Good Wednesday! Today is the second of a four part series based on this article at Yahoo Health. We’ll begin where we left off last week at candy:
Candy
Yup, candy. The real thing—not the dietetic variety—is best when your sweet tooth starts aching. Dietetic candies have almost as many calories as regular candies, often lack flavor, and are an incentive to eat more. Stick to the real thing.
- Chewing gum or gum balls: any and all
- Hard candy: any and all, including sour balls, candy canes, lollipops such as Tootsie Pops or Blow Pops, Jolly Ranchers, Werther’s Original, and TasteTations
I think chewing gum and gum balls are a good idea; usually, the reason why we eat is because we’re bored and having something in our mouths helps compensate for the boredom. However, I would be careful not to chew exclusively on Bubble Yum. Normal sugar gums have empty calories and may foster tooth decay. Chew on sugarless gum most of the time, and this advice is fine. As for hard candy, I agree not to get the sugar-less kind. Usually, the sugar substitutes can have some dietary… er… side effects that aren’t worth the lack of sugar. Just go easy and only have a piece or two at a time.
Frozen Desserts
Any fat-free frozen yogurt, frozen nondairy substitute, or sorbet is a fine addition to the freezer. Try the lower-calorie choices. Here are some examples:
- Soft serve: up to 25 calories per ounce, including Skimpy Treat; TCBY, Colombo nonfat frozen yogurt, and Tofutti
- Hard pack: up to 115 calories per 1/2-cup serving, including Sharon’s Sorbet, Low-Fat Tofutti, all Italian ices, and Sweet Nothings
- Frozen bars: Creamsicles, Fudgsicles, and Popsicles; any others containing up to 45 calories per bar, including Welch’s Fruit Juice Bars, Weight Watchers Smart Ones Orange Vanilla Treats, Tofutti Chocolate Fudge Treats, Weight Watchers Smart Ones Chocolate Mousse, Dolly Madison Slender Treat Chocolate Mousse, and Yoplait
- Individually packaged frozen bars: up to 110 calories each, including FrozFruit, Hagen-Dazs bars, and Starbucks Frappuccino Blended Coffee Bars Beverages Avoid beverages labeled “naturally sweetened” or “fruit-juice sweetened,” but help yourself to these:
- Unsweetened black coffees and teas
- Diet teas and juices: Crystal Light, Diet Snapple, Diet Natural Lemon Nestea, Diet Mistic, and others
- Noncaloric flavored waters: orange, chocolate, cream, cherry-chocolate, root beer, cola, and other flavors of bottled or filtered water
- Seltzer: plain or flavored, but check the calorie count if the product is labeled “naturally sweetened,” since this usually means that the product has sugar in one form or another
- Hot cocoa mixes: 20 to 50 calories per serving, including Swiss Miss Diet and Fat-Free and Nestle Carnation Diet and Fat-Free; avoid cocoa mixes with 60 or more calories per serving
I think this is an interesting list–there are five drinks on the list of frozen items to keep on hand! The problem I have with many of these items is they leave it up to the consumer to appropriately portion out. What good is a 115 calorie portion of ice cream, when most people don’t realize that a 1/2 cup of ice cream is only about a scoop and a half? Enjoy your ice cream in moderation, and don’t skimp on the real stuff. I do agree with the idea of individually packaged ice creams, because it helps with portion control. When I was working on losing weight several years ago, these were my go-to frozen snacks because all the guess work was taken care of choosing the right portion.
The drink ideas are great suggestions. Many people don’t realize that it’s really easy to consume extra calories by just drinking. Two sodas with dinner? 300 calories. Margarita? 400-500 calories. Water? 0 calories. Stick with diet drinks, black tea and coffee, water, and low-calorie instant hot drinks and you’ll be sure to keep off some unnecessary fat.
I hope you had a good Christmas, if you celebrate, and a good 25th if you don’t! Check back next Wednesday for part three of this series.
