Food Find

Found this guy in the frozen food section of the health food section at Stop & Shop a few weeks ago.  It was on sale so I thought I'd give it a try.  For only 140 calories I figured it was definitely worth a shot.

Here are the stats:

Calories: 140

Total Fat: 1.5g

Sodium: 390mg

Dietary Fiber: 5g

Protein: 9g

Calcium: 15%

While it is gluten free and nut free, it is not vegan.

Here are the ingredients:

Spinach, potatoes, egg whites, whole eggs, onions, brown sugar, rice flour, sea salt, salt and spices.

Not too bad, right?

And the verdict is that it actually tasted pretty good.  I was hungry and in a rush so I opted for the microwave cooking directions and I think I may have overcooked it, but even so, it was pretty decent.  I'd imagine that cooking it (properly) in the oven would make it even better.

They have a few other varieties as well as zucchini "pasta" dishes and desserts according to the box.  Let me know if you try this or any other of their products.

Thanks!

I should probably be on Top Chef

Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating just a tad, but really, I've impressed myself.

Top Chef is one of my favorite shows.  They're always talking about flavor profiles and things needing citrus and all sorts of little details I'd never think of on my own.

Well I put together what I'd like to consider an AMAZING flavor profile (if that's even the correct term).

I've used this combo on the delicious chicken burgers from Trader Joe's as well as the Dr. Praeger's veggie burgers.  Thing is, it's so simple, but every time I eat it I am VERY impressed with the flavor.

Two ingredients...

Hot sauce (I had bought some in Costa Rica so that's what I'm using)

Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss flavor wedges.

YUMMMY!!!!!

I typically put this delicious combo on a sandwich, hot sauce on the top and the cheese spread out on the bottom.  I can't say what it is about the combination of the two, but they taste amazing together!

Plus, the laughing cow has only 35 calories per wedge and is creamy (and dreamy).

I encourage any non-vegan readers to give it a try and let me know what you think.

Salad = Good? Not Always!

There are a ton of people out there who think that eating a salad (regardless of the ingredients) is the way to be healthy and lose weight.  Unfortunately this is very far from the case.


Years ago I fell hard for the Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad at TGI Friday's.  It was so delicious and I ate it somewhat frequently.  I had a feeling it wasn't as good for me as I wanted it to be, but I ate it anyway.  So it made me chuckle today when an email entitled "Worst Salads" came in to my inbox and the featured photo was of that salad.  Oops.


So how bad is it?  I only have the calorie content, but that is enough.
1,360 calories!  That's practically a whole day's worth of calories in one salad.
Some of the culprits...crusted means fried, bleu cheese, sugar coated pecans, sugary dried cranberries, so it does make some sense.  (To make myself feel better I have to say I'd get it without the cheese.)


But not all salads are bad.  It isn't terribly difficult to keep a salad healthy. 
Some things to consider:
Dressing - stay away from creamy dressings which are often mayo based, also get it on the side and try the fork method of just dipping the fork in to the dressing and then stabbing your food
Cheese - while cheese does provide calcium and protein, it can also provide a big dose of fat and calories, so just be mindful and know that certain cheeses are better picks than others
Meats - avoid anything friend/crusted
Dried fruit - know that many dried fruits are sweetened, which just adds calories and sugar
Tofu - depending on where you are, some places fry their tofu, which kind of negates the health benefit
Croutons - often fried and usually white flour


Any other suggestions?

Cereal

Do you like cereal?  Do you think your cereal is healthy?  If you're reading this blog you probably have more knowledge about health and nutrition than the average person, or atleast the desire to know.

Cereal is a great way to start your day (or end it), provided you make a wise selection and watch the sugar content.

Men's Health magazine's Eat This, Not That ranked some cereals and here is a summary of their findings.

Best
Fiber One Original (low in calories, high in fiber, no sugar)
Nature's Path Smart Bran (fiber!!)
Shredded Wheat Original (not frosted)
Kashi Go Lean
Grape Nuts (I tried these when I was young and was REALLY disappointed that they didn't taste like grapes)
Cheerios
Kix (best of the sweet cereals)

Worst  (typically low in fiber and high in sugar)
Smart Start
Frosted Flakes - Reduced Sugar
Trix
Froot Loops
Lucky Charms
Honey Smacks (17g of sugar!!)
Golden Crisp (the first ingredient listed is sugar)

What's your favorite cereal?  As you know from a previous post, I'm loving Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal right now.

Food Fact Friday

Haven't done calorie contents in a while, so here's a big one.

Now everyone loves the Cheesecake Factory, right?  And what doesn't sound delicious and semi-healthy about a Grilled Chicken and Avocado club?  How about the fact that it contains 1,752 calories, 28g saturated fat, and 2,309mg of sodium.  Holy cow!  (or rather, Holy chicken!)

According to Eat This on Men's Health, the sandwich portion of the menu should be avoided completely, as the lowest calorie content is 1,052 for the grilled cheese.

They actually suggest ordering the burger and swapping out the fries, which will have you at around 737 calories, 15g sat fat, and 1,018mg of sodium.  So yes, it's the lesser of the two evils and is apparently one of the best burgers out there.  Interesting.

I'm always blown away by sodium contents.  It makes me wonder what the heck they're putting in the food.  If you're a home cook, it's not terribly hard to control sodium, especially when using fresh products, so how they do it is a mystery to me.

Remember, knowledge is power.

Snack

After class on Monday I made a quick trip to Trader Joe's to pick up something to bring to a BBQ (and of course some stuff for myself).  As usual they had some samples out so I partook.  Yummy angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries and these cranberry/apple "muffins".

I'll admit it, these do taste a bit high in fiber, but if you're like me, that's OK and not a bad thing.  But I checked the nutrition facts and ingredients and was impressed, so I bought a pack.

Here are the factoids:
Calories: 80
Total Fat: 1.5g
Sodium: 180mg
Dietary Fiber: 13g
Sugars: 2g
Protein: 5g

Yes, I'm a fiber junkie, so 13 grams, woo hoo!

They're sweet enough to satisfy my sweet tooth but don't leave me feeling guilty afterwards.

Calorie Conservation at Panera Bread

My last job was sort of in the middle of nowhere.  We didn't have a ton of options for lunch, but we did have a Panera Bread nearby.  It was the unofficial meeting place of the company.  On any given trip there you were bound to run in to at least one coworker (not always a good thing).

That said, I ate there alot.  I enjoy their food and think you get a good amount of food for your dollar.

One day I decided to take a look at their nutrition facts.  They have them easily accessible on their website.  Let's just say I was surprised.  Surprised to learn just how many calories I had been taking it at lunch.

But as I always say, knowledge is power and by knowing calorie contents of various items on the menu I was able to make some changes and/or substitutions and lower those calorie counts.

Here are my tips...

• Skip the cheese - My favorite sandwich (the asiago roast beef) has cheddar cheese on it.  However the other components are flavorful enough that if you take the cheese out you won't even miss it.
• Swap the bread to Rye or Whole Grain - These choices are lower in calories and have fiber
• Watch your dressing - the Reduced Sugar Poppysead Dressing has the fewest calories, I used to sub it on any salad I ordered.  There are a few that aren't too calorie dense, so just educate yourself and know that you can customize everything
• Soup it up - Calorically speaking, your best bets are the Chicken Noodle Soup and the Onion Soup (with no cheese or croutons).  If you're concerned about sodium, skip the soup
• Sides - the whole grain baugette has 150 calories and more fiber than it's calorically even French sister.  The Baked chips are another option, they're usually Lays and have around 120 calories.  But of course the apple is your best choice.

These are just a few things I keep in mind when ordering at Panera.  Check out their menu, here's a link to the nutrition facts PDF.

Artificial Sweetners

This is a topic I've wanted to address for some time now, however there's a TON of information out there and i'm skeptical of reliability.

My trusty Nutrition Action Healthletter just included a quick synopsis and I figured i'd paraphrase.  More to come when I have some extra spare time.

Acesulfame-potassium (honestly, I'm not even sure what this is) - Tests conducted in the 70's were mediocre although one suggested it may result in an increased cancer risk in female rats.

Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) - Two recent rat studies show it may slightly increase cancer risk.  New studies should be done.

Saccharin (Sweet N' Low) - In animal studies it has caused cancer of the urinary bladder, uterus, ovaries, skin, blood vessels and other organs.

Stevia - It appears to be safe although it needs more independent testing.

Sucralose (Splenda) - It appears to be safe although there hasn't been a ton of independent testing.  It also apparently isn't as natural as ads have implied.

What does this all mean?  Honestly, i'm not sure.  Moderation perhaps?

My (version of) Pizza

Just like most NYers, I love pizza!
However since moving to CT I haven't really found a pizza place i'm enamored with.  Not to mention that when I eat pizza I SERIOUSLY overeat, not a good thing.
A couple of weeks ago it was a freezing night and I wanted pizza but didn't want to venture out (or order enough to hit a delivery minimum).  I looked through the fridge and realized that I had tomato sauce, part-skim mozzarella cheese and Arnold's sandwich flats.  The light bulb went off!
I put sauce and cheese on to one of the flats and then baked it in my toaster until the cheese had melted and browned a bit.
I must say it was delicious!  With only 100 calories in the sandwich flats, 1/4 cup cheese (80 calories) and several tablespoons of sauce (max of 80 calories), this was a healthy way to eat pizza.  Between you and me, it tasted better than some of the pizza I've had in CT.
This week I bought 100% whole wheat english muffins instead and am really looking forward to trying my pizza on them.
Pair it with a salad or a veggie and it's a very satisfying meal.  Bon appetit!

Another Tasty Snack

I found this one months ago in one of the women's fitness magazines.

Kashi TLC Crunchy Granola Bars - Pumpkin Spice Flax

Delicious and crunchy, each package (2 bars) has 180 calories, 4g fiber and 6 g protein. 8 grams of sugar which makes it a bit lower than others. (Nature Valley oats n' honey has 12 grams)

Eater Beware!

Here's another food that people think is the healthy option when in fact it may not be.

WRAPS

Ever looked at the nutrition facts on some of the wraps sold in supermarkets?  I'm shocked by the calories and fat that this "healthy" alternative often contains.

Problem is, when you're ordering a sandwich as a wrap you have no idea what brand/variety the shop is using.

A better option may be choosing Rye, Whole Wheat or Pumpernickle for your sandwich.

While you may not always have a choice, education and awareness is still key!

10 Diet Foods That Are Worse Than You Think

Fitness magazine posted this great article on facebook and I wanted to share the highlights.

Education is key to any weight loss effort.  Without this, you may fall victim to many of the food gimmicks claiming to aid in weight loss.

Here are a few examples..
Yogurt - low fat flavored yogurt can contain as much as 16 grams of sugar
Sugar-free Cookies and Candies - no sugar often means more fat
Trail mix - depending on the ingredients this can be high in (bad) fat and/or sugar
Veggie Chips - check the label, they're not much better than potato chips
Granola - high in calories
Sushi - watch out for mayo/cheese/fry
Smoothies - some contain hundreds of calories, lots of sugar and little to no protein and/or fiber
Diet drinks - this article says the artifically sweetened sweet stuff my cause other cravings
Fat-free Salad Dressing - your body needs some fat to digest veggies
Ground turkey - make sure it's extra lean otherwise it could be worse than ground beef

Check out the whole article here.

Turkey Burgers....Yum!

Last night I actually cooked dinner which is a rarity because a) I never have time and b) I live by myself.  But, I had a friend over so I made turkey burgers with roasted sweet potato pieces.  Yum!

The turkey burger recipe is so delicious (and easy) I just had to share!

Teriyaki Turkey Burgers
1 pound ground turkey (I can rarely find 1 pound so this time it was 1.19lbs)
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
dash of garlic powder

In a small bowl mix together the honey, soy sauce and garlic powder.

In a seperate bowl mix together the celery and the turkey.

Spoon 3 tablespoons of the soy/honey mixture in to the turkey. (reserving the rest to brush over the burgers as they cook, ideally on the grill)  Mix together.

Make patties and cook.  I used my Foreman grill as it's winter and cold and I don't have a BBQ.  I have also baked them but be careful as it's easy to overcook turkey and it gets dry fast.  When using my Foreman grill I don't brush them with the soy/honey mix because most of it runs off and makes a mess and smokes.  This time I served the extra as a dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

The whole batch has about 1196 calories.  I made 7 burger so that came out to about 170 calories/burger.  Not too shabby!

Two Food Posts In A Row

Found another goody and just had to pass it on.

Once again, it's Jell-O brand.  This time they have these new single serve chocolate mousse cups (sugar free!).  It's called Jell-O mousse Temptations.  They do have 2.5-3 grams of fat though.

These come in three flavors Choclate Indulgence (pictured and the only one i've tried), Caramel Creme, and Dark Chocolate Decadence.

From what I hear the Dark Chocolate Decadence is pretty tasty as well.

I found them in the Jell-O refridgerated section of my supermarket.  Keep an eye out!

Calorie Saving Tips - Mexican Food

If you're anything like me, eating out is part of your social life.  Watching what you eat shouldn't mean that you have to eat every meal at home, but you do have to be aware and exercise restraint.

Here are some tips for making better decisions when eating out at Mexican restaurants (where dishes can have tons of calories)

• Skip the cheese (often times these dishes are so flavorful that you wouldn't even taste the cheese)
• Get black beans instead of refried beans
• Limit your use of sour cream and stick with a pico de gallo or salsa
• Try to resist the chips and salsa, if need be, have a few and then ask them to take them away, or move them away from you at the table
• Ask for fajitas to be cooked with less oil or no butter (i sometimes skip the tortillas and just eat the protein and veggies)
• You might want to try subbing a salad for the rice
• If you get a taco salad, avoid the deep fried "bowl"

The principles applied here are really basic calorie cutting concepts and can be applied in most situations.