Eat Out Eat Well

snacks

Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jacks

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Happy Summer!  Baseball season is in full swing and so are visits to amusement parks.  What do you usually do at these places – other than watch the game, ride the roller coaster? EAT, of course!

Oh, the food!  Oh the calories!  Hang on – this post is not about ignoring the good time food.  Of course, there are always healthy food options:  you can bring your own or be scrupulous in making healthy choices. But honestly, do you think that most people really want to eat low calorie foods when they’re at a ballgame or amusement park? No way.

So what do you do when you’re at these places with food vendors about every 20 feet hawking dogs, ice cream, and beer?

There Are Ways And Then There Are Ways

If you’ve got a will of iron, I guess you could ignore the food and drinks.  But if you’re like most people and you’re tempted at every turn, you can try to minimize the damage without taking out the fun.  If you know you’re going to be having a stadium or food court meal, do some thinking, planning, and learning.  The best choices are not always the obvious ones.

Do you need both peanuts and popcorn?  Can you make do with a regular hot dog instead of a foot-long?  Can you keep it to one or two beers instead of three?  Can you choose the small popcorn instead of the jumbo tub?

Make Your Best Choice

Here’s some info to help you make your best choice.  Just a heads up – we’re not talking about the most nutritious choice because given these foods, quality nutrition is not front and center.  You can, however, enjoy your day and make the best caloric choice (with a nod to fat and sugar content) and still eat traditional ballpark and amusement park food.

  • Cotton Candy: Nothing but heated and colored sugar that’s spun into threads with added air. Cotton candy on a stick or wrapped around a paper cone (about an ounce) has around 105 calories; a 2oz. bag (common size) has 210. A lot of sugar, but not a lot of calories – albeit empty ones.
  • Cracker Jack (officially cracker jack, not jacks): candy-coated popcorn with some peanuts. A 3.5oz stadium size box has 420 calories but does have 7g  protein and 3.5g fiber.
  • Hamburger: 6oz. of beef with a bun has about 490 calories — without cheese or other toppings — which up the ante.
  • Grilled Chicken Sandwich, 6oz.: 280 calories – not a bad choice.  6oz. of chicken tenders clock in at 446 calories.  Barbecue dipping sauce adds 30 calories a tablespoon.
  • Hot Dog: Most sold out stadiums can sell 16,000 hot dogs a day. A regular hot dog with mustard has about 290 calories: 180 for the 2oz. dog, 110 for the bun, zilch for regular yellow mustard. Two tbs. sauerkraut adds another 5-10 calories, 2 tbs. ketchup adds 30, and 2 tbs. relish another 40. A Nathan’s hot dog racks up 320 calories; a foot-long Hebrew National 510 calories. Hot dogs are usually loaded with sodium.
  • Pizza: Stadium pizza is larger than a usual slice, about 1/6 of a 16-inch pie (instead of 1/8) making it about 435 calories a slice.
  • Super Nachos with Cheese: A 12oz. serving (40 chips, 4oz. cheese) has about 1,500 calories!!! Plain French fries look like a caloric bargain by comparison.
  • French Fries: A large serving has about 500 calories. A serving of Hardee’s chili cheese fries has 700 calories and 350 of them come from fat.
  • Potato Chips:  One single serving bag has 153 calories (94 of them from fat).
  • Peanuts in the Shell: What would a baseball game be without a bag of peanuts? Stadiums can sell as many as 6,000 bags on game days. An 8oz. bag has 840 calories; a 12oz. bag has 1,260. Yes, they have some protein and fiber.  But wow on the calories.
  • Soft Pretzel: One large soft pretzel has 483 calories – giant soft pretzels (7-8oz.) have about 700 calories.
  • Draft Beer: A stadium draft beer, 20oz. cup, the usual size, has about 240 calories. A light draft saves you 60 calories.
  • Coca Cola:  A 12oz can: 140 calories –- and close to 10 tsp. of sugar.
  • Helmet Ice Cream: Your team’s mini-helmet filled with swirly Carvel, 550-590 calories.
  • Souvenir Popcorn: At Yankee Stadium a jumbo size has 1,484 calories and a souvenir bucket has 2,473 calories.

Sources:

http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition
http://www.active.com/nutrition/
http://www.drweigh.com/blog/

Calories Don’t Count When . . .

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  • You buy a candy bar at the gas station and eat it in the car
  • You snag 3 tootsie rolls from the receptionist’s desk
  • You grab a couple of samples of cheesecake at Costco
  • You finish your child’s grilled cheese sandwich
  • You taste the cookie batter and lick the bowl and beaters
  • You finish the leftovers because there’s too small an amount to save

How many more can you add?

Calories Do Count

Obviously, the calories do count, it’s just that all too frequently we neglect to add them – remember them – or acknowledge them (that would mean having to admit that you ate that candy bar).

That’s why a food journal can help with weight management.  By writing down everything that you eat – not at the end of the day but when you eat it  – you’re forced to acknowledge all of the random food that you either mindfully or mindlessly pop into your mouth.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest uses frozen yogurt to illustrate how mindlessly adding toppings adds a whopping amount of calories to what might be thought of as a healthy food.

“Let’s say you start with just 200 to 300 calories’ worth of frozen yogurt. (That’s a medium or regular at places like Red Mango, Pinkberry, or TCBY.)

But then the toppings call out. Forget the chocolate chips (80 calories per scoop), the gummy bears (80), and the Oreo pieces (60). Even the ‘healthy’ toppings like granola (60 calories), nuts (100), and ‘yogurt’ chips (100) pile on the calories.”

Think about it:  when don’t your calories count?

Fast Food Facts For Kids And Their Parents

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After sugar sweetened beverages, fast food is the most unhealthy food product marketed to children. Fast food companies speak to children early, often, and when parents aren’t looking. Fast food is aggressively marketed toward children as young as two.

In 2009 the fast food industry spent more than $4.2 billion on TV advertising and other media. Preschoolers saw 21% more fast food ads on TV then in 2003; children saw 34% more; and teenagers 39% more.

According to Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, a comprehensive study looked at the marketing of the twelve largest fast food chains and at the calories, fat, sugar, and sodium in over 3,000 kids’ meal combinations and 2,781 menu items.

 

What The Study Found

  • 13-17 year olds buy 800-1,100 calories in an average fast food meal – about half of their recommended total daily calories.
  • At least 30% of the calories in menu items purchased by children and teenagers are from sugar and saturated fat.
  • A single meal contains at least half of the daily recommended sodium for young people in most fast food restaurants.
  • McDonald’s and Burger King show only healthy sides and beverages in child-targeted advertising but automatically serve french fries with kids’ meals at least 86% of the time and soft drinks at least 55% of the time.
  • Faced with pressure about portion sizes companies rename, not eliminate, their largest sides and drinks.  For example, Burger King’s 42-ounce “King” drink is now the “large” option; the previous  32-ounce “large” is now a “medium”; the  “medium” 21-ounce drink is now a “small”; and the 16-ounce “small” is now the “value” choice.
  • Kid’s food choices are affected by exposure to food and beverage ads targeted to adults. More than 60% of fast food ads seen by children are not for kids’ meals and older children (6-11) are more likely to order something from the dollar menu or a combo meal (27%) than to order a kids’ meal (21%).
  • Snacks and dessert choices had as many as 1,500 calories — five times more than the ADA’s recommended 200 to 300 calorie snack for active teens.
  • During non-meal times in the evening and after school, teens ordered more fast food than any other age group.
  • Of 3,039 possible kids’ meal combinations only twelve met preschool nutrition criteria; 15 met nutrition criteria for older kids and only 17% of regular menu items qualified as healthy choices.

 

 

Cold And Creamy Street Food

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On the streets of New York . . .

Yogo — spotted in the Meat Packing District — is served to order, non-fat frozen yogurt, in a cone or cup, with assorted toppingsl

Mr. Softee — spotted on the Upper West Side — is soft ice cream that comes as sundaes, shakes, cones, and other pre-wrapped treats with lots of kid appeal. Let’s not forget the famous Mr. Softee song that signals the truck’s presence.  Ever have a truck park right outside your windows or next to your kid’s soccer game?