Drink Devils and Delights: Which Beverages are Best?

When you go on a diet, one of the first things you should learn is not to waste your calories on drinks. You might watch out for how different foods affect your wellbeing, but this means that devious drinks are getting in under the radar, and having an impact on your wellness without you even realising. While the average Westerner gets roughly a fifth of daily calories from these badly-behaved beverages, you can use this knowledge to lose weight. If you choose the right drinks, you can amp up your metabolism, curtail your appetite and reduce your total intake of calories. The question remains, then, which drinks are devilish, and which are delightful for your diet?

 

Let’s start with an easy one, shall we? Fizzy drinks are packed with empty calories, which is why you may have already made the switch to diet soft drinks. However, while swapping to a “diet” version of your favourite fizz may seem like a good way to cut hundreds of empty calories, whether this actually works for weight loss is still up for debate. While some research show there’s a short-term benefit to making the switch, other studies have found that diet beverage drinkers tend to gain weight overall. The bottom line is; if you’re taking in more calories than you manage to burn off, you’re not going to do the trick by simply switching to diet fizzy drinks.

 

While replacing carbonated soft drinks with diet versions isn’t the answer to weight loss, the true ideal replacement exists in a much healthier and cheaper form; water. Yes, water can help you to cut down your daily calorie count by the hundreds, but that’s not the only benefit from getting plenty of H20. If you drink two glasses of water before you eat your main meals, your stomach may be encouraged to feel full more quickly, meaning that you don’t eat as much food and, consequently, lose weight. Plus, new research has come to light which suggests that drinking lots of water may help to rev up your metabolism, so there’s no excuse not to incorporate water into your new diet lifestyle.

 

So those are the easy drinks to which you can give a red and green light, but what about supposedly healthy drinks like fruit juice and smoothies? Unfortunately, the jury’s still out on fruit juice. While it can have just as many calories as fizzy drinks do, fruit juice has way more to offer in terms of nutrients. Therefore, you’re presented with a dilemma; how do you attain all the vitamins and antioxidants without all the extra sugar? In this scenario, your safest bet is to go for 100% fruit juice, and stay away from anything that has added sweeteners. If all else fails, just add a little bit of juice to water for a touch of flavour without too many calories.

 

Unfortunately, the jury is also out on smoothies, even though they can give you a delicious arsenal of disease-fighting vitamins and minerals. When you’re out and about, buying smoothies is risky as they may contain ice cream, honey, or other sweeteners that boost the calorie count sky-high. Still, you don’t want to miss out on all the fruity goodness, so make some delicious smoothies at home. That way you can control the ingredients, and only put in what you need i.e. skimmed milk and frozen fruit. For a frothy, fruity treat, try blending together a banana, some strawberries and some blueberries – you won’t be sorry, and your health will thank you for it!

Categories: calorie count, calories, diet, Drinks, fizzy drinks, Fruit Juice, Lose weight, Soft Drinks, Water, Weight Loss

Appetiser Alternatives: Sinful Sides and their Divine Rivals

Everyone loves a bit of an appetiser before the big event, but unfortunately you’re often not thinking when you start snacking on a bowl of crisps and dip, and suddenly your diet is out of the window. However, you can still offer fancy appetisers while taking care of your wellbeing, so let’s take a look at the worst snacks for your wellness, as well as a few healthy alternatives that will still impress everyone round the table.

 

1. Onion Blossom: While fried onions displayed in a nice ring certainly looks good, the only thing that will blossom will be your waistline. According to Joan Salge Blake, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, ‘It’s good to start off with a vegetable, but once you fry it, you’re frying in calories.’ Instead, why not try vegetable kebabs? All you need to do is skewer your onions with red and green bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and courgettes. Then, brush the kebabs with a garlic and herb marinade, and grill. Gorgeous and impressive appetisers with only 40 calories per kebab – what’s not to love?

 

2. Cheesy Chips: This is a favourite side dish whether you’re at home or eating out but Blake warns that appetisers like these can ‘take over the meal. Some of them have more calories than the main entrée.’ In fact, such an appetiser can contain up to 2,100 calories, 150g of fat, and a whole day’s worth of sodium (2,300 mg). Rather than wasting all your sinful calories on the side dish, Blake recommends using appetizers to work in healthy foods you might be eating too little of. If you don’t get enough seafood in your diet, seared crab cakes offer an appealing alternative to chips. Even with chilli sauce – which is absolutely divine – a typical crab cake has about 300 calories, 16g of fat, and 800 mg sodium.

 

3. Loaded Potato Skins: Again, with all the fat, salt and calories in this side dish, you can end up doubling the amount you’d eat in your mail meal. Blake cautions, ‘You’re taking a potato and adding saturated fats,’ which makes filled potato skins as fattening as they are tempting. If you can’t resist a potato skin, the trick to enjoying these is to have just one. However, you might be equally tempted by a similar, but healthier, side; stuffed mushrooms. Stuffing mushrooms instead of potato skins helps keep the portion size down, and cuts your calorie count down from 150 to 50 in each. You can still fill them up with cheese and bread crumbs, and even chow down half a dozen without damaging your diet – I’d call that a win.

 

4. Fried calamari: As we’ve covered, seafood is nutritious and including it in an appetiser can be a great way to get more of it in your diet. Although squid is more than qualified as a healthy inclusion in your diet, when you bread it and fry it in oil, you’re drenching it with calories and fat. Without sauce, a typical restaurant portion contains about 900 calories, 54g of fat, and 2,300mg of sodium. Therefore, you’re far better off going for a classic shrimp cocktail. Shrimp cocktail is very low in saturated fat and calories, as well as being a refreshing source of omega-3 fatty acids, which helps to promote healthy circulation. Whether you’re ordering it in a restaurant or making it yourself at home, the best way to keep your shrimp cocktail calorie count low – at 120 calories or so – is to stick to tomato-based sauce.

Categories: appetiser, Appetisers, blake, calorie count, calories, Cheesy Chips, diet, potato, Potato Skins, shrimp cocktail

How to Maintain a Healthy Diet Even in the Busy Season

With September comes a new time of busyness. The kids are starting school, the shops are gearing up for Christmas and you’re just trying to keep things together on a day-to-day basis. With all that going on, diet and nutrition wellness goes out the window, but just because bikini bodies and summer salads seem like a distant memory now, it doesn’t mean your wellbeing has to go along with it. Here are five ways for you to maintain a healthy diet even in this hectic new season.

 

1. Make time for a breakfast quickie: There’s no way you’re going to have the energy you need to keep up with your crazy schedule unless you have a decent breakfast, so skipping out on the most important meal of the day and heading straight to work is a big no-no. Instead of starting your day on an empty stomach, do a little prep work the night before and store your healthy brekkie in the fridge. To get the most bang for your breakfast buck, choose simple foods from two, three or more food groups. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches on whole grain bread are great, or fill a container with low-fat cottage cheese and seasonal fruit.

 

2. Pack a nutritious and satisfying lunch: Just because it’s all go-go-go, you don’t have to forgo your food. Mary Hartley, registered dietician and nutritionist for CalorieCount.com, urges, ‘Don’t starve yourself at lunch – it will only lead to overeating later.’ Again, this is where prepping the night before comes in handy, as stepping out for lunch limits your healthy eating options. Try whole wheat pasta mixed with your favourite raw veggies, olive oil, lemon juice and fresh herbs. This also works well if you take out the pasta and lemon juice and add in brown rice and white beans.

 

3. Dine out the clever way: There’s no way to avoid eating out, especially if you have a business meeting or you just run out of time to prepare food in advance. However, the key to eating out in a healthy way is portion size, so don’t be afraid to ask the waiter exactly how big the dish will be before you pick it, as well as how it’s cooked. There are also apps out there that can help you determine how many calories are in your meals. If the dish is too much for one sitting, Hartley advises, ‘As soon as your order arrives, split your dish into two servings to share or eat for a later meal.’

 

4. Plan ahead: We’ve already touched on this but planning ahead is essential to staying healthy in the midst of a jam-packed schedule. Weekends are a nightmare for getting in the way of this, as your schedule is more up-in-the-air. However, you can still get the best out of a busy weekend by stocking up on nutritious, on-the-go snacks like apples and oranges, snack-size low-fat yogurt, raw nuts, raisins and other dried fruit. Hartley explains, ‘Most people will eat junk food because it is convenient, but they’ll often choose healthier options if it’s made available.’

 

5. Keep tabs on your calorie count: If you’re trying to eat healthily to lose a few pounds – and, let’s face it, most of us are – it’s a good idea to be mindful of the calories you’re consuming, compared to the ones you’re burning off. Luckily, if you’re running around after your kids and getting jobs done around the house, you’re probably getting a lot done in the way of calorie-burning anyway! For the ones you’re consuming, get on your smartphone and track your calorie count.

Categories: Apps, calorie count, Calorie Counting, Healthy, healthy diet, lemon juice, nbsp, preparation