calorie counts

If you're craving a cool, refreshing sweet treat and thinking of heading to your local Starbucks for a creamy drink, then consider your choices first. These stats will help shave calories off your order.

Caramel

Mocha

Keep reading for more lower-calorie options at Starbucks.

When it comes to lunch and weight loss, you've got to choose wisely. Barely eating anything or skipping the meal altogether can lead to binge eating later in the day, but filling up midday doesn't bode well for your weight-loss plans. Instead of either, make smart choices at lunch that save calories while ensuring you stay full and have adequate nutrition. Keep these two quick tips handy to save up to 300 calories during your midday meal.

• Skip these, save 100: Make your healthy lunch choices a no-brainer with these tips that save you around 100 calories without much thought. Skipping the mayo, for example, will cut 90 calories from your meal, while going for avocado but skipping the cheese will save you even more. Check out more foods to skip at lunch to save 100 calories here.
• Swap these, save 300: Think that sandwich or veggie burrito is healthy? It may not be. You can save even more calories with smart swaps like a vegetable-filled taco salad instead of a burrito or a protein-filled chickpea salad instead of a creamy chicken salad sandwich. Save 300 calories now with these lunchtime swaps.

Lunch is a great time to power up and save major calories. Learn the calorie counts of some popular lunch favorites and find out how healthier swaps can save you over 300 calories. From Monday through Friday, that adds up to 1,500 calories a week!

Keep reading to learn about two more lunch swaps.

Taking time to enjoy some tea and toast is one of my favorite morning rituals. Some days I just put butter on my toast, and other days I want to mix it up with honey or jam. As evidenced by the plethora of options inside my fridge door, I seem to never have enough toppings! The problem is, when we slather on one of our favorite spreads, we're also adding additional calories, fat, and sugar to our breakfast routine.

Keep reading to see a chart on everything you need to know about common toast toppings like jam, honey, and chocolate spread.

Hardee's and Carl's Jr. are better known for their This Is Why You're Fat-esque monstrosities, but the chains' parent company, CKE Restaurants, has begun trending the other way. Today, the two chains will become the first fast-food establishments to introduce a turkey burger as a permanent menu item.

Each of the four new Charbroiled Turkey Burgers will clock in at under 500 calories — as opposed to, say, Carl's Jr.'s Double Six Dollar Burger, which tallies up to be 1,522 calories and 110 grams of fat. What's more, the product launch will include a marketing campaign with Men's Health magazine and the bestselling book series Eat This, Not That — as well as advertisements featuring the former Miss Turkey in a bikini.

It would seem there's no such thing as moderation in fast food. These days, it's either all (see: the KFC Double Down and BK Stuffed Steakhouse) or next to nothing (Subway's low-fat egg white breakfast sandwiches). Do you agree?

Source

• Salmon burgers the whole family will love
  — Fit Bottomed Babies
• Celeb chef Mario Batalli to write vegetarian cookbook — Mind Body Green
• Here's how to order at a diner to skip the belly ache — Health.com
• 5 fruity Summer salads with mangoes, berries, and more — Shape
• Can you trust the calorie counts posted at restaurants? — Daily Spark
• Get your ceviche on with this simple recipe
  — Vital Juice
• Is coconut water here to stay or a fad to soon fade away? — lululemon

Posting calorie counts has been nothing if not controversial. In NYC the restaurants complained, and now on college campuses students are questioning the practice. In attempts to fight the freshman 15, dining halls have begun posting calorie counts, but there have been some negative consequences. Although about a third of all college students fall into the American College Health Association's obese or overweight categories, the calorie counts might be inadvertently provoking eating disorders.

The unstructured collegiate life, along with all-you-can-eat dining halls, can lead to disordered eating, which is broader than just anorexia and bulimia and includes unhealthy dieting practices. Students and nutritional advisers alike believe calorie counts oversimplify the thought process needed to learn balanced nutrition and that there is a better way to educate vulnerable students about weight gain. Some colleges now post nutritional information online, rather than in the cafeteria, and others have created healthy dining halls, free of french fries, fried chicken, and white bread. Hopefully, higher education can incorporate lessons of healthy living into campus life and help students learn the value of healthy eating and an active lifestyle.

How do you feel about posting calorie counts? Do you feel it can inspire a negative relationship with food?