FitSugar

Guess the Calories: Beverage Edition

FitSugar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:47:18 -0700

Do you drink wisely? It is estimated that Americans consume 20 percent of their daily calories from beverages. All those calories in your drinks add up. Do you know how many calories you're consuming? Take this quiz and see.

Take the quiz

Laid Out in Cubes: Sugar Alert!

FitSugar — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:00:00 -0700

Sometimes we all need a visual reference to help understand exactly how many calories we are actually eating. While the website This Is Why You're Fat has covered the territory of crazy fast food splurges, Sugar Stacks lays out the sugar content of foods in the easily identifiable measurement of sugar cubes. One sugar cube contains about a teaspoon of the sweet stuff and 11 calories. Take a gander at how much sugar is in a medium chocolate shake from McDonald's:
I particularly like the Sugar Stacks comparison of shakes, since I am on a kick about watching liquid calories, but I also appreciate the photos of the sugar cubes and sauces.

Diet Tip: Watch Out For Liquid Calories

FitSugar — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:00:00 -0700

When you're trying to lose weight, your success ultimately relies on the calories you consume being fewer than the calories you burn. In the dieting world, counting calories is the new black, but folks need to remember that liquid calories count, too. New research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health confirms that what you drink is just as important as what you eat. The study found that cutting out sugar-sweetened beverages (they included high fructose corn syrup in this group), like sodas and bottled iced tea, had the most profound effect on weight loss and weight-loss maintenance over the course of an 18-month study. The bottom line: soda has got to go.

For my three favorite soda alternatives, read more.

While, there are many low- to no-calorie drinks out there, water comes to mind first. Staying well hydrated helps to burn fat, so it is both healthy and helpful for dieting. If H2O bores your taste buds, add a slice of lemon, lime, orange, or cucumber to your glass. By mixing sparkling water and juice you can create a flavorful spritzer. Green tea is calorie-free and full of health benefits; it can also help speed up your metabolism. What is your favorite soda alternative?

Source

Which Beverage Contains More Calories?

FitSugar — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:30:00 -0800

Watching your caloric intake is a great way to lose weight, but we often forget - or don't realize - just how many calories are packed into the beverages we drink. Let's test your liquid calorie smarts with this quiz.

Question 1 of 5

Which caffeinated beverage contains more calories?

Find the Food Equivalent of What You Drank

FitSugar — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:00:38 -0800

The first words out of a host's welcoming mouth are often, "What would you like to drink?" with the expectation that you'll be enjoying an alcoholic beverage upon arrival. Indulging in moderation is just fine, but when we're not pouring our own beverages, moderation is a greater challenge.

The only beverage that can be measured in exact calories is a bottle of beer, but when we're being served glasses of wine, champagne, or mixed drink concoctions, the number of calories in our cups becomes cloudy. For some clarity, check out BBC's cheeky Alcohol Experiment. While it's not entirely accurate because you can't specify types of beer or hard alcohol, the tool gives you a rough idea of the liquid calories you consumed - as well as the junk food equivalent. To find out what it does, read more.

For example, if you drank a double mixed with tonic and a beer, the website calculates the calorie intake (345 calories) and shows the food equivalent: two jaffa cakes (must be a British cookie) and a hot dog. Although I have doubts about its accuracy, the website serves as a reminder that most alcoholic beverages are empty liquid calories, which can affect our waistlines as much as calories we eat. It's something to keep in mind this season when our holiday party hosts ask if we'd like a refill.

Know Your Liquid Calories

FitSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:00:00 -0800

When it comes to celebrating during the holidays, remember that drinks contain calories too. Mulled wine, hot apple cider, spiced rum, hot toddies, and eggnog are delicious, but these kinds of beverages can add hundreds of calories to your meal. Let's see just how many with this quiz.

Source

Take the quiz

Food Review: Code Blue Recovery Drink

FitSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:30:47 -0800

I must admit I'm not big on special fitness drinks, especially recovery drinks. They're often full of extra calories, and I usually opt for water since most exercise physiologists believe you don't need to worry about replacing electrolytes, carbs, and protein unless you have been working out and sweating for more than an hour. I often think a lot of these drinks have added coloring and chemicals, so when I saw Code Blue marketed as an all natural post-workout drink I was curious to try it. I must admit, I liked its tropical flavor, and although it only has 40 calories per eight-ounce serving (the can contains 12 ounces, equal to one and a half servings) Code Blue does not have that artificial sweetener taste of many low-cal beverages.

To see how this drink is sweetened and if it is an unnatural color, just read more.

Looking at the ingredient list on the back of the Code Blue can, I can't say I felt like I was drinking something "natural." After water, the next three ingredients are: crystalline fructose, agave nectar, and malic acid, which adds tartness more than sweetness. Further down the list I found stevia leaf extract listed as well, which is a bit more natural. Code Blue contains the electrolytes potassium and sodium, but also contains the supplement milk thistle to help detox the liver (trainer Bob Harper believes in the treatment), and prickly pear extract to reduce inflammation.

The first time I tried Code Blue, I drank it straight from the can. You can imagine my surprise when I poured it into a glass and found the liquid to be a vibrant unnatural blue. Which prompts the question, what natural ingredient was used to color this drink and why even bother coloring it?

Ingredients: Filtered Purified Water, Crystalline Fructose, Agave Nectar, Malic Acid, Sodium Phosphate, Potassium Citrate, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, D-Ribose, Fruit Juice (for color), Sustamine™ (L-Alanine L-Glutamine), Pectin, Inositol, Ascorbic Acid, Prickly Pear Extract (Opunitia ficus-indica), Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum) Extract, N-Acetyl Cysteine, Stevia (Stevia Rebaudiana) Leaf Extractives, Soy Protein and Rice Flour, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Niacinamide (Vitamin B3), DL-alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Selenium Complexed with Amino Acids and Polypeptides, Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12)

I'm not really sold on the drink, but I'm not completely opposed to it either. I would certainly drink this over other recovery drinks, but more likely I will sip some water instead. Have you tried it?

This just in: The color comes from blueberries.

Smarter Eats: Use Chalkboard Labels on Jars

FitSugar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:30:28 -0800

Take a peek into my kitchen cabinet for a healthy eating tip. If you can't tell from the picture those are jars with chalkboard labels. I've been using them for almost a year now and for two good reasons: health and money.

I love nuts but find that it can be easy to eat too many at one sitting. I use the chalkboard labels to remind myself of the nutritional breakdown of the stored nut and its serving size. For instance, on my almond jar I've written 20 almonds equal 180 calories, 14g fat, 7g protein, and 6g carbs. This method has been a really great way to keep me from overindulging.

Having these jars is also an incentive to buy from the bulk aisle. Most food, especially organic, is cheaper when purchased in bulk. Plus buying in bulk cuts down on wasteful packaging, and I don't confuse things that look alike. The labels create an easy way to remember cooking ratios - if I'm storing a whole grain or beans, I write the name of the grain and the ratio of the grain to how much liquid it needs to cook.

You can either buy chalkboard jars for cheap or make your own using chalkboard paint. As an alternative you can use paper or sticky labels but using the chalkboard method helps cuts down on waste.

Liquid Calorie Quiz: Alcohol Edition

FitSugar — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:00:00 -0700

To maintain or lose weight, you need to pay attention to the calories you sip as well as eat. Take this quiz to see if you know the calories in your cup and how they compare to other foods and snacks.

Question 1 of 6

A five-ounce glass of Cabernet Sauvignon contains how many calories?

Do Liquid Calories Fill You Up as Much as Solid Calories?

FitSugar — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:00:00 -0700

In a time crunch, some of us may head to Jamba Juice for a smoothie lunch substitute. While you are certainly getting plenty of calories in your smoothie, is it filling you up like a solid lunch would?

A recent study says not so much. In fact the subjects who drank their test foods ended up eating more than those who did not drink their foods. Part of the reason could be that drinking your food does not cue signals that let our bodies feel full, such as sight, smell, chewing and pressure of food in the stomach.

I know a lot of you guys follow Slim Fast or will make (or buy) shakes to replace a meal but do you feel just as full as you would if you ate the solid equivalent?

Source