ON THE
Light Side
Issue No. 177
A free monthly publication from Skiff Medical Center, Newton, IA
Weekend Eating During the Holidays and Year Round
Can Mean a Five Pound a Year Weight Gain
We are in the midst
of the holiday season. The malls are
packed with all those
last minute shoppers.
And because these
shoppers are so focused on buying the perfect gift for their
loved ones, the question of what to eat
receives little attention.
Here is a scenario of a typical Saturday spent shopping (and eating) during
the holiday season. Rather than taking the
time to eat breakfast at home, you decide
to swing by McDonald’s and eat on the
way to the mall. You figure this will be a
big enough breakfast that you can just
shop through lunch. You order a Bacon,
Egg & Cheese Biscuit, Hash brown and
Diet Coke®. (590 calories, 12.5 g saturated
fat)
Since you shopped through lunch,
you decide a little afternoon snack is necessary to tide you over. You stop at the
DQ® in the food court and order a medium Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Blizzard®. (1030 calories, 20 g saturated
fat)
You arrive home exhausted from a
full day of shopping. Too tired to cook,
you throw in a frozen pizza. You down a
9”Tombstone® Original Classic Sausage
(810 calories, 15 g saturated fat) and
drink water.
The rest of the evening is spent relaxing on the couch, snacking on popcorn
and drinking alcohol to unwind from all
the holiday stress. (2 c. Orville Redenbacher's® Movie Theater Pour Over Butter,
70 calories, 2 g saturated fat; 12 oz. Smirnoff® Wild Grape, 238 calories) Daily Total:
2738 calories and 49.5g of saturated fat.
It’s a good thing you were burning
175 calories per hour with all that mall
walking! (Based on a 150# woman) The
question is, was it enough?
For many, it’s not. The average holiday weight gain is 1 pound from
Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day.
(Overweight adults are likely to gain
more than 5 pounds over the holidays
and perhaps more importantly, the
weight gain seems to be permanent.) But
it’s not just the holiday meals and the
office treats that we have to think about
when trying to avoid holiday weight
gain. We need to evaluate our weekend
habits as well!
And what about the weekends all
year round. In a study published in 2003
researchers found that in the 19-50 year
old age group, the average calorie increase was 115 calories each day for a
total of an extra 350 calories Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 52 weekends a year
times 350 calories equals an excess of
18,200 calories, for a potential weight
gain of 5 pounds a year. While the researchers couldn’t point to particular
foods that caused the weight gain, they
did find that the calorie increase was
coming from two sources: alcohol and
fat.
By focusing on small
changes in our weekend eating and drinking habits we
can curtail weight gain. Here
are some plans of action to
shave calories off both your
holiday and year round weekends! Don’t get caught carrying excess pounds into the
next holiday season!
When the Tree is Not the Only
Thing That Needs Trimming
Friday night happy
hour: Drink light beer (100
calories) instead of beer (150
calories).
Friday night pizza
party: Try 2 slices of cheese
pizza with mushrooms instead of 2 slices of pepperoni
pizza for a 100 calorie savings.
Saturday night out: Order off the menu instead of
the buffet. Chances are you’ll
save calories!
Sunday breakfast: Skip
the 2 pats butter on your pancakes and use syrup but no
butter and save 72 calories.
Sunday snack: Eat 3 fig
bars (165 calories) instead of
6 (330 calories).
Source: www.ajc.com
These Healthy Habits May Give Your Body a Calorie-Burning Boost
1. Exercise to burn calories. The more time spent exercising and the more vigorous the exercise, the more calories will be burned. Even after your workout has ended, your body is still burning calories. Metabolic rate can be elevated with aerobic exercise for at least 24 hours.
2. Do strength training to build muscle. When you exercise, you use muscle.
This helps build muscle mass, and muscle tissue burns more calories—even
while you are at rest—than body fat. Strength training becomes especially
important as we get older, when our metabolisms slow down. Try to add
strength training to your workout at least a couple of times a week.
3. Drink 8 cups of water a day. Drinking almost eight cups of water (2 liters) may
help burn nearly 100 extra calories a day by causing the body to absorb and
utilize the water and maintain fluid balance (sometimes by excreting excess).
4. Fidget. Any type of movement requires energy, and fidgeting definitely qualifies as movement.
5. Drink caffeinated green or black tea. Caffeine is a stimulant, and stimulants
tend to increase the calories you burn. Over the past years, some studies
have hinted that green or black tea may have calorie-burning benefits beyond the caffeine they contain. Another bonus: Having a zero-calorie cup of
tea instead of a beverage with calories (like a soda) will certainly reduce the
number of calories you take in.
Source: MedicineNet
Apple-Pecan Coffeecake
1/4 c. light tub margarine
1/4 c. egg substitute
1/3 c. chopped pecans
3 to 4 apples, cored & chopped
1 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
1 T. brown sugar
Spiced Punch
2 to 3 sticks cinnamon
20 whole cloves
10 c. apple cider, or 10 pkg.
Sugar-free spiced cider pkts.
5 c. light Ocean Spray cranberry juice
2 c. pineapple juice
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt margarine. Beat in egg substitute. Add pecans
and apples to mixture; set aside. Combine
flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon
and cloves. Mix well with apple-nut mixture. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan
with nonstick cooking spray. Spread the
batter to the edges and sprinkle with 1
tablespoon brown sugar. Bake at 350° F
for 30 to 40 minutes, until lightly
browned.
Yield: 9 servings
Nutritional Information:
With sugar-free apple cider: calories 15,
Fat 0 gm, Carbohydrates 4 gm, Fiber 0 gm,
Sodium 0 mg
With regular apple cider: Calories 70,
Fat 0 gm, Carbohydrates 18 gm, Fiber 0 gm,
Sodium 5 mg.
Nutritional Information: Calories 210,
Fat 6 gm, Carbohydrates 38 gm, Fiber 2 gm,
Sodium 320 mg.
Place cinnamon sticks and cloves in basket of a large 30 cup percolator coffeepot.
Put rest of ingredients in coffeepot and
perk.
Online YouTube
Videos to Check Out
Featuring Registered
Dietitians (RDs)
“Cooking with Kids”
series with Susan
Adams, MS, RD
“February is National
Heart Month” with
Julie Upton, MS, RD
“Kid’s Nutrition” with
Ruth Carey, RD,LD
“Perfect Selection: Red
Peppers or Green”
with Alicia Kendig,
RD
“Mix it Up on Nutrition:
Good Carbs & Fats
Help Shed Pounds”
with Jill Melton, RD
“Choosing Herbs to Reduce Sodium” with
Jan Dowell, MS,
RD, CSSD
These are only a few
of the streaming videos
that feature RDs on the
Internet. To find more,
click on the VIDEO tab
at google.com and search
under the key words of
your choice.
This issue of On the Light Side
was written by
Registered Dietitian Cindy Harms.
Interested in Skiff Medical
Center Wellness programs?
Contact 791-4303.