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weight management strategies

Snow Angels and Snowballs: Try These To Burn Off Snow Day Food

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There is a heck of a lot of snow outside.  I actually can’t open my kitchen door because of a gigantic snowdrift.  Many hours after the snow has deposited a foot and a half of whiteness (without the drifts), the guy who plows my driveway hasn’t been here yet because his truck broke down.

It also happens to be two days after Christmas.  I served lunch to twenty people on Christmas Day.  I have leftovers – lots of them – and most of them are not, by any stretch of the imagination, of the low calorie variety.

Being stuck inside with many leftovers in the fridge and a post-holiday slump leads to almost continuous nibbling and noshing.  What to do?

What To Do As The Caloric Intake Approaches Stratospheric

You can do lots of things, but some of them are just not happening – like not making any trips to the fridge or just sipping chicken broth!  Sometimes there’s just no choice and you just give in and eat – recognizing that you probably will feel like a slug – a very beefy slug – for several days post food frenzy.

You can counter with some activity. It does a lot for your mood and might use up some of those excess calories. Check out the calories you can burn with these winter activities.  These are for a 150 pound person. If you weigh more you’ll burn more calories, if you weigh less you’ll burn fewer calories.


Calories Burned Per Hour With Some Winter Activities

  • Building a Snowman:   285 calories
  • Having a Snowball Fight:   319 calories
  • Making Snow Angels:   214 calories
  • Snowshoeing:  544 calories
  • Shoveling snow:   408 calories
  • Baking cookies:  170 calories
  • Sledding:  476 calories
  • Cross country skiing:  612 calories

Bundle up and go have some fun!  The hot chocolate and cookies will taste even better.

Winter Holiday Weight Gain: Is It Seven Or Is It One . . .

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Pound?  Doesn’t it feel like at least seven pounds of weight gain, all of it blubber?

A lot of us start indulging at Thanksgiving (some at Halloween) and don’t stop the free style calorie fest until those onerous New Year’s Resolutions.  Then, because we feel guilty about indulgences, we swear we won’t touch another cookie or piece of cake or candy until we lose massive amounts of weight.

That resolution is doomed to fail because it is unrealistic.  Banning something entirely (unless it is for very specific reasons) equates to deprivation. That almost always leads to you know what: admitting you can’t stand it and chowing down on a box of cookies, half a pie, or three candy bars (definitely super-sized) in a row. [Read more…] about Winter Holiday Weight Gain: Is It Seven Or Is It One . . .

A Holiday Eating Tip: Pick One Fantastic Treat

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Chocolate bark at the receptionist’s desk.  Candy canes at the dry cleaners.  A rotating selection of Christmas cookies on just about everyone’s desk.  Happy holiday food gifts from grateful clients.  And that doesn’t include the fantastic spreads at holiday parties and family events!
[Read more…] about A Holiday Eating Tip: Pick One Fantastic Treat

How Much Do Americans Love Sugar? This Much: 475 Extra Calories A Day

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The season of sugar plum fairies, ribbon candy, and sparkly cookies (and even fruit cake)  is upon us.  For about the past ten years we’ve been warned about watching how much sugar we’re eating and we still haven’t really listened.

According to the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee, Americans average 475 calories from added sugars every day.  That’s a lot more than the recommended daily max of 100 calories (six teaspoons) from added sugars for women and 150 calories (nine teaspoons) for men.  Think of it this way, that extra added 475 calories of sugar is the equivalent of 30 teaspoons a day.

A big problem with added sugars is that they both add calories and those “empty” calories displace the other nutritious foods.

Where Do Our Calories Come From?

Added sugars and solid fats account for about 35% of the calories in the average American’s diet. The recommended maximum is 5-15%.

About 36% of the added sugars come from sugary soft drinks — so cutting back on them is a good place to start trimming.

Natural vs. Added Sugars

Natural sugars are found in foods like milk and yogurt (lactose) and in fruit (fructose) as well as in many other foods. Because these sugars are found along with other healthy components in the foods, they’re considered okay.

Unfortunately, nutrition labels don’t differentiate between natural and added sugars.  Look for any form of sugar in the food’s ingredient list.

Look for all forms (typical sugars end in –ose like lactose, glucose, fructose) including brown, raw, or invert sugar and/or “syrup” including corn, high fructose corn, and malt syrup. Also look for honey, molasses, agave nectar, evaporated cane juice, and fruit juice concentrate.  Don’t be fooled by these. They sound healthy but are really just other forms of sugar.

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Examples Of Foods With Added Sugar

A 16 ounce soda has about 11 teaspoons of added sugar. Although most of our extra added sugar comes from soda, sweetened beverages like fruit drinks, sports drinks, and teas; desserts; candy; and breakfast cereals all contribute.

Here are some examples of the added sugar in some common foods. This is just the added sugar, not the natural sugar that might also be in these foods.

  • Cola, 8 oz. 22 grams
  • Cranberry juice cocktail, 8 oz., 20 grams
  • Chocolate Milk, reduced-fat, 8 oz., 14 grams
  • Tea, instant, sugar-sweetened, 8 oz., 21 grams
  • Applesauce, sweetened (1 cup), 16 grams
  • Baked beans, canned (1 cup), 15 grams
  • Oreo-type cookies (3), 12 grams
  • Cranberries, dried (1/3 cup), 25 grams
  • Fruit cocktail in syrup (1 cup), 26 grams
  • Granola bar (1 oz), 12 grams
  • Jellybeans, (1 oz, 10 large), 20 grams
  • Popcorn, caramel-coated (1 oz), 15 grams
  • Fruit yogurt (6 oz container), 19 grams

Is The Sugar In Fruit A “Diet” Buster?

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Fructose:  A Simple Sugar

Fruit sugar, or fructose, is a simple sugar that your body metabolizes quickly and easily. Fructose, has few, if any, advantages over sucrose, the kind of sugar in candy.

Moderate fruit intake is recommended as part of a healthy diet. The simple sugars, like fructose, found in fruit are not a problem for active and healthy people. But, if you have diabetes or prediabetes, too much fruit could throw your blood sugar levels out of whack.

Fruit juice is often made from fruit concentrate with added refined sugar, so too much fruit juice can be a bad thing.  FYI:  there really isn’t a big nutritional difference if your jam is sweetened with “sugar” or “fruit juice sweetener.” They are both sugar.

A Good Idea

Having fruit in your diet is a good idea for a bunch of reasons. It tastes good and most of it has a substantial amount of fiber — which helps to reduce the risk of some diseases. Fruit is also a good source of vitamins and minerals.  A well rounded diet with plenty of fruit, vegetables, and some lean protein is a good bet.

It’s also pretty cool that a lot of fruit comes in it’s own wrapper and single serving package.  Think oranges, clementines, tangerines, apples, pears, and bananas to name a few.  They’re really grab and go.  And berries – so high in antioxidants.  Delicious, too.  Watermelon is 92% water by weight, filled with vitamin C, and a necessary part of so many barbecues and beach parties.

All sugar adds calories but there are certainly a lot of reasons to choose fruit and its sugar over the nutritionally empty sugared sweet stuff like candy and soda.

The fiber and water in fruit help you to feel full.  The fruit is packed with vitamins and minerals.  Because of its fiber, fruit takes longer to digest than processed sweets made with refined sugar.  And, it doesn’t create a spike in your blood sugar —  which is then followed by a steep drop that makes you hungry all over again.

Sugar And Calories In Popular Fruit

Some examples:

One fruit or the portion shown

Calories

Carbs (in grams)

Apple (with the peel)

81

21
Apricot 17 4
Banana 105 27
Blackberries (½ cup) 37 9
Blueberries, fresh (½ cup) 41 10
Cherries (½ cup) 52 12
Grapes (10 medium seedless) 36 9
Grapefruit (1 medium half) 46 12
Mango,  fresh 135 35
Melon:   Canteloupe (1 half) 94 22
Melon:   Honeydew (1 tenth) 46 12
Nectarine (medium) 67 16
Orange 65 16
Peach 37 10
Pear (medium) 98 25
Pineapple,  fresh (½ cup cubed) 39 10
Plum 36 9
Prune (1 dried & pitted) 20 5
Raisins (dried ½ cup) 110 29
Raspberry (½ cup) 31 7
Rhubarb (½ cup cubed) 14 3
Strawberries (½ cup) 23 5
Tangerine 37 9