Courtesy of https://www.fix.com/blog/transform-grocery-habits-to-slash-food-waste/

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Want some straight-forward, sensible guidelines that focus more of how to eat rather that precisely what to eat?

According to Marion Nestle’s blog, Food Politics, Brazil has designed dietary guidelines to help protect against undernutrition and to prevent the health consequences of overweight and obesity.  (You can find the guidelines here, but if you don’t read Portuguese, you’ll have a bit of trouble.) Fortunately, Food Politics provides us with a translation of the guidelines.

There are three “golden rules:”

1. “Make foods and freshly prepared dishes and meals the basis of your diet.
2. Be sure oils, fats, sugar and salt are used in moderation in culinary preparations.
3. Limit the intake of ready-to-consume products and avoid those that are ultra-processed.”

The ten guidelines:

1. “Prepare meals from staple and fresh foods.
2. Use oils, fats, sugar and salt in moderation.
3. Limit consumption of ready-to-consume food and drink products
4. Eat regular meals, paying attention, and in appropriate environments.
5. Eat in company whenever possible.
6. Buy food at places that offer varieties of fresh foods. Avoid those that mainly sell products ready for consumption.
7. Develop, practice, share and enjoy your skills in food preparation and cooking.
8. Plan your time to give meals and eating proper time and space.
9. When you eat out, choose restaurants that serve freshly made dishes and meals. Avoid fast food chains.
10. Be critical of the commercial advertisement of food products.”

It’s not always easy or affordable to find the freshest foods and to take the time to make them. But for the majority of the time, the guidelines sound downright sensible and pretty doable, don’t you think?

The post Some Really Sensible and Easy To Follow Dietary Guidelines appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Specificity and baby steps help move you toward your new habit – but something else is key, too:  practice. Your brain needs to decide that this new habit, the new behavior, is its default.  How does your brain get the message?  By you performing – doing – that behavior over and over again.

Remember this:  What gets you to Carnegie Hall (or to the podium, or to the awards ceremony)?  Practice.  Think about this:  What makes your new healthy habit stick?  Practice.

If you’ve resolved to form new healthy habits, habits you want to keep and that fit in with your lifestyle, you need to keep repeating the new behaviors for that habit over and over again.  It’s like learning a language or a new game.  You need to keep practicing.

Why? Our brains are lazy. They like to default to what’s easy for them – and usually that’s an old habit (both good ones and bad ones).  That default behavior is easy, nice, comfortable, and doesn’t require the extra energy necessary to do something unfamiliar. Doing something that’s very familiar can be done without much thinking or energy — like eating a certain thing everyday at the same time or going for a daily run at the same time and on the same route.

The way to create a new habit and to make it “stick” is to create a new “default” pattern to replace an old one. That requires the repetitive practice of doing the same behavior over and over again – like creating a path through grass or weeds by walking on it day after day.

Some Additional Tips For Forming New Habits

• Try one change at a time. Create one new habit and then begin to work on another. Since our brains are, in a sense, kind of lazy, they don’t like too much disruption or change at a time.  They’re used to doing something one way, so pick one change at a time and create a habit around it.

• Be committed and willing to work on your habit (goal). Decide if you’re really willing to make change(s) in your life. Are you serious or half-hearted about what you want to do? “Kinda,” “sorta” goals give you “kinda,” “sorta” results. Realistic, achievable goals produce realistic results.

• Start small and specific. So many of us are guilty of all-or-nothing thinking and overly ambitious goals. Guess what happens?  We shoot ourselves in our collective feet and call ourselves failures.  Do it often enough and a “no can do” attitude gets solidly embedded. Aim for what you think you can do and keep doing it. That doesn’t mean not trying, it just means scale it to what you think you can accomplish with some effort.  If, for example, your aim is to exercise more frequently, schedule three or four days a week at the gym instead of seven. If you would like to eat healthier, try replacing dessert with something else you enjoy, like fruit or yogurt or a very small portion of a favorite indulgence — instead of saying you’re going cold turkey and will never eat a dessert again.

Unhealthy habits develop over time. Working on healthy habits to replace unhealthy ones also requires time. Be patient.  And practice.

The post The Key Thing To Do To Develop A New Habit appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Is it almost a foregone conclusion that you’ll stuff yourself to the gills when you go home to your parents’ house for holidays or other events?  Is it almost impossible for you to navigate your office without stopping at the snack room and the receptionist’s desk to sample the never-ending array of holiday specialties or someone’s birthday cake?  What about the routine lunch for a not-so-good friend that makes you go home and eat a pint of ice cream?

Know Your Triggers

Most of us can name situations that make us want to eat.  Sometimes it takes  dedicated thought to precisely identify what it is that starts the cascade of events that leads to not just wanting to eat, but the feeling that you absolutely must have a particular food — sometimes in large quantities.  Keeping a food journal where you record not only what you ate but the environment and what was going on while you were eating can help you identify the causative factors.

Sometimes those triggers are big red flags – for instance you know that having a piece of pecan pie — or any other sweet food for dessert at lunch will trigger nibbling on candy at the office the rest of the afternoon. But do you eat it anyway?

Or, do you intentionally go to store A instead of store B for a cup of coffee because you know store A always has lots of free samples of freshly baked cake and cookies?  Do you know that if cookies are in the cupboard and ice cream is in the freezer that you will sooner, rather than later, eat it?

Which Foods And Environments Are Your Red Flags?

Be honest 
with yourself and admit that certain foods and environments are red flags for you.   I know that I can’t have cookies in my house and I also know that I tend to overeat at family events.

There’s no reason to psychoanalyze why certain foods or situations act as your triggers.  Just know which particular things serve as your red flags — your triggers — and have strategies in place to deal with them.

The post What Are Your Eating Triggers? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

What Do You Want the Result To Be?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer since we all have our own needs and preferences. You may swoon over ten- layer chocolate cake while I can ignore it but can never pass up cheese fondue.

Part of the answer lies in figuring out what you really want the end result to be.   Then you can create your own individualized plan  — your own foodMAP — that you can use as a template for what to do when you find yourself in the land of food temptation.

Visualize

Visualizing a situation that you might find yourself in and then rehearsing your actions in your mind ahead of time will help you successfully navigate a whole host of food landmines and eating challenges. That’s a technique coaches use to prepare their athletes. They’re taught to anticipate what might happen and to practice how to respond to a situation. Sports performance improves with visualization exercises—so can eating behavior.

To do this effectively you have to be clear on what you want the end result to be. Is it to enjoy every kind of food available but in limited quantities – or is it to skip dessert but have a full range of tastes of all of the hors d’oeuvres?  Visualize what the environment will be like, where you’re going to be, and with whom. Think about what food is going to be available, how it will be served, how hungry you’re likely to be, what your usual eating pattern is like—and what you would like it to be.

Will your host insist you try her special dessert and refuse to take no for an answer? Will you be eating in a restaurant known for its homemade breads or phenomenal wine list? Are your dining companions picky eaters, foodies, or fast food junkies?  Will your host be really annoyed if you don’t finish every course at the special sit-down dinner?

Proactive Not Reactive

Be proactive.  Figure out your plan in advance — earlier in the day or the night before. Visualize the situation and if there’s temptation or anxiety, close your eyes and picture it. Imagine what people will say and how you will respond in a way that will make you proud of yourself without giving in to external pressures and food pushers.

Armed with your rehearsed plan, go out, use it, and stick to it as best you can. You assume control, not the circumstances and not the food.  You are firmly in charge of what happens and what food and how much of it will go into your mouth.

The post Take A Cue From Athletes: Rehearse Your Party Eating Behavior appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

You bet there is. Dietary fiber, sometimes called roughage or bulk, comes from comes from plants — whole grains, fruit, and vegetables — but not from dairy, meat, or fish.  It isn’t digested so it doesn’t add calories and it passes through your stomach and intestines and out of your body.

What’s So Great About Fiber?

Fiber:

• keeps you regular
• lowers your risk of colon and rectal cancer
• lowers blood cholesterol
• helps control blood sugar levels
• keeps you feeling fuller longer.

Two Types of Fiber

The two types of dietary fiber are insoluble, which tends to be in the peels and husks of plant foods; and soluble, which is in the fleshy interior.

Insoluble fiber, or cellulose, acts like an intestinal broom, increases stool bulk, and encourages movement through your GI tract. Good sources are whole grains, bran, seeds, nuts, zucchini, celery, broccoli, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, dark leafy vegetables, fruit, and root vegetable skins.

Soluble fiber, or pectin, dissolves in water and forms a gel – which helps slow down your digestion, delays the emptying of your stomach, makes you feel full, helps stabilize your blood sugar, and interferes with the absorption of dietary cholesterol. Good sources are oats, oat bran, peas, lentils, beans, apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, citrus fruit, carrots, celery, and cucumbers.

How Much Fiber Should You Eat?

The amount you need is tied to the number of calories you eat and Americans get, on average, only about half of what they should. For healthy adults the USDA recommends 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories and the National Cancer Institute; the National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute; and the American Heart Association all recommend 20-30 grams of (mostly soluble) fiber a day.

To get both types of fiber focus on eating a healthy diet rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. The increased amount of fiber in your diet might cause intestinal gas, but your body will adapt.  Be sure to drink plenty of water.

Tips For Getting Fiber Into Your Diet

• Spread your fiber rich foods throughout the day
• Have fiber rich cereal with fruit for breakfast
• Replace refined white bread, pasta, and rice with whole grains
• Eat a lot of vegetables and unpeeled whole fruit
• Have nuts, raw vegetables, fruit, or popcorn for snacks instead of chips or candy
• Add legumes, lentils, beans, seeds, fresh or frozen vegetables, and nuts to your soups, salads, stews, and sauces
• Add crushed bran cereal or unprocessed bran to baked goods
• Enjoy foods like these (grams of fiber in parentheses):

• Cooked split peas, 1 cup (16.3)
• Cooked lentils, 1 cup (15.6)
• Cooked black beans, 1 cup (15.0)
• Canned vegetarian baked beans, 1 cup (10.4)
• Cooked artichoke, 1 medium (10.3)
• Cooked peas, 1 cup (8.8)
• Rasberries, 1 cup (8.0)
• Whole wheat spaghetti, 1 cup (6.2)
• Cooked pearl barley, 1 cup (6.0)

The post Five Reasons It’s Important To Have Fiber In Your Diet appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

I’ve been watching members of my own family – who cover almost a century in age range – happily eat their fruit and vegetables.  Over the past few days I’ve watched a 16 month old gobble up his banana and eat half an avocado giving greater preference to them rather than to his French toast or chicken and pasta.  A three year old went for the blueberries and strawberries decorating her “happy face pancakes” before touching anything else and loves to put blackberries on the tips of her fingers and eat them one by one.

At the other end of the age spectrum, my 95 year old Aunt and 92 year old Mother, raised on a farm, rely on their fruit and vegetables as the mainstays of their diets. My Aunt wanted me to take a banana home to the 16 month old and my Mom routinely brings fruit when she visits her sister.

No one is vegetarian – everyone just naturally prefers a plant-based diet. They do couple their fruit and veggies with meat, fish, dairy, grains, and a whole lot of nuts — and they do have occasional desserts.  What they eat is a Mediterranean style diet – but they wouldn’t describe it as such. It’s just what goes on the table and what they eat and enjoy.  For my Mom and her sister, two out of 13 children, that’s a lot of fruit and veggie nutrients over close to a century’s worth of time.

Why Eating Fruit And Veggies Is A Good Idea

• They may reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases; help control blood pressure and prevent heart disease and stroke; help to avoid diverticulitis; and guard against two common causes of vision loss, cataracts and macular degeneration.

• They have a mellowing effect on blood sugar levels that can help keep your appetite in check.

• They provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health.

• Most of them are filling and are naturally low in fat and calories.

• They taste good and look great on your plate.

How Much Produce Should You Eat?

Not counting potatoes—which should be considered more of a starch than a vegetable—the average American eats just three servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Dietary guidelines call for 5 to 13 servings of fruit and vegetables a day (2½ to 6½ cups), depending on your caloric intake. A person who needs 2,000 calories a day would need 9 servings, or 4½ cups a day (remember, potatoes don’t count). Aim for a variety of types and colors to give your body the mix of nutrients it needs. The more colorful, the greater the rainbow, the better the nutrition for your body.

Love The Rainbow

Red fruit and vegetables get their color from the pigments lycopene and anthocyanin. Lycopene, found in produce like tomatoes, watermelon, and pink grapefruit, may help reduce the risk of certain cancers, especially prostate cancer.

Anthocyanins, found in strawberries, raspberries, red grapes, and other fruits and vegetables, are powerful antioxidants that protect cells from damage and help with heart health.

Orange and yellow fruit and vegetables get their color from natural plant pigments called carotenoids. Beta-carotene, found in sweet potatoes, pumpkins and carrots, is converted to vitamin A which helps maintain healthy eyes and mucous membranes. Carotenoid-rich foods can also help reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer and can improve immune system function.

Chlorophyll, a natural plant pigment, gives green fruit and vegetables their color. Some greens — like spinach, dark leafy greens, green peppers, peas, cucumbers, and celery — contain lutein which works with zeaxanthin– found in corn, red peppers, oranges, grapes and egg yolks — to help keep your eyes healthy and reduce the risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.

Indoles in broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and other cruciferous veggies help protect against some types of cancer. Leafy greens, spinach, and broccoli are great sources of folate, a B vitamin that helps reduce risk of birth defects.

Blue and purple fruit and vegetables get their color from natural plant pigments called anthocyanins, like those found in  blueberries and grapes.  They are powerful antioxidants that protect cells from damage and may help reduce risk of cancer, stroke, and heart disease. Blueberry consumption has also been linked with improved memory function and healthy aging.

White fruit and vegetables, colored by pigments called anthoxanthins, contain allicin — which might help lower cholesterol and blood pressure and possibly help reduce the risk of stomach cancer and heart disease.

A Cup Is A Cup Except . . .

A cup is a household measuring cup for most fresh or cooked vegetables and fruits. Two exceptions to that rule: for lettuce and other raw leafy greens, you need to eat 2 cups to get the equivalent of 1 cup of vegetables and for dried fruit, you only need to eat ½ cup to get the equivalent of 1 cup of fruit.

The post Were You Told To Eat Your Fruit And Veggies? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Menus, both restaurant and take-out, are filled with descriptive and sometimes mouth-watering words.  They’re meant to:

• entice you to order certain items by making them sound scrumptious, or to
• make you think that a food, sauce, or dressing is lower in calories or an awesome health food.
  

Maybe Yes, Maybe No Adjectives

This is a list of words frequently used on menus to describe foods that can be considered “yellow light foods.” They are the foods you  should cautiously choose because they may or may not be healthy choices.

• Amandine/Almondine
• Baked
• Basted
• Light/Lite
• Marinated
• Panini
• Reduced
• Sauteed
• Stewed
• Stir-Fry
• Vegetarian
• Vinaigrette

 Why They’re Yellow Light Foods:

Amandine/Almondine:  Means food that is garnished with almonds. The caution: the ingredients (often green beans, fish, asparagus, potatoes) are usually cooked with butter and seasonings and sprinkled with whole or flaked toasted almonds. The butter makes them taste good and allows the nuts to stick to the main ingredient — but both add significant calories.

Baked:  Food that is cooked by using dry heat.  The caution light applies to the main ingredients. What is being baked – is it baked fish or a baked cookie?

Basted: Means that either the juices of the cooking meat, melted fat, or other liquids such as marinades – are poured over meat during the cooking process to keep it moist.  The caution is in determining what the basting liquid is:  fat or the juice of the meat?

Light or lite:  If 50% or more of the calories in a food come  from fat, the fat must be reduced by at least 50% per serving to be called light. If less than 50% of the calories come from fat, the fat must be reduced by at least 50% or the calories reduced by at least 1/3 per serving for the food to be called light. The caution:  food manufacturers determine these percentages through laboratory analysis – but how does your local diner determine what is “light or lite” even if there is a “light or lite” claim on their menu?

Marinated:  Means to soak or steep meat, fowl, fish, or vegetables in a liquid mixture — which is usually vinegar or wine and oil combined with various spices and herbs.  The caution:  how much oil or even sweetener is in the marinade that has permeated the meat, fowl, fish, or vegetables?

Panini:  A pressed and toasted sandwich.  The caution:  What are the sandwich ingredients — for instance are they heavy on vegetables or on salami — and how much oil is used on the grill? If the sandwich comes out nice and crunchy and crispy you can bet it was pressed on a grill loaded with grease.

Reduced:  To be called reduced in calories, a food must contain at least 25% fewer calories per serving than the reference food (the version of the food that is not lower in calories).  For meals and main dishes there must be at least 25% fewer calories per 100 grams of food.  The caution:  the “reference food” (the regular, not low in calories version) may be a very high calorie food to begin with – meaning that 25% less of very high calories is still a lot calories.  And who’s measuring in the kitchen of your local restaurant? Don’t be duped.

Sauteed:  Means food that is fried quickly in a little oil.  The caution is the same as with stir-fry (see below); the amount of oil and the temperature of the oil.

Stewed:  To cook by slowly boiling or simmering.  The caution:  what is the stewing liquid — is it tomato based or is there a lot of fat?

Stir-Fry:  Means to cook small pieces of vegetables, grains, or meat by quickly frying and stirring them in a small amount of oil over high heat (frequently in a wok).  The caution is the amount and temperature of the oil.  Oil at a lower temperature will lead to a longer cooking time and the ingredients absorbing more oil.

Vegetarian:  Refers to a dish made without meat, fish, or fowl.  The caution is that many vegetarian dishes are prepared with a lot of breading, cheese, and fat.

Vinaigrette: A common salad dressing made with olive or other oils and combined with vinegar and/or lemon juice (plus seasonings and herbs).  The caution is in the proportion of oil to the acidic vinegar or lemon juice.  Sometimes it might be as great as 4:1 oil to acid and sometimes it might be 1:1, or half oil and half acid.  A fifty-fifty mix will be lower in calories than a mix that is 75% oil.

Do you have any “yellow-light foods” to add to this list?

For more menu key words and menu hacks be sure to sign up for my newsletter, “Eat Out, Eat Well.”  Just enter your email address in the box on this page — and don’t forget to confirm when you’re prompted by email.

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Are Gas Stations The New Convenience Stores?

Convenience stores sell about 80& of the gasoline purchased in the United States each year.

Many gas stations now view gas as a loss leader – a sale they’re willing to take a loss on or only make a very small profit.  They want to lure people into their mini-mart or full-fledged convenience store to shop.

Most stations don’t want to — or can’t — cut gas prices and there isn’t much they can do to jack up demand. In general, people are driving less gas stations need something to woo their competitors’ customers – so they use food.

Some station owners say they make more on a cup of coffee than on gas.  They advertise their convenience marts and other services – a gas station near my house has a dry cleaner drop-off — and work to build a base of customers who, although they could get gas anywhere, choose to buy it where they know there’s an open pump and clean bathrooms.

Road Trip Food Stops

If you’re planning a road trip you’ll most likely stop for a snack or a meal along the way.  With the proliferation of service stations or rest stops with incorporated mini-marts you probably don’t even need to leave the major roads to find a place to eat.  But, can you get something decent to eat?

Walk into most of the rest stop mini-marts and you’re assaulted by an array of vending machines, candy racks, franks on rotating grills and pre-wrapped sandwiches, donuts, coffee, and every bottled drink under the sun. You’re a captive consumer and after driving for some time you’re probably want something to:

• Keep you energized and awake
• Help with the boredom
• Reward you for endless hours of driving (especially if you have complaining or fighting kids with you)
• Perhaps bring back memories of summer road trip food you had when you were a kid (as a parent I can admit that you often give in and buy all kinds of stuff for your kids because they’re driving you crazy)

The Trap And The Danger

An endless stream of high carb, high fat, high calorie, and processed food is just begging you to plunk down your money so you can immediately indulge (watch how many people start eating the food they’ve bought before they even pay) or to take with you (in case there’s a famine around the next turn).

The real danger – aside from the damage to your waistline – is that high-carb processed foods spike then crash your blood sugar —making you really tired and cranky.

• Drowsy drivers are most definitely not safe drivers.
• Cranky drivers make life miserable for everyone in the car – not a great tone to set if you’re going on vacation.

Candy

Candy is an impulse purchase in convenience stores — 49% of shoppers say that their candy purchases were unplanned. Candy sales are steady,  generating a high margin (typically 35-40%). People will always want to treat themselves and candy is an affordable luxury.

Candy sold in convenience stores accounts for approximately 15% of all candy sold at the retail level. Chocolate bars are the winner followed by gum; bagged, repacked peg candy; candy rolls; mints and drops; non-chocolate bars; and novelties/seasonal candy.

Check out the placement of candy the next time you’re in a mini-mart or convenience store.  It’s positioned to grab your attention. It’s vividly colored wrappers reach out to you from high-traffic areas of the store: the checkout area, in the aisle that leads to the check out, and near or on the way to the cold cases holding the drinks.

Coffee

According to the National Coffee Association, more than three out of four adult Americans say that they drink coffee either daily or regularly and convenience stores are one of their preferred destinations with people stopping to buy coffee more than they fill up their cars.

Industry data show that about 95% of all convenience stores sell coffee — about 78% of hot beverage sales. The second best seller is specialty coffee and cappuccino – about 13% of hot beverages.

Unlike candy, coffee isn’t an impulse purchase.  Nearly 96% of customers intend to buy a cup of coffee before they walk in. The average visit is about two minutes so it makes putting other impulse-buy merchandise — like candy, baked goods, and chips — near the coffee bar as a way for the store to get you to spend more money. Some retailers find that people who typically purchase coffee will also buy bottled water; a grab-and-go breakfast item; or a packaged snack like an energy, protein, or granola bar.

Some Ideas About What To Buy And What To Eat

Before you go into the mini-mart at least have your own mental list of some good, better, and best choices of food to buy.  The danger is that the candy, chips, fries, and donuts call your name the minute you walk in the door.  If you know that you’re going to head straight for the nuts, or popcorn, or even a pre-wrapped sandwich, that’s great, as long as the giant chocolate chip cookie and the bargain 32 ounce soda for 99 cents doesn’t grab you first. Try to decide what you’re going to buy (hopefully, a good choice) before you go in – and then stick to your decision.

Some Choices To Think About

• Go for the nuts. Some stations have fruit (oranges and bananas come in their own wrapper and don’t have to be washed) and almost all have dried fruit — balance the sugar with the fat and protein in the nuts.

• Sometimes you can find individual bowls of Cheerios or whole grain cereals. Grab a little container of non-fat/low-fat milk or a container of yogurt.

• Popcorn is a great choice and some stations stock fat-free soy crisps, and Kashi products.

• Protein bars can be good, better, and best. Check the labels for higher protein and lower sugar.  Some can be the equivalent of a candy bar.

• If you’re really hungry choose a sandwich or burrito over donuts, cookies, and pastry.

• Beef jerky or beef sticks are good high protein snacks. So are hard boiled eggs – just make sure they’re refrigerated and haven’t been sitting around for a couple of days!

• Crackers with cheese or peanut butter and trail mix help round out the list.  If you must go with crunchy stuff stick with pretzels.  If it absolutely must be chips, look for baked varieties.  Remember that the salty stuff will make you thirsty so stock up on water.

The post What Do You Eat On A Road Trip? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

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)

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