Mid-morning snack

One of my favourite morning snacks is a mix of dried fruit and nuts. I picked my favourite dried fruits: cranberries, sultana raisins and papaya, and almonds which are packed with nutrition and have lower fat content than some nuts. I mix them in the following amounts:

1 tbsp raisins
1 tbsp cranberries
3 chunks papaya (approx 1/2 oz)
1 tbsp almonds (approx 8 nuts)

Sometimes I substitute extra cranberries or raisins for the papaya. These measurements provide about 200 calories. The dried fruit comes close to a serving size (1/4 cup) and account for about 120-125 calories and the concentrated natural sugars satisfy my sweet tooth. While the almonds account for about 80 calories -- 65% of those from fat -- they also provide calcium, potassium, vitamin E, and a dose of fibre. Some studies also suggest that almonds may help prevent colon cancer.

I pack them in snack-size resealable bags so I can grab one to toss in my lunch bag or in my purse on the way out. Obviously, this is not an "everyday" snack -- and I doubt many diet advocates would recommend this snack -- but it is a nice compromise of tasty versus horribly fattening (e.g. a fruit and nut muffin from the coffee shop which can range from a "low" of 350 calories to a high of over 600 calories!).

Sometimes you can eat more.

A couple of nights ago, I was craving something salty and crunchy. I considered my options -- based on the expectation that a smaller serving of something would be a better choice -- and chose a half serving of Que Pasa unsalted tortilla chips: 130 calories for 15 chips.

Midway through munching I started thinking I really wanted popcorn. We have plain kernels for the air popper, but I have never developed a taste for plain popcorn. We also had some Orville Redenbacher's "Natural flavour" microwaveable popcorn. When I checked the package I realized that half a bag (about 3 cups popped) had 110 calories. The fat grams and carbs were about the same on each; the chips only won on the sodium count because they were unsalted.

Beware of Serving Sizes

On my coffee break, I grabbed what could have been a healthy snack. Instead it was pretty much brunch.

I purchased a "Breakfast in a cup" which consisted of seven layers: yogurt, granola, fruit, yogurt, granola, fruit, banana on top. I would estimate the amounts as 1/2 cup yogurt (whole?), 1/2 cup granola, 1 cup fruit, 1/2 banana. Running the numbers through CalorieKing, I'd estimate I packed away about 562 calories, with 91 g carbs and 18.7 g fat (which makes the "treat" about 30% calories from fat.)

The problem here is that to my eye, the serving didn't look too big. In fact it was at least double what I was craving and probably three or four times what I should have eaten as a midmorning snack. The killer ingredient in fact is the granola -- and it tasted sweet so I used the "average all brands" rating on CalorieKing: 262 calories/29 g carbs/13.7 g fat. The only reason I'm not panicking too much is because there was a lot of fruit -- packed with vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants.

Lesson learned. Maybe I will skip food for lunch and go for a walk instead.

Yelling at the TV again

I spend a lot of time "correcting" advertisements. I scoff at their half-truths and outright misdirection. I threaten to write to their head-office or to the network on which they are advertising. Mostly though, I yell at the TV.

Recently, I've been yelling at Jared the Subway shill for trying to sell fresh bread as a healthy thing. Newsflash Jared, fresh baked bread is still bread -- being fresh baked doesn't save me a single calorie, and a six inch sub has plenty of those!

In fact, a 6-inch (2.5 oz) chunk of Subway italian white bread breaks down like this:

200 calories
2.5 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
38 g carbs (including 3 g fiber and 5 g sugar)
340 mg sodium

the bun also counts as a little over two starch exchanges for diabetic diets

Those numbers are comparable to any other bread product. In fact, two slices of Wonder Bread sandwich loaf will save you 60 calories, 10 g of carbs and a half gram of fat -- and none of the fat is saturated; two slices of Healthy Choice Hearty 7-grain bread will save you 40 calories, 2 g of carbs and the same amount of fat as the Wonder bread.

Alternately, choose a slightly smaller hot dog bun at 1.5 oz; you can save as much as 90 calories, though the fat averages 2.3 g and the carbs range from 20-25 g.

It's so easy to drift.

It's really easy to drift back to bad habits. This time, it was a change in my work schedule. Suddenly I had to eat breakfast earlier (much earlier) than I was used to which meant my whole hunger cycle was thrown off. My response was to grab what I could when I felt hungry. More often than not that meant grabbing a muffin or (worse!) apple fritter with mid-morning coffee. Ack. Thankfully, I haven't regained too much, and it only took me a month to figure out that I had strayed.