Whaaa?04:27 Jan 15 2009
Times Read: 1,450
Ok... reading this article in Men's Health entitled "14 Health Foods That Aren't." It comes from their "Eat this, not that," series. Anyway, it lists out 14 commonly eaten foods that "dieters" tend to gravitate toward when they give up things like steak and pizza, and then offers a more sensible alternative.
For example, the first item on their list is a bran muffin.
1. Bran Muffin
420 calories
20 g fat
Eat this instead!
Ham, egg and cheese on an English muffin
300 calories
12 g fat
Bran muffins are comprised of two things your body doesn't want in the morning: sugar and refined flour. Both will work to spike your blood sugar, which signals your body to start storing fat and sets you up for a mid-morning crash. And with only trace amounts of fiber, there's nothing healthy about this misunderstood muffin. The breakfast sandwich, on the other hand, is a surprisingly great way to start your day. Besides having fewer calories, fat, and carbs, it also offers about 20 grams of protein, which we really need in the morning to jumpstart our metabolism.
Ok... I will commonly have something like an egg, cheese and ham breakfast sandwich. I don't see this as an unhealthy food if prepared properly and you stick to one.
But can the data on a bran muffin be correct? I don’t have any… I really wouldn’t ever choose one unless my options were a bran muffin or a moldy piece of something left too long in the back of the fridge…
But the rest of the list is full of stuff I commonly have… and maybe even had today.
2. Chicken Caesar Salad
3. Tuna Melt
4. Chicken Wrap
5. Turkey Burger
6. Fruit Smoothies
7. Granola Bar
8. Pasta Salad
9. Yogurt with fruit on the bottom
10. Bagel with Cream Cheese
11. Pasta Primavera
12. Dried Fruit
13. Fish Sandwich
14. Margarine
For the sake of not having a 50 page journal entry I’m just going to look at two or three things I can make an easy comparison to.
Granola Bars
200 calories
15 g sugars
Eat this instead!
1 oz cheddar cheese with Triscuits
150 calories
5 g sugars
Ever wonder what keeps a granola bar together? The makers of one of America’s favorite (and most misunderstood) snacks use mostly high-fructose corn syrup as their glue, which in turns quickly raises blood sugar and cancels out any of the potential benefits you might otherwise get from the oats. By switching over to good old-fashioned cheese and crackers, you swap out sugar and calories for protein and fiber. Talk about a great deal!
Ok, I usually have some Triscuits and cheese around anyway, so I don’t disagree with their suggestion but they also don’t specify how many you can have under that 150 calorie limit. A serving size of Triscuits is 6 crackers and is listed on the box as 120 calories. A single slice (1 oz) of cheddar cheese on the package I have is reported at 80 calories. I think the math there is a little off, as it might be for the granola bars as well. I buy the Nature Valley brand – serving size is two bars and it reports in at 180 calories per serving and 11g of sugar. Comparable to the cheese and crackers, lower in fat and probably will satisfy your appetite just as well.
Bagel with Cream Cheese
700 calories
40 g fat
13g saturated
Eat this instead!
Cheese omelet
425 calories
18 g
6 g saturated
Bagels are bogus. The bread is bad enough, containing 300 calories and 60 grams of carbohydrates, but tack on the liberal cream cheese schmear (by our survey of popular breakfast chains, up to 4 ounces for a single bagel!) and you’re "harmless" breakfast snack just got worse than a Whopper. The omelet swap will save you nearly 300 calories, plus provide a surge of metabolism-driving protein. And a recent study from the University of Connecticut found that eggs can help raise HDL (good) cholesterol.
I know someone who has a serious pet-peeve of getting a bagel at a restaurant and having to scrape off a one-inch thick layer of cream cheese from it.
But I think this goes more again towards the notion of, be careful what and where you choose. The bagels I have in my freezer are only 200 calories per bagel. Combined with the cream cheese spread I have (if you keep it down to a reasonable coating) is only 70 calories per serving. 270 calories is way short of their calculation of 700 calories they probably got when they bought the mega-bagel combo meal at Dunkin Donuts.
I won’t knock the omelet at all, I had one this morning!
Chicken Caesar Salad
(Dinner-size portion)
900 calories
60 g fat
Eat this instead!
Grilled chicken on mixed greens
400 calories
20 g fat
Caesar salads suffer the consequences of two natural disasters: a flood of fatty dressing and a blizzard of Parmesan cheese and croutons. Even a Caesar side salad before a meal can cost you up to 500 calories. Skip the emperor treatment in favor of a simple grilled chicken breast tossed in a bed of mixed greens tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette. The vinaigrette is a vast improvement over the treacherous Caesar dressing, and the absence of a Parmesan sea means that you'll save nearly entire meal's worth of calories by making this simple swap.
Ok, whoa on the comparison here. You’re comparing a dinner-sized chicken Caesar to what size grilled chicken on mixed greens? What is a dinner-size portion anyway – a full dinner plate stacked 6-inches high? Typical more than you can eat but you will anyway kind of meal?
A side salad is 500 calories? At some restaurants, maybe. I made myself a chicken Caesar wrap on spinach & garlic tortilla, with romaine, baby spinach and a modest amount of dressing and parmesan cheese – by my calculations two of these together would have just topped 900 calories. But one was enough of a meal in itself (I usually have a bigger lunch than dinner) and comes in just above the grilled chicken suggestion… not that I wouldn’t enjoy that one either.
These professing what is best for you articles tend to annoy me for these reasons. Vague comparisons and sweeping generalizations. No doubt a few readers will swear off having a bagel at the morning meeting or will get the 16oz steak instead of the Caesar salad because of reading this and not considering it further.
The bottom line for me has always been – watch what I eat, keep the quantities reasonable and just pay attention to what I’m putting in my stomach. When I travel I avoid chains and fast-food. I look for the down-home kind of places where they will probably make their meals with the idea that flavor can come from more than fat, butter and grease.
Take these “suggestions” with a grain of salt… that is, if they would let you have any salt at all.
COMMENTS
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Morrigon
03:51 Jan 25 2009
You are *hugs*
moonkissed
16:27 Jan 25 2009
awww
faeriemoon
21:08 Jan 25 2009
It's moments like these we remember when we're all grown up. I agree with the munchkins, you are the best.