Eat Out Eat Well

food for fun and thought

What’s A Chocolate Buzz?

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I was in a restaurant the other night and the server brought a bunch of those individually wrapped dark chocolates along with the bill.  There were six of us at the table so there was a small pile of the foil wrapped goodies on the table.

I watched an almost four year old girl  (who has an incredible sweet tooth – especially for chocolate) wrap her little fist around as many as she could fit into her vice like grip – until her Father took notice and parsed out one — much to her dismay, or should I say, extreme annoyance.

Caffeine And Chocolate

Here are a couple of facts about chocolate and caffeine that most people don’t know:

Chocolate contains caffeine – not enough to give you a big time boost, but, depending on the type of chocolate, enough to register — especially if you’re a little kid stuffing in a couple of squares or a bunch of mini chocolate bars.

It would take about 14 regularly sized (1.5 oz) bars of milk chocolate to give you the same amount of caffeine that you’d get from an 8 oz cup of java. Along with that little caffeine buzz you’d also be shoving in about 3,000 calories and more than 300 grams of sugar.  If you’re looking for caffeine, coffee seems like a better bet at about two calories in an 8 oz cup of black coffee.

Dark chocolate, the kind now frequently found in those “after dinner along with the check foil wrapped squares,” has more caffeine content than milk chocolate. But, it would still take four regularly sized bars to get the same amount that you’d find in one cup of black coffee.

Something To Think About

The next time you find yourself reaching for those foil wrapped chocolate squares after dinner (or the ones placed on your pillow in some hotels) think a cautionary caffeine note if you want a restful sleep.

It’s also worth it to remember that getting kids (and some adults) to sleep on Halloween might have a whole lot to do with not just the sugar but also the amount of caffeine in the chocolate candy in trick or treat bags.

Caffeine In Chocolate

  • Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, 1bar/1.55 oz:  9 mg caffeine
  • Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar, 1 bar/1.45 oz:  20 mg caffeine
  • Hershey’s Kisses, 9 pieces:  9 mg caffeine
  • Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, 9 pieces:  20 mg caffeine
  • Scharffen Berger Milk 41% Cacao, ½ bar:  17 mg caffeine
  • Scharffen Berger Extra Dark 82% Cacao, ½ bar:  42 mg caffeine
  • Dagoba Milk Chocolate 37% Cacao, ½ bar:  9 mg caffeine
  • Dagoba Dark Chocolate 73% Cacao, ½ bar:  36 mg caffeine

Caffeine In Coffee:

  • Coffee, generic brewed, 8 oz: 133 mg caffeine (range: 102-200; 16 oz, 266 mg caffeine)
  • Dunkin’ Donuts regular coffee, 16 oz:  206 mg caffeine
  • Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Grande), 16 oz:  320 mg caffeine
  • Coffee, generic instant, 8 oz:  93 mg caffeine (range 27-173)
  • Espresso, generic, 1 oz:  40 mg caffeine (range 30-90)
  • Starbucks Espresso, solo, 1 oz:  75 mg caffeine
  • Coffee, generic decaffeinated, 8 oz:  5 mg caffeine (range 3-12)

What About The Groceries In Your Hot Car?

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It’s hot outside.  When you open your car door after it’s been sitting in the parking lot you’re hit with a blast of heat that seems hotter than an oven .

The Temperature Rises Quickly Inside A Car

The temperature rises quickly inside a closed car — even when it’s only moderately warm outside.

A study found that at 9AM when the outside temperature was 82 degrees, the temperature inside a closed car was 109 degrees. At 1:30PM, when the outside temperature rose to 112 degrees, the temperature inside a closed car reached 124 degrees.

Cracking the windows helped, but only a very little bit. With four windows cracked, at 10AM, when the temperature was 88 degrees outside, inside the car it was 103 degrees.  At 2PM, when the outside temperature rose to 110 degrees, the internal temperature rose to 123 degrees. Certainly not safe conditions for living creatures, especially kids and dogs both of whom are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat.

What About The Food You Just Bought?

Extreme heat is certainly not a safe environment for fresh and prepared food, either.  Pity the poor groceries you just bought.  They’re sitting in extremely hot temperatures  in the back of your car.  Staples and boxed food may be fine, but meat, dairy, cut food like fresh fruit, and prepared foods — not a good situation.  Why?

When you give bacteria the conditions they like:  warmth, moisture, and nutrients, they’ll grow.   A single bacterium that divides every half hour can result in 17 million offspring in 12 hours.

The food you just bought might spoil because bacteria present in the food have multiplied like rabbits while it sits in your car in hot, conditions ideal for food spoilage.  Perishable food can stay safely unrefrigerated only for two hours if the air temperature is under 90 degrees – and only for one hour if the temperature is 90 degrees or higher.

What Can You Do To Protect Yourself And Your Family?

Be aware of the type of food you are buying.  If you have perishable items, take steps to protect yourself and your family:

  • Think about your route and how many errands you have to do. Think about stopping at the cleaners or for coffee before grocery shopping — not afterward while your groceries are baking in the car.
  • Make wise market choices.  When it’s hot outside, take your perishable items straight home.  If you know you can’t go straight home take steps to keep your purchases cool – or buy food that doesn’t need refrigeration.
  • To be on the safe side, think about keeping a cooler, cold packs, or insulated bags in your car for perishable items.  Make sure the cooler hasn’t turned into a portable oven because it’s been sitting in the car for so long.
  • Buy a bag of ice if you need to for keeping cold stuff cold and frozen stuff frozen on the way home. Or, bring some frozen gel packs with you.
  • Keep in mind that in the winter your car might be colder than your refrigerator.  Then there’s no problem stopping for coffee on the way home!

7 Tips For Living Longer And Not Getting Sick

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Accomplish at least six of the following seven heart-health lifestyle factors and, on average, over 14.5 years (the length of time of the study’s follow-up) you’ll be 51% less likely to die of all causes and 76% less likely to die of cardiovascular causes – as compared to people meeting only one or none of the factors.

The 7 Factors:

  1. Don’t smoke
  2. Be physically active
  3. Have normal blood pressure
  4. Have normal blood glucose
  5. Have normal total cholesterol levels
  6. Don’t be overweight or obese (have a BMI of less than 25)
  7. Eat a healthy diet

This Is A Case Where More Is Better

The more factors you meet, the better the result.  The benefits went beyond cardiovascular disease.  According to the researchers, meeting a greater number of the health goals appeared to be associated with a lower risk for all cancer mortality.

The study, published in JAMA and presented at a specialty meeting of the American Heart Association, analyzed data on 44,959 US adults who completed national health and nutrition surveys.

What Eating A Healthy Diet Means

Eating a healthy diet was scored based on 5 American Heart Association recommendations.  They consist of:

  1. Eating 4.5 cups or more of fruit and vegetables daily
  2. Having 2 or more 3.5 oz. servings of fish each week
  3. Having 3 or more servings (1 oz equivalent) of fiber rich whole grains each day
  4. Having less than 1500 milligrams of sodium daily
  5. Having no more than 36 oz. of sugar sweetened beverages in a week

Meeting three or more of these recommendations counted as meeting the healthy diet factor.

The Benefits Are Cumulative

The conclusion of the study was:  “Meeting a greater number of cardiovascular health metrics was associated with a lower risk of total and CVD mortality, but the prevalence of meeting all 7 cardiovascular health metrics was low in the study population.”

But, the benefits are cumulative.  Try changing just one factor at a time – which could make a big difference.  Think about starting with whatever factor is easiest for you to accomplish – do it – and then move on to the next one.

 

Can Obesity Spread Through Social Connections?

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Take a peek at your family and friends.  Do the bulk of them seem to be overflowing their chairs?

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (N Engl J Med 2007;357:370-9) found that if you’re struggling with your weight, there is a good chance that your friends and family are, too.

Using data collected over 22 years from a “densely interconnected social network” of 12,067 people  (part of the Framingham Heart Study), researchers determined that the risk of obesity extended to three degrees of separation.

Here’s what they found:

  • A person’s chance of becoming obese increases by 57% if he or she has a friend who becomes obese. In a mutual friendship, the person’s risk of obesity increases by 171% if the friend becomes obese.
  • Among pairs of adult siblings, if one sibling becomes obese the chance that the other becoming obese increases by 40%.  This is more prevalent among siblings of the same sex (55%) than among siblings of the opposite sex (27%).  Among brothers, the chance of becoming obese increases by 44% if a brother becomes obese, and among sisters there’s a 67% increased risk if a sister becomes obese. Obesity in a sibling of the opposite sex doesn’t seem to affect the obesity risk of the other one.
  • Among married couples, when one spouse is obese the other is 37% more likely to become obese. Husbands and wives appear to affect each other similarly (44% and 37%, respectively).
  • Neighbors in the immediate geographic location don’t seem to have an effect on a person’s obesity.
  • Pairs of friends and siblings of the same sex seem to have more influence on the weight gain of each other than pairs of friends and siblings of the opposite sex. In same sex friendships, the probability of obesity in one person increases by 71% if the friend becomes obese.  For friends of the opposite sex there’s no significant association.  In same sex friendships, a man has a 100% increased chance of becoming obese if his male friend becomes obese.  For female friends, the spread of obesity is a non-statistically significant 38%.

The researchers concluded, “obesity appears to spread through social ties.” Is it time to take a look around you?

Vanilla or Chocolate Chunk: What Your Ice Cream Choice Says About You

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HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Some Ice Cream Fun Facts

“If you love Double Chocolate Chunk, you tend to be lively, creative and dramatic. Always the life of the party, you charm everyone you meet with your enthusiasm and sense of style. You enjoy being in the spotlight and prefer to be in the company of friends rather than left alone to reflect on life. You prefer passion and excitement in your romantic relationships, and require a lot of attention from your mate.”

“There is nothing plain about Vanilla. In fact, if you love Vanilla, you are actually a colorful, dramatic risk taker who relies more on intuition than logic. Emotionally expressive and idealistic, you tend to set high goals for yourself, and push yourself to meet and exceed them. On the romantic front, you tend to rely on secure romantic relationships that fulfill your emotional needs while working toward future objectives.”