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food facts

How Many Teaspoons Of Sugar Are In Raisins?

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Who hasn’t grabbed one of those small red boxes of raisins?  They’re a great portable snack – or are they?

Raisins are dried grapes.  The good news is that raisins are very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. They’re about 3.5% dietary fiber and 3% protein by weight.

The bad news is that a large portion of the calories in raisins comes from sugars.  By weight raisins range from about 67% to 72% sugars – mostly glucose and fructose.

Nutrition Info

A teeny mini box of raisins (.5 oz) has 42 calories, 0g fat, 11g carbs, and 0g protein.  This is the carb equivalent of about a little under 3 teaspoons of sugar.

A small box (1.5 oz) has 129 calories, 0g fat, 34g carbs, 1g protein.  This is the carb equivalent of around 8 and ½ teaspoons of sugar.

One serving of California raisins is ¼ cup and 130 calories and contains less than 2% of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of Vitamins A and C and traces of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic, Vitamin B6, folate, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and 81mg of iron.

Think About This

Raisins have a lot of good things going for them – but they’re very high in sugar.

Think of it this way: one teaspoon of granulated sugar equals 4 grams of sugar; 4 teaspoons of granulated sugar is equal to 16 grams of sugar; 8 teaspoons of sugar is equal to about 32 grams of sugar.

If you’re grabbing handfuls of raisins from the container to eat as a snack – or dumping an equally large handful on your cereal — you may be adding a lot more sugar and calories than you realize.

How Many Calories Are You Putting Into Your Coffee?

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How do you like your coffee?  Black, light and sweet, regular?

Coffee Calories Can Sneak Up On You

Black brewed coffee has around two calories in an eight ounce cup. Not a bad deal for a nice, hot beverage.

What a lot of us fail to realize is how many calories are in the stuff we put into our coffee.

Here’s Some Caloric Stats

Half and half; 2 tablespoons (1/8 cup):  40 calories

Whole milk; 2 tablespoons:  18 calories

2% (low fat) milk; 2 tablespoons:  14 calories

Non-fat milk; 2 tablespoons:  11 calories

Sugar; 1 teaspoon:  16 calories

What Do You Put Into Your Coffee?

How much milk or half and half do you put into your coffee?  We all do a freehand pour.  Try measuring how much you pour and you might be surprised.

How much sugar do you add?

How many times a day do you drink coffee?

Add This Up

Say you have three grande (Starbuck’s) – or large (Dunkin donuts) – size coffees a day.  Each is 20 ounces or 2.5 times the size of a traditional 8 ounce cup.

If you add 4 tablespoons of half and half and three teaspoons of sugar to each that’s:

  • 128 calories for the additives and around 5 calories for the coffee for a total of 133 calories for each grande/large cup of coffee.
  • Have three of those and that’s 399 calories a day of coffee your way.
  • Do that every day for a year and that’s the equivalent of 145,635 calories a year or 41.61 pounds (add a little over a tenth of a pound in a leap year)!

Of course not everyone will drink this amount of coffee with this amount of half and half and sugar.  But, it does make you stop and think about how many calories you really are putting into your coffee.

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

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.