Eat Out Eat Well

Peanuts, Cracker Jacks, and Cotton Candy

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It’s summertime.  Baseball season is in full swing and so are visits to amusement parks.  What do you usually do at these places – other than watch the game and ride the roller coaster? EAT, of course!

Oh, the food!  Oh the calories! Trust me — this post isn’t about ignoring the good time food.  There are always healthy food options:  you can bring your own or be scrupulous in making healthy choices. But honestly, do you think that most people really want to eat low calorie foods when they’re at a ballgame or amusement park? No way.

So what do you do when you’re at these places with food vendors about every 20 feet hawking dogs, ice cream, and beer?

There Are Ways And Then There Are Ways

If you’ve got a will of iron, I guess you could ignore the food and drinks.  But if you’re like most people and 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 food court 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

Here’s some info to help you make your best choice.  Just a heads up – we’re not talking about the most nutritious choice because given these foods, quality nutrition is not front and center.  You can, however, enjoy your day and make the best caloric choice (with a nod to fat and sugar content) and still enjoy traditional ballpark and amusement park food.

  • 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.
  • Cracker Jack (officially cracker jack, not jacks): candy-coated popcorn with some peanuts. A 3.5oz stadium size box has 420 calories but does have 7g  protein and 3.5g fiber.
  • Hamburger:   6oz. of beef 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, 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. Hot dogs are usually loaded with sodium.
  • 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.
  • 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: 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.

5 Tips To Make Your Grilled Meat Healthier

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Grilled meat tastes good (of course you have to like meat).  Unfortunately, two types of cancer causing compounds can increase or form in some foods that are grilled or cooked at high heat.

Two Dangerous Compounds

Heterocycline amines (HCAs) increase when meat — especially beef — is cooked with high heat – not just by grilling but by pan-frying, too. HCAs can damage DNA and start the development of cancer.  Most evidence connects them to colon and stomach cancer, but they may be linked to other types of cancer, too.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) increase with grilling because they form in smoke and can get deposited on the outside of meat.

Five Things You Can Do

Here are five things you can do to decrease the formation of HCAs and PAHs:

  1. Cook or fry at lower temperatures to produce fewer HCAs.   You can turn the  gas down or wait for the charcoal’s low-burning embers.
  2. Raise your grilling surface up higher and turn your meat very frequently to reduce charring — which is highly carcinogenic. Grilling fish takes less cooking time and forms fewer HCAs than beef, pork and poultry.
  3. Marinate your meat.  According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, marinating can reduce HCA formation by as much as 92 to 99%. Scientists think that the antioxidants in marinades help block HCA formation.
  4. Add some spices and rubs. Rosemary and turmeric, for example, seem to block up to 40% of HCA formation because of their antioxidant activity. A study by Kansas State University found that rubbing rosemary onto meat before grilling greatly decreased HCA levels.  Basil, mint, sage, and oregano may be effective, too.
  5. Select leaner cuts of meat and trim excess fat to help reduce PAHs. Leaner cuts drip less fat – and dripping fat causes flare-ups and smoke which can deposit PAHs on your food.

Everything You Want To Know About Popsicles

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The Popsicle And Serendipity

By accident, on a cold night in San Francisco in 1905, an 11 year old left a powdered soda drink on the porch with a stirring stick still in it. The next morning there was this amazing frozen sweet stuff on a stick.  Years later, Frank W. Epperson, the lucky kid, applied for a patent for his discovery.  He initially called the treats Epsicles but his children called them Pop’s ’sicles.

Popsicle Trivia

  • The #1  Popsicle ice pop flavor is cherry.
  • Twin popsicles were made during the Depression so two kids could each have one for a nickel.
  • Popsicles were chosen as a symbol of American life by the Eighth Air Force Unit during world War II.
  • The Popsicle was patented in 1923 and two billion of them are sold each year.
  • Although there are many varieties, single popsicles like those found in the box in the photo have 45 calories, 11g carbs (8g sugars), no sodium, no fat, and no protein.

How Many Calories Will You Be Drinking this Summer?

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Lazy, Hazy Days Of Summer

It’s summer.  It’s hot.  You’re thirsty.  You want some shade and something cool – or maybe ice cold – to drink.

Just remember – a lot of those cool, refreshing drinks come with a hefty dose of calories.

Check Out The Calories

You might be surprised at the caloric content of a drink you have been having for years.  There is a wide variation in the number of calories even in the same category of drinks.  Do a little research and learn your best choice and then make that your drink of choice.  You often can be satisfied with, for instance, a bottle of beer that has around 100 calories rather than another brand that has around 300.

Of course, there’s always water, plain or flavored (beware the vitamin enhanced kinds with added sugar)!

Non-Alcoholic Drinks

Water and Sports Drinks

  • Gatorade:  12 oz, 80 calories
  • Propel:  24 oz, 30 calories
  • SoBe Lifewater:  20 oz, 90 calories
  • Glaceau Smart Water:  33.8 oz, 0 calories
  • Vitamin Water:  20 oz, 125 calories
  • Vitamin Water 10:  20 oz, 25 calories

Iced Coffee and Tea Drinks

  • Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta:  16 oz, 430 calories
  • Dunkin’ Donuts Sweet Tea:  16 oz, 120 calories
  • Starbuck’s Coffee Frappuccino:  16 0z (grande), 240 calories
  • Starbuck’s Coffee Frappuccino, light:  16 oz grande), 110 calories
  • Tazo Unsweetened Shaken Iced Passion Tea:  0 calories
  • Iced Brewed Coffee with classic syrup:  12 oz (tall), 60 calories

Soda

  • Coke Classic:  one 20 oz bottle, 233 calories
  • Diet coke:  one 20 oz bottle, 0 calories
  • Mountain Dew:  one 20 oz bottle, 290 calories

Alcoholic Drinks

Beer

  • Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale:  one 12 oz bottle, 330 calories
  • Samuel Adams Brown Ale:  160 calories
  • Amstel Light:  95 calories

Wine

  • Red Wine:  5 oz, 129 calories
  • White Wine:  5 oz, 120 calories
  • Sangria:  8 oz, 176 calories

Alcoholic Drinks

  • Mojito:  7 oz, 172 calories
  • Frozen Magarita: 4 oz, 180 calories (the average margarita glass holds 12 oz, 540 calories)
  • Mimosa:  137 calories
  • Gin and Tonic:  175 calories

The Single Biggest Source Of American Calories

According to CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest), carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet.  We tend to forget about the calories in sugared sports drinks and in sweetened ice teas, juices, and alcoholic beverages.  Alcohol has 7 calories per gram  — compared to protein and carbs which have 4 calories per gram and fat which has 9 calories per gram.     Couple the alcohol with sweetened juices, syrups, and, in some cases, soda, and you could be drinking a significant portion of your suggested daily calorie allowance.  There are low and lower calorie choices in each category of cold drinks.  Choose wisely, sip slowly, limit the repeats and/or alternate with water, seltzer, diet soda, or iced tea or coffee.

Some Lower Calorie Alternatives If You Like Your Ice Cream With Toppings Rather Than Naked

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Some people like their ice cream without any embellishment, and for others, the more the better.  Sometimes there’s nothing better than an ice cream sundae or a waffle cone with a bunch of toppings.

Ice cream can be topped with just about anything can be made with just about anything and I freely admit that for me, the best part is choosing what goes on top of ice cream, not the ice cream itself.

So Many Choices

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 esoteric flavor that they love.

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 all add hundreds of calories and not much nutrition to your sundae or cone.  It is likely that nutrition is not your first thought when visions of ice cream dance in your head, but calories (and perhaps nutrition) might be.

Here’s the nutrition 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 Stand-bys 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