And so laments the client sitting across from me. As the years tick by, the pounds and the frustration have piled up. I've noticed that there's a definite misconception that junk food is limited to just chips and pop. Those choices are easy to spot. What about restaurant meals, fat-laden snacks, and alcohol that add a deceptive amount of calories? Combined with a lack of exercise, portions that are too large, and an aging metabolism, the pounds will reveal themselves.
Coffee, any one? On any corner in the city, there's a coffee shop. Our daily indulgence can pack on many liquid pounds. Frappuccinos and other calorie-laced drinks are posing as a cup of coffee. It's not unusual to come upon 500 calories or more per serving. Stick with a base of skim or one- per-cent milk and skip the whip.
Not so obvious is the difference in fat content between skim, one-per-cent, two-per-cent milk, and 3.25-per-cent milk (also known as homogenized). To be classified as low in fat, a food item must be thirty-per-cent fat or less per serving. Thus converted, skim milk has a trace amount of fat, one-per-cent milk is twenty-five-per-cent fat, two-per-cent milk is thirty-five-per-cent fat, and homogenized milk is fifty-one-per-cent fat. Consider the portion size, sugary flavourings and fat content, and you get the picture. Once you start with a coffee, it's also easy to add a muffin or square. By the way, skip the scones; they're 500 to 600 calories each. If you're working with a 2,200-calorie ceiling, your coffee and scone snack has gobbled up half your day's intake.
In the kitchen: Not trimming the fat on your meat can add up to fifty per cent more calories to the serving. How much cooking oil are you using? All oils are 100-per-cent fat. One tablespoon of olive or canola oil will deliver twelve to fourteen grams of fat. As a reality check, one Big Mac has twenty-six grams of fat. Granted, the fat from a Big Mac is saturated and more artery clogging, but the grams of fat in either scenario can be significant. By the way, all fats are nine calories per gram. When you cook supper, make a salad, or marinate your meat, how many Big Macs are you really eating? See if you can cut the fat by a third or a half. Cut the fat and keep the flavour.
How about that supposedly good-for-you wine indulgence? One serving of red wine is four ounces and ninety calories. A look around your favourite dining spot will easily reveal wine glasses the size of vases. When dining out, most glasses are easily twice the suggested serving. A glance at client food journals in the month of December showed at least five glasses of wine per week. Over one year, five glasses of wine per week will add thirteen pounds to your bottom line.
Does this mean that you shouldn't enjoy a glass of wine? Absolutely not. It does, however, suggest that the frequency and portion sizes should be brought into question. At seven calories per gram, alcohol is the second-highest source of calories in the diet.
Monitor the cost of convenience: Three quarters of the sodium that we eat comes from packaged and restaurant food. Check you labels. Many of us are buying products that wind up in our carts from slick marketing rather than sound nutritional value. When reading the nutrition panel on a food product, look at the sodium content within the guidelines below:
The Heart and Stroke Foundation suggests that Canadians use no more than one teaspoon (2,300 milligrams) of salt per day from all sources, including salt in fast foods, prepared foods, salt during cooking, and at the table.
Mayo Clinic recommends 1,500 to 2,400 milligrams of sodium per day for most adults. Health benefits are associated with a lower intake.
Dietitians of Canada: For a healthy blood pressure the medical experts suggest that we should not eat more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA): Consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. Individuals with hypertension, blacks, middle aged, and older adults should aim to consume no more than 1,500 milligrams per day.
The Institute of Medicine suggests 2,300 milligrams as an interim target. Adults: 1,500 milligrams. Adults fifty to sixty-nine years of age: 1,300 milligrams. Adults over seventy: 1,200 milligrams.
Health Canada: High blood pressure is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. According to data from the 2004 Canadian
Community Health Survey, as many as ninety per cent of men over the age of nineteen and sixty-five per cent of women exceed the level of sodium at which potential risk of adverse effects increase. Similar high intakes are seen in young children and adolescents.
Popcorn: Oh, Orville, how could you do this to me? A half bag of your buttery flavoured popcorn comes with 340 milligrams of sodium and thirteen grams of fat(five of which are trans fat). When shopping, select a brand of popcorn with no more than a gram of saturated fat and zero trans fat. I've gone back to air popping my own corn kernels.
Palm oil is another innocent-sounding ingredient. Manufacturers know that it's a cheap ingredient that prolongs shelf life. To the heart, it's another form of saturated fat. Health Canada suggests that the Canadian diet should include no more than thirty per cent of the day's caloric intake as fat and of that no more than ten per cent as saturated fat.
Chinese food for lunch? Fried rice with lunch: 1,500 calories. Sweet and sour pork: 1,300 calories. Stir-fried greens: 900 calories. Sweet and sour chicken balls (twelve pieces): 1,800 calories. Need we say more?
Hold it smoothie. Some of these beverages are milk shakes in disguise. Wraps are also being served with fatty meats and a myriad of fatty condiments and dressings. Monitor your portions, look for lean meats and go lightly on the dressings. Add more veggies when possible.
"Junk" food comes in many disguises. As a consumer, you need to be aware of what you choose to eat. Restaurants, cafés, and grocery stores are in the moneymaking business and not the healthy food business. Hold yourself accountable for your selections.
Educational Web sites that you can check out:
Healthcanada.ca
www.dietitians.ca-search their resources.
cspinet.org-click on Center for Science in the Public Interest. In addition to consumer advocacy, this group publishes Nutrition Action my favourite nutrition newsletter.
