourself if you are really hungry or if you have head hunger  — the urge rather than the need to eat because your emotions and external cues are telling you that you should. Answer the question and proceed accordingly.