Thanks for sharing with the group that moving the body (the 20%) and following your nutrition plan (the 80%) = 100% results!
Tips for Making Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants
More and more people are turning to fast food restaurants for not only their breakfast, but their lunch and supper as well. Eating at fast food restaurants three times a day may seem like a heart attack waiting to happen, but it really does depend on what you choose to eat. Many fast food restaurants are now offering healthy choices. This means Americans can get their instant satisfaction without receiving a side order of thunder thighs. But, how do you make healthy choices at fast food restaurants? Class 3 Week 7
Tips for Making Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants: Do the Research If many of your meals come from fast food restaurants, you will need to do some research. Go online and visit the websites of the fast food restaurants in your area. Many fast food restaurants have nutrition guides that will tell you the fat and calories of their menu items. Take time to view each nutrition guide and study the foods that you usually pick. Many times you may think you're making healthy choices, but you're not. Once you do your research, you will have a better understanding of which items are healthy choices. Tips for Making Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants: Always Know Your Options Once you have done your research, you can either write down the foods that are healthy choices or you can also print out the nutrition guides and keep them in your car. The next time you visit your favorite fast food restaurant, you'll be able to make healthy choices. Tips for Making Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants: Avoid Calorie Filled Salads Many people visiting fast food restaurants choose salads thinking they are making a healthy choice. Unfortunately, they usually aren't making a healthy choice. Many salads are now covering in pieces of fried chicken, cheese, bacon, and high calorie dressing. The next time you order a salad, choose grilled chicken with a low-fat dressing.
Class 3 Week 7
Tips for Making Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants: Choose Health Conscious Restaurants
There are fast food restaurants that are built around the principle of serving healthy meals. One of those places is Subway. At Subway you can find subs that are low in fat and calories. You can also find baked potato chips and whole grain chips. Tips for Making Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants: Avoid Soft Drinks Even when you choose diet soft drinks, it may be hard to find decaffeinated drinks. When you go to a fast food restaurant, it's best to choose water. You can make healthy choices when it comes to food and then ruin your calorie intake by choosing the wrong soft drinks. Tips for Making Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants: Substitute High Calorie Condiments You may think you're making a healthy choice by choosing a grilled chicken sandwich, but many of these sandwiches have mayonnaise which makes them high in calories and fat. When you order sandwiches ask them to leave off the mayonnaise. You can then request packs of honey mustard for a grilled chicken sandwich or ketchup and mustard for hamburgers. Tips for Making Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants: Choose Grilled Rather than Fried Foods You may think that any meal with chicken is a healthy choice, but you'd be wrong. When you choose chicken nuggets, you're actually consuming more calories than if you had chosen a hamburger. The best thing to do is choose grilled chicken rather than fried, and avoid fatty condiments. Tips for Making Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants: Choose Healthier Sides Many fast food restaurants will now allow you to choose healthier sides. This means you can choose chili or a baked potato instead of fries. This is a much healthier choice than French fries. If you don't have the option to choose, you may want to purchase a sandwich and a small salad instead of a combo.
FASTFOOD QUIZ
A quiz that will help you eat smarter while dining out.
Although most of these selections aren't exactly 'healthy', some are healthier than others. Can you pick the healthier choices? It will not necessarily be the food with the 'least' amount of calories. Choose wisely and good luck!
1. Taco Bell Mexican Pizza Taco Salad
2. Subway 1 Subway Sugar Cookie 6" Roast Beef Sandwich
3. Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich Medium Frosty
4. McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Sandwich Quarter Pounder
5. Burger King Bacon Double Cheeseburger Double Whopper with Cheese
6. Long John Silvers Grilled Chicken Salad with Ranch Dressing Battered Fish, 1 piece
Class 3 Week 7
7. Chick-Fil-A
Chick-fil-A Chicken Deluxe Sandwich Ice Cream, small cup
8. Kentucky Fried Chicken Breast, Original Recipe Breast, Extra Crispy
9. Pizza - OKAY - neither of these choices are healthy, but as a bonus question, can you guess which of the following has less calories BUT MORE FAT GRAMS? Domino's Pepperoni & Mushroom Pan 6" Pizza Hut's Pepperoni Personal Pan 6"
Break the Sugar Habit
How to tame a sweet tooth by Carol Sorgen, MA WebMD Feature
Don’t eat too many sweets, your mother probably told you. Seems that Mom now has the United Nations on her side. According to a recent report by experts from two UN agencies -- the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization -- we’re eating way too much sugar.
Just how much sugar do we eat? You might be surprised, says Lisa Ritchie, EdD, RD, LD, assistant professor of family and consumer sciences and director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics at Harding University in Searcy, Ark.
“The amount of sugar used in this country is somewhere betweeen 40 and 60 pounds per person per year,” she tells WebMD. For the year 2000, says Ritchie, that translated into 21.5 million tons, which included the sugars found in baked goods, yeast breads, cereal products, and the high-fructose corn syrup used to sweeten soft drinks.
That there’s sugar in those items shouldn’t surprise you. But you may be surprised to learn that there’s sugar in ketchup, canned vegetables, luncheon meats, bacon, fast-food hamburgers, even sushi, says Nancy Appleton, PhD, author of Lick the Sugar Habit and Lick the Sugar Habit Sugar Counter.
“Part of the reason for our high intake of sugar is that many foods contain hidden sugars where you’d least expect to find them,” Appleton tells WebMD. “And don’t be fooled by products that are labeled ‘low-fat’ or ‘diet’,” she adds. “Many of these are loaded with sugar to make them taste better.”
While a high-sugar diet is not recommended, especially for those watching their weight, it’s not the sugar itself that leads to weight gain, says Debbie Strong, MBA, LDN, RD, cardiovascular dietitian at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans.
“If the sugary foods and beverages lead to an increase in your total consumption of calories, then yes, weight gain will happen,” she says. “But that’s true of any food. Eat too much of anything and you’re going to gain weight.”
Class 3 Week 8
“The main problem with sugar is that most sources (like candy, soft drinks, and desserts) don’t provide appreciable amounts of other nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, and are therefore classified as “empty calories,” says Susan Dahlheimer, PhD, professor and chair of food and nutrition at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “Ideally, the consumption of these foods should not replace more nutrient-dense foods, so they should
Class 3 Week 8
be used in moderation.” But because we are biologically programmed to prefer sweet foods, says Dahlheimer, trying to eliminate them from our diet altogether doesn’t work.
So how do we reduce our consumption of “empty calorie” sweets? Dahlheimer and other experts offer these tips:
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Try satisfying your sweet tooth with fruits, which are good sources of many vitamins and minerals.
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Choose sweets that provide some nutrients, such as ice cream, frozen yogurt, or desserts that contain some fruits and/or nuts. Though the calories and fat may be higher, the extra nutrients make an important contribution to your diet.
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Don’t completely deprive yourself of foods you really like -- including sweets -- because you’re more likely to binge to satisfy the need they fulfill and may end up consuming more calories overall. Instead, set reasonable, flexible goals for including sweets in your diet.
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Learn to separate physical hunger from emotional hunger. If you eat from emotional hunger (stemming from boredom, stress, or loneliness, for example) you’re more likely to overeat low-nutrient foods.
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Prepare recipes with half, or two-thirds, of the sugar originally called for.
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When you crave something sweet, try a teaspoon or two of jam or preserves on a slice of whole wheat toast, or dip a few strawberries in some confectioner’s sugar.
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Reduce the sugar you take in at breakfast by using unsweetened cereal and adding your own sweetener. You’ll probably add less sugar than would have been added by the manufacturer.
Artificial sweeteners are one obvious way to cut down on the amount of sugar you take in, but they’re not always necessary, says Melanie Polk, MMSc, RD, FADA, director of nutrition education for the American Institute for Cancer Research. It’s important to remember that sugar only has 16 calories per teaspoon, says Polk: “That’s a minuscule amount of calories.”
To put it into perspective, eating a large slice of chocolate cake and then sweetening your tea with an artificial sweetener doesn’t make much sense in the whole scheme of things, she says. “If you are sweetening five or six cups of coffee or tea throughout the day, however,” Polk says, “then it might make a difference in total calories.”
To control your sugar sprees, she recommends not keeping temptation around the house in the first place. Go out for your treats, or ask your family to hide them. If you do keep sugary snacks on hand for the rest of the family, think small. “A mini bag of M&Ms will do the trick,” Lichten tells WebMD. “There’s no need to keep a big bag nearby.”
Finally, give yourself permission to enjoy your sugary treats. Lichten, for example, allows herself one dessert a day, but limits it to no more than 300 calories. “Wait for your favorites,” she says “but make sure they’re part of your plan.”
Published May 16, 2003. Medically reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD.
Sugar Addiction Drives Childhood Obesity
Byron Richards, CCN
It’s obvious to just about anyone that excess sugar consumption makes you fat. Now we even have data to prove that excessive sugar consumption, mostly from sweetened drinks like soda, is up at a rate that would require a 1 hour jog per day just to burn off the extra calories. Since most children aren’t doing the exercise the excess sugar consumption is a driving force behind the obesity epidemic. How much high fructose diabetic syrup can any human being process?
I used to be of the opinion that it is a free country, if people want to consume that garbage then let them – it’s their life. There are a few problems with that way of thinking. Excess sugar consumption, especially toxic substances like high fructose corn syrup, creates addiction that is as powerful as nicotine or alcohol. Parents are doing it to themselves and their children are following right along – especially in poorly educated and less well off segments of society.
In the coming health care reform, the staggering costs of self-inflicted obesity will be shared by those who have taken care of themselves – hardly a fair arrangement. Since the amount of money to care for the consequences of obesity could easily topple our economy and the costs will be disproportionately paid for by productive indivdiuals, our government should take action now to prevent class warfare and economic ruin.
Unfortunately, our government thinks the solution is in education and changing behavior. I’m sorry to inform them but most people already know what junk food is, they just eat it anyway because they are addicted to it. It seems that politicians don’t have the guts to tackle this problem head on – dealing with the source of the issue. I hear a lot of talk about reducing the influence of lobbies in Washington, but I see little tangible action that steps on Big Pharma’s toes or reduces the influence of the junk food industry.
The companies that are poisoning and addicting our citizens with garbage must be made to stop. Advertising of trash food (like unproven drugs) should be banned. Outlets and easy access to trash food must be reduced in any community. Exercise breaks must replace snack breaks in our public education system. Consulting the “intelligence” of an addicted consumer public is likely to have little benefit. The staggering costs of addiction to junk food will destroy our real freedom as a nation unless we act to restore a healthy food supply and teach children how to prepare food. Is there a candidate for president that has a real health plan?
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