food facts

Liquid Calories and Holiday Parties

December 8, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

So many of us toast to the holidays with drink in hand – alcoholic or not. Be smart about the booze, the mixers, eggnog, and cider and aim to keep your calories and your buzz under control.

A standard drink is 1.5 ounces of hard liquor, 5 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer. Think about that when someone pours with a heavy hand. Odds are that five ounces of wine is far less than most of us would pour into our glass.

Calories And Grams Of Alcohol

Alcohol has 7 calories per gram but doesn’t fill you up the way food does, so you can drink a lot and not feel stuffed.

Alcohol also lowers your inhibitions and your resolve not to eat everything at the buffet table often flies right out the window.

12 ounces of beer has 153 calories and 13.9 grams of alcohol
12 ounces of lite beer has 103 calories and 11 grams of alcohol
5 ounces red wine has 125 calories and 15.6 grams of alcohol
5 ounces of white wine has 121 calories and 15.1 grams of alcohol
1 1/2 ounces (a jigger) of 80 proof (40% alcohol) liquor has 97 calories and 14 grams of alcohol
Drinking light beer rather than regular saves about 50 calories a bottle
A frozen margarita has about 45 calories an ounce
A plain martini, no olives or lemon twist, has about 61 calories an ounce
An 8 oz white Russian made with light cream has 715 calories
An 8 oz cup of eggnog has about 343 calories and 19 grams of fat thanks to alcohol, heavy cream, eggs, and sugar
Mulled wine, a combination of red wine, sugar/honey, spices, orange and lemon peel, has about 210 to 300 calories per 5 ounces, depending on how much sweetener is added
One cup (8 oz) of apple cider – without any additives – has 115 calories
A mixed drink runs about 250 calories. Watch your mixers — per ounce club soda has no calories, tonic has10, classic coke has 12, Canada Dry ginger ale has 11, orange juice has 15, and cranberry juice has 16
One hot buttered rum has 218 calories
One Irish coffee has 218 calories
One cup of coffee with cream and sugar runs at least 50 calories (more if it’s sweet and light)
1 glass cider or sparkling grape juice has 120 calories
Champagne is a comparative caloric bargain at about 19 calories an ounce

How Many Pounds Of Meat And Cheese Do You Eat In A Year?

November 29, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

According to Visual Economics:

The average American is 36.6 years old and eats 1,996.3 lbs. of food per year.
The average man is 5 feet 9 inches and weighs 190 lbs.
The average woman is 5 feet 4 inches and weighs 164 lbs.

Each year Americans eat:

85.5 lbs. of fats and oils
110 lbs. of red meat, including 62.4 lbs. of beef and 46.5 lbs. of pork
73.6 lbs. of poultry, including 60.4 lbs. of chicken
16.1 lbs. of fish and shellfish and 32.7 lbs. of eggs
31.4 lbs. of cheese each year
600.5 lbs. of non-cheese dairy products
181 lbs. of beverage milks
192.3 lbs. of flour and cereal products, including 134.1 lbs. of wheat flour
141.6 lbs. of caloric sweeteners, including 42 lbs. of corn syrup
56 lbs. of corn each year and eat 415.4 lbs. of vegetables
24 lbs. of coffee, cocoa and nuts
273.2 lbs. of fruit

These foods include:

29 lbs. of French fries
23 lbs. of pizza
24 lbs. of ice cream
53 gallons of soda, averaging about one gallon each week
24 lbs. of artificial sweeteners
2.736 lbs. of sodium, which is 47 percent more than recommended
0.2 lbs. of caffeine each year, about 90,700 mg

In total, Americans eat an average of 2,700 calories each day.

Graphic and statistics courtesy of Visual Economics

How Long Can Your Turkey Safely Stay On The Table — And In The Fridge?

November 23, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

How Do Turkeys Cross The Road?

Where I live, I often have to stop my car and wait for the wild turkeys to cross the road. I’m not kidding. They start climbing over a stone wall from a wooded area one after another. Gorgeous, they’re not. And they don’t cross in a timely fashion, either. They’re sort of in a line but sometimes one shows an independent streak and turns around to look for the others. Quite a sight – and, quite annoying when I’m in a hurry having seen this parade many times before – although it makes me smile every time!

These are not the turkeys that most of us will find on our dining room tables – but certainly are distant relatives of those eaten by the early New England settlers.

Turkey Is A Very Good Source Of Lean Protein

Turkey is low in fat and high in protein. A 3 1/2-ounce serving is about the size and thickness of a new deck of cards. The fat and calorie content varies because white meat has less fat and fewer calories than dark meat and skin.

Meat Type (from a whole roasted turkey)	Calories	Total Fat	Protein
Breast with skin	194	8 grams	29 grams
Breast w/o skin	161	4 grams	30 grams
Wing w/skin	238	13 grams	27 grams
Leg w/skin	213	11 grams	28 grams
Dark meat w/skin	232	13 grams	27 grams
Dark meat w/o skin	192	8 grams	28 grams
Skin only	482	44 grams	19 grams

Once Your Turkey Is Cooked, Does It Matter How Long You Leave It Out?

Absolutely! According to the Centers for Disease Control the number of reported cases of food borne illness (food poisoning) increases during the holiday season. You shouldn’t leave food out for more than two hours. To save turkey leftovers, remove the stuffing from the cavity, cut the turkey off the bone, and refrigerate or freeze all leftovers.

The Basic Rules For Leftovers

According to the March 2010 edition of the Nutrition Action Healthletter (Center for Science in the Public Interest):

The mantra is: 2 Hours–2 Inches–4 Days

2 Hours from oven to refrigerator: Refrigerate or freeze your leftovers within 2 hours of cooking. Throw them away if they are out longer than that.
2 Inches thick to cool it quick: Store your food at a shallow depth–about 2 inches–to speed chilling.
4 Days in the refrigerator–otherwise freeze it: Use your leftovers that are stored in the fridge within 4 days. The exceptions are stuffing and gravy which should be used within 2 days. Reheat solid leftovers to 165 degrees F and liquid leftovers to a rolling boil. Toss what you don’t finish.

How Long Can I Keep Leftover Turkey In The Freezer?

Frozen leftover turkey, stuffing, and gravy should be used within one month. To successfully freeze leftovers package them properly using freezer wrap or freezer containers. Use heavy duty aluminum foil, freezer paper, or freezer bags for best results and don’t leave air space. Squeeze the excess air from freezer bags and fill rigid freezer containers to the top with dry food. Without proper packaging, circulating air in the freezer can create freezer burn – those white dried-out patches on the surface of food that make it tough and tasteless. Leave a one inch head space in containers with liquid and half inch in containers filled with semi-solids.

Happy Thanksgiving

Worried About Thanksgiving Eating? Here’s Some Help

November 21, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

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. Our 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. Most people of average size who get moderate activity should eat between 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day, so Thanksgiving dinner is quite a hefty meal. So are the calories eaten the rest of the day — from the warm-up grazing food to the leftovers. 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 holiday. 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. It takes 3500 calories to gain or lose a pound — so think about balancing out your calories during the weeks before and after the holiday.

Don’t starve yourself the day of the grand meal. If you try 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’ll 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 other than club soda or diet soda 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?

9 Easy Ways To Eat Less

November 17, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

As the holiday season goes into full swing, here’s some helpful tips:

Fill your plate once, whether it’s from a buffet or just from the stove top. That’s it. No seconds – and double-decking isn’t such a great idea, either.
Use the smallest plates, bowls, and glasses you can to help you feel full even when you’re eating less. The smaller the plate the less food that can go on it. You probably won’t even know the difference because your eyes and brain are registering full plate. According to the CDC, a study looked at how adults reacted to four different portion sizes of macaroni and cheese given to them on different days. The larger the portion, the more people ate, eating 30% more when they were given the largest portion compared to the smallest one, yet they ranked their hunger and fullness similarly after both meals. Only 45% noticed that there were differences in the size of the portions they were served. The same optical illusion applies to glasses. Choose taller ones instead of shorter fat ones to help cut down on liquid calories.
Keep the serving bowls off of the table. Put food on your plate and then sit down to eat it. Serve reasonable portions on individual plates instead of helping yourself out of bowls on the table. According to an article in the May 2011 Nutrition Action Healthletter, when serving dishes are left on the table men eat 29% more and women 10% more than if those serving dishes stay on the counter.
Leftovers lead to overeating so make only what you need. If you do cook enough for multiple meals pack up the extras and put them away immediately. Avoid eating the little bits of leftovers in the pots – those calories really add up – as do all of those tastes while you’re cooking and preparing. Do enough nibbling and tasting and you come close to eating two meals.
Distractions equal mindless eating. Excess calories and the size of the package your food comes in influence how much you eat. The larger the package, the more you tend to eat from it. If you have a bag of chips in your lap as you watch TV or surf the net you don’t even realize how much you’re eating – and, in many cases, don’t gauge whether you’re full of not – so you keep eating. If you do watch TV or work at the computer while you’re eating, don’t eat straight from the package. Divide up the contents of one large package into several smaller portions. Put it in a bowl or on a plate.
Don’t eat off of your kid’s plate, your spouse’s plate, or your friend’s plate. The calories from someone else’s plate still count – and are oh so easy to forget about.
Hide the stuff that tempts you. Out of sight, out of mind is really true. We all tend to eat more when it’s right in front of us. Food we like triggers cravings and eating. So, keep the veggies in the front of the fridge and the rice pudding in the back. Get rid of the candy dish and the stash of pop tarts in your desk drawer. If you buy jumbo size packages, put the excess somewhere inconvenient so you’ll have to work to get at it.
Don’t feel obliged to eat out of courtesy – even if you don’t want the food or you’re full – just because you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. Get over it – the calories are going into your mouth, not theirs. If someone really hounds you about trying something you can always claim an allergy or that you’re eating heart healthy (claiming an upset stomach might buy you an early exit or other guests avoiding you like the plague).
Pick your dining companions carefully. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine seems to indicate that if you’re struggling with your weight, there is a good chance that your friends and family are, too. You also tend to mimic your table companions. If they eat fast, you eat fast – if they eat a lot, you eat a lot. In his book, Mindless Eating, Brian Wansink, PhD cites a study that shows how strong the tendency is to increase the amount you eat when you eat with others. Compared to eating alone, you eat on average:

35% more if you eat with one other person
75% more with four at the table
96% more with a group of seven or more.