Eat Out Eat Well

calories

Will It Be Coleslaw Or French Fries With Your Sandwich?

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Everyone loves a “side” with their sandwich.  Here’s some approximate calories counts (portion sizes and contents always vary depending on who makes or serves them).  Which would you choose?

French fries (from frozen);10 pieces of 3½ to 4 inch deep fried strips: 249 calories; 13.38g fat; 29.27g carbs; 2.93g protein

French fries, deep fried; one medium fast food order:  427 calories; 22.8g fat; 50.25g carbs; 5.04g protein

Coleslaw with dressing; 1 cup:  269 calories; 23.64g fat; 14.08g carbs; 2.36g protein

Do Restaurant Meals Sabotage Your Diet?

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Are you afraid to eat out for fear of “blowing your diet” or because you think there aren’t good choices to be had? Are you tired of hearing that you shouldn’t go to restaurants if you want to control what you eat?

Choices

You can choose to eat out and eat well. You are responsible for making good choices for yourself.

Your first choice is when you select which restaurant to go to (do you want grilled fish or a huge plate of pasta).  The second round of choices come when you’re inside the door and confronted with the menu, the breadbasket, and the portions.

Restaurant Meals

I eat out a lot.  After years of cooking for a very active family of five, I’m quite happy not to cook every night.  I actually find it easier to control my portions and calorie consumption when I eat out in restaurants.

I follow a number of unwritten guidelines that, over time,  have become habits.

I eat in the restaurant rather than ordering in or bringing prepared food home.  It is too difficult to eyeball portions when they arrive as full containers and it is far too easy to eat too much by finishing off the last bits rather than saving or tossing the leftovers.

Select Wisely

I pick my everyday restaurants carefully and I’ve developed relationships with the wait staff.   I certainly go to special restaurants on occasion and really enjoy the fantastic food – but that’s not my everyday fare. My “everyday” restaurants serve food that is friendly to my eating patterns.

They offer a range of lean proteins and vegetables and are amenable to swaps.  My local diner is so used to me ordering a side of spinach instead of home fries with my eggs that they bring it without my asking.  They make food swaps with pleasure – not with grumpiness.  I’m a good customer and ask very politely.

I don’t let the breadbasket even land on the table (if I’m eating with others it goes near them — my husband agrees with the breadbasket taboo).  Bread is way too difficult to resist when it’s staring you in the face and can add hundreds of calories before you get to the main course.

I usually drink iced tea, water, diet coke (yep, I like it), or a glass of wine.  These choices account for zero to around 120 calories for the wine (one restaurant sized glass).

If I do have dessert at an “everyday” restaurant, it’s berries in season.  If they’re not sweet enough I sprinkle a little Splenda on them – which makes my husband wince, but I find quite satisfying.

By no stretch of the imagination am I so controlled that I eat plain lean proteins and steamed vegetables all of the time.  Far from it – but for routine meals, I try to stay away from sauces, dressings, and sides of pasta, rice, or potatoes.  When I really “dine” at the finer restaurants, I deliberately choose  (not always successfully)  to limit either the number of courses or the portion size.  I attempt – again, not always successfully – to lay off the bread and control the liquid and dessert calories — often choosing either an appetizer or a dessert.

When I’m with other people who are ordering an appetizer and an entrée I often will order two appetizers instead — a practice that is so common that most waiters  don’t even blink an eye.  I find that if food is in front of me I’ll eat it – especially if it’s a lengthy meal.  The smaller the portion in front of me (appetizer size) the less I eat.  Still tastes darn good.

No Trauma

Don’t let the thought of eating out be traumatic.  Restaurants exist to serve you meals and it is up to you to choose which one to go to and what you will eat when you get there.

If you know you’re going to go for broke because you’re eating at a special place – or just because you want to – don’t freak out.  Eat and enjoy — you can always compensate by controlling what you eat earlier in the day or the next day.    Be careful about depriving yourself — you don’t want to feel so “cheated” that you end up raiding the fridge when you get home and chowing down on more calories than if you had eaten a full meal in the restaurant.

If Cooking Spray Is Made With Oil How Can It Be Calorie Free?

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There are five different kinds of cooking spray in my kitchen cabinet:  Butter flavor, Olive Oil, Canola Oil, Baking, and Professional for high heat cooking.    All say they are for non-stick cooking or baking.  Some say they are for fat-free cooking and baking.

The nutrition labels for all five call a serving size a spritz that is about 1/3 of a second or the equivalent of 0.25 grams.  The ingredient labels all list an oil (canola, olive, soybean, or vegetable) as the first ingredient. All have an emulsifier, usually soy lecithin, and a propellant.  Some have other flavorings and additional stuff – the baking spray has wheat flour.

For all of them:

Calories in a serving (a 1/3 second spray):  0

Total Fat:  0

How Can This Be?

How can something with oil listed as the first ingredient have zero calories and zero fat? 

In the US, any product that has less than 5 grams of fat per serving lists the fat content rounded to the nearest 0.5 grams. If the product contains less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving, the listed fat content is rounded to 0 grams. If a product contains 0.45 grams of fat per serving and the package has 10 servings, the label would show 0 grams of fat even though the entire package actually contains a total of 4.5 grams of fat.

All of the cooking sprays that I checked call a 1/3 second spray a serving size – that’s the equivalent of .25 grams of fat.  Because the serving size, as created by the manufacturers, is under half a gram, the nutrition label can show as 0 grams of fat and 0 calories.

Feel Duped?

0.25 grams of fat is the equivalent of 2.25 calories (fat has 9 calories per gram) — not a huge number.  However, how many of us spritz for only 1/3 of a second?  Can you even coat a small frying pan with a 1/3 second spray?

Most of us spray for at least three to six times as long – many of us for probably longer.  A one second spray has about 7 calories, 2 seconds has about 14 calories and and 1.5 grams of fat.  Again, not huge numbers, but 2 seconds is still awfully short.  Odds are that a lot of us spray our pans a bit longer.

An Alternative

We’re not talking about lots of added fat and calories.  But don’t be tricked into thinking that there are no calories or fat grams being added when you spray away.  Since nonstick cooking spray is not calorie free, be wary of drenching your pans and skillets if you’re trying to avoid too much added fat.  As you’re spritzing, count the seconds.  If the length and number of your spritzes are in danger of cranking up the fat and calorie count, either cut back on the spray or consider using a small amount of oil on a paper towel to coat your pan.  Using one teaspoon of olive oil adds 4.5 grams of fat and 40 calories and you’ll avoid the additives and propellant found in the spray.

 

Granola: Read The Label And Pull Out Your Measuring Cup

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Granola – I admit it, I love most kinds.  But, honestly, most granola can be considered a “health halo” food – a food that seems like it should be healthy (but isn’t) because of the way it’s labeled, or because of what it’s called, or because of some of its ingredients.

Granola always sounds so healthy, filled with oats, grains and maybe nuts or dried fruit – stuff that can be really good for you – except for when it’s cooked in lots of oil or butter and is sweetened with a whole lot of sugar or some other form of sweetener. It also does not have a lot of protein.

The real kicker can be the serving size.  If you haul out your cereal bowl and just dump in granola you can be in  caloric nightmare land. You really need to check serving sizes with granola – the serving size varies with the brand and can be as small as ¼ cup – which can look paltry even in a teacup. There are lower fat versions of granola – although some low fat versions are not necessarily low in calories.  Some examples of granola nutrition:

I have trouble keeping granola in my house — because I really like it.  I find myself shoveling handfuls of it into my mouth straight from the box when I open the cupboard and it’s there, calling my name.  It does make a great topping for ice cream – in measured amounts — if you’re so inclined.

But, if you love your granola and want it for your cereal, just check the ingredients and the serving size.  Know what you’re getting and what you’re eating.

What’s The Difference Between Jam, Jelly, And Fruit Butter?

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What they have in common:  they are all made from some form of fruit.

Jams and jellies are made from fruit mixed with sugar and pectin. For jelly the fruit comes from fruit juice.  For jam the fruit comes from fruit pulp or crushed fruit.  Pectin, an indigestible carbohydrate found in the cell walls of most fruit, gels when heated with sugar in water and is what causes jam and jelly to thicken.

Jam is usually a thick, chunky, and fruity spread.  Because it includes whole fruit it tends to have more vitamins and minerals than jelly. To make jam, fruit is cooked with sugar and water until it starts to soften and break up. Natural pectin is released with the long slow cooking. Some people make jam without extra added pectin – just relying on the naturally released pectin.

Because jelly is made with fruit juice – not whole fruit  — pectin has to be added for it to firm up. Without the natural tartness of whole fruit, jelly tends to be a little sweeter than jam.

Fruit butter is puréed fruit that is cooked down to a thick consistency. Fruit, with or without skin, is cooked until it is soft, put through a sieve to remove seeds and skin and/or pureed, and then flavored, if desired, with spices or lemon juice.  Fruit butter is cooked until it is thick and doesn’t have pectin added to set the mixture.  Because fruit butter is supposed to be thick and sort of buttery it is usually, but not always, made with fruit like apples, pears, or peaches rather than “seedy” berries.

What About Calories And Sugar?

Jams and jellies are high in sugar in content.  Fruit butters tend to be the winner in the calorie and carb counts — although it is possible to make or buy low or no sugar (or artificially sweetened) products.

Here’s some nutritional info: