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Back to the Real World

by John McGran & Becky Billingsley

We are trying SO HARD to be good during the holidays. We picked up carrot sticks off the buffet when we wanted chocolate truffles. We used lite mayo on our turkey sandwiches. And we had only ONE serving of pecan pie! Oh all right, we’ll be honest, we had two. A la mode.

So now it’s time to return to our virtuosity and think about what’s good (as in healthy) to eat, and what to avoid. Mr. Bad Food and Mrs. Good Food weigh in!

From Mr. Bad Food:

Strawberry Banana Smoothie, Dunkin’ Donuts

What do Rachael Ray and Homer Simpson have in common? For starters, they’re both cartoon characters. But the answer we’re stirring for is that they both know a good donut shop.

If you like coffee, you most likely have a favorite coffee shop. Mine, like Rachael’s… if you believe the TV commercials, is Dunkin’ Donuts. For me, Donut Connection finishes a close second. Plain black coffee is great when you’re trying to watch your weight and boost your energy. It’s when we add cream, sugar, whipped cream and more that we run into a little dietary trouble.

But there are even bigger land mines awaiting us when we stray from the coffee menu and sample the more exotic fare like the Dunkin’ Donuts Smoothie. Think just because a drink is called a smoothie it’s packed full of healthy nutrition? At Dunkin’ Donuts, one medium smoothie has the calories we should invest in a full meal!

Their medium Strawberry Banana Smoothie holds 24 ounces and packs 550 calories, 4 grams of fat, and 2.5 grams of saturated fat. This baby may be smooth, but it’s sure rough on a balanced diet. A whopping 103 of its 118 grams of carbs are from SUGARS! You can drink in all the nutrition numbers at www.dunkindonuts.com.

So a smoothie may be yum-o, but too many will make you slap your head and shout d’oh when you step on the scale!

Sip on This: A 10-ounce cup of straight coffee has just 15 calories.

 

From Mrs. Good Food:

Perfect Snacking

Snacking on raw veggies and fruits is fine, especially if there’s low-cal dip to go with them, but sometimes when a snack craving hits nothing will satisfy it except a chip. Make that chips – as in at least a couple handfuls of chips.

But we all know that’s a diet drama in the making, a calorie catastrophe, a full-fat fiasco…or is it?

There’s a new kind of chip on grocery store shelves called Flat Earth, and their motto is “Impossibly Good.” And they are! They’re absolutely delicious! And THEY ARE HEALTHY! Not just low-calorie or low-fat. Healthy!

The Flat Earth line is from Frito-Lay, and on the package of Garlic & Herb Field Baked Veggie Crisps I bought for $3, it says, “When a small group of passionate women at Frito-Lay challenged beliefs that ‘tasty snacks are bad for you’ and ‘nutritious snacks are boring,’ they decided to create the Flat Earth brand.”

Well Hoo-Freaking-Ray. It’s about time! And it figures it took women to make it happen. And they taste great. They’re crispy and flavorful and provide the full decadent chip experience, without all the fat.

My 6-ounce (170g) bag contains six servings. One serving is 12 chips, and each chip is a smidge bigger than a checkerboard square.

A serving has 130 calories, 5g fat (1 saturated, zero trans), zero cholesterol, 190mg sodium, 19g carbohydrate (2 fiber, 3 sugars) and 2g protein.

But wait…it gets better! You also get 20 percent of your Vitamin A Daily Value, and 10 percent of your Vitamin C. There are also lesser amounts of other vitamins and minerals that add up to half a serving of vegetables in each serving of chips.

Other vegetable flavors include Tangy Tomato Ranch and Farmland Cheddar. Three fruit crisp flavors are Peach Mango Paradise, Wild Berry Patch and Apple Cinnamon Grove.

For goodness’ sake: Amen and hallelujah and pass the bag already.

 



Note: This information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the businesses in question before making your plans.

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