Jan 15 2009
Can we do it? YES WE CAN.
Since ive been on this kick about “getting healthy”, well its more or less about losing weight but getting healthy is a bonus. Anyways since Ive been on this kick, Ive been addicted to reading nutritional labels. On like EVERYTHING. I even read the nutritional info for my water bottle, only to feel really dumb afterwards. Ive realized that you can still enjoy a lot of things while trying to diet so long as you omit the things that really are the root of weight gain. Take for example, Starbucks coffee. I love it, but I was always under the impression that not only was the caffeine super bad for you but that it was also very fattening. This is true for a couple products, but certainly not all. Take for instance, Hot Chocolate. A Grande Hot Chocolate, with 2% milk and whip cream is 370 calories, 16 grams of fat, 150 sodium, 49 carbs. Where as A Grande Hot Chocolate with non-fat milk and no whip cream is, 240 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 140 sodium and 48 carbs. Thats 130 calorie deficit, and a 13.5 deficit of fat grams! The sodium goes down by 10 and the carbs only goes down by 1 but hey anything helps right? If you decide to go down to a tall instead of grande? Well then it goes down even more. If your a regular starbucks drinker or even if you just go once in a blue moon, go to http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_info.asp Find your favorite drink, and see what you can do to make it better for you. Okay so starbucks takes care of breakfast, but what about lunch? We all dont always have the luxury to sit down to a healthy home meal for lunch, so lets take a look at what we can do to make lunch time not make us feel guilty. Lets start with the all american McDonalds because I can guarantee that no matter what city, state or even country your in, theres a mickey ds there. Mcdonalds number one selling meal for 40 years is the big mac meal. So lets look at the nutritional info for a big mac, Calories-540, Fat-29, Trans Fat-1.5, Sodium-1040, Carbs-45(less than a starbucks drink, I just found that interesting.) A regular cheeseburger has, Calories-300, Fat-12, Trans Fat-0.5, Sodium-750, Carbs-33. 240 calorie deficit, 18 fat gram deficit, 1 trans fat deficit, 290 sodium deficit, 12 carb deficit. Obviously a cheeseburger is a better choice, theres also the fish fillet meal, which if you like fish thats not a bad option. (its healthier without the tartar sauce they put on it.) And for those of you who are like me, Theres the Premium GRILLED chicken sandwich, Actually lets take a look at that really quick, Getting the Premium Chicken Sandwich grilled versus crispy saves you 110 calories, 10 fat grams and 7 carbs. Just for getting it grilled. French fries are going to be bad no matter what so if you feel you must have them, get a small, you’ll get the taste enough to be satisfied but you wont get the bloated feeling that comes from eating the larges. Some of you are reading this and saying to yourself, “I dont have to worry about that because I always order salads.” Well Ive got news for you, You could eat a small fry, cheeseburger, and small soda and still not have consumed as many calories or fat that is in your salad. The only salad from McDonalds that you can get that has less than 5 grams of fat, is the SIDE salad, and thats ONLY if you get it with NO dressing. The ranch dressing alone is 200 calories and 20, yes 20 fat grams. Add a premium Southwest salad to that and you can pack on another 430 calories and another 20 fat grams. Thats 630 calories and 40 grams of fat for a salad with ranch dressing and THATS IT. So that brings us to drinks, A large coke has 300 calories where as a large sweet tea has 20. Some places don’t have sweet tea so Orange Juice is always a good alternative. In the mood for something sweet? Skip the Mcflurry and opt for a vanilla cone instead. 3.5 fat grams and 150 calories versus the mcflurrys 620 calories and 20 fat grams. Wanna know more about mcdonalds menu? Visit http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutrition_facts.html Okay so lunch is over, you go back to work and before you know it, its time for dinner. A few friends want you to come out with them after work to celebrate the start of the weekend. 5 things you can do to make going out to eat healthier, 1.Skip appetizers. 2.Stick to Non-alcoholic beverages and if you feel you must have a “unwinding” drink stick to, Bacardi Superior and Diet Cola. 0 Fat, 0 Sugar, 0 Carbs and about 80 calories. 3. Don’t worry what or how much your friends are ordering, its not a competition and all you’ll end up doing is spending more money and taking in more calories. 4.Don’t just skim the menu, read it. Most restaurants these days have a “healthier option” section on there menus. If you have a question about the calories, fat or anything else, ask the waiter/waitress. Theres probably a nutritional section they can give you. Don’t want to ask in front of friends, or on a special date? Find out where your going before hand and look online, you can almost always find nutritional information online. Last but not least 5. Don’t be afraid to ask for a to-go box, you don’t have to finish everything in one sitting, especially if your aiming for dessert. So wrap it up and save it. But make sure you put it in the to-go box on the right side, cuz I always put it in upside down. So there you go, my two cents on eating healthier in today’s world. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m starved!
