Thursday, February 07, 2008
Review: The Stop & Go Fast Food Nutrition Guide
There are books that amuse and a few that shock. But if you partake of fast food in any of its forms - whether a burger joint or upscale chain café - get ready to be dumbfounded. The Stop & Go Fast Food Nutrition Guide by Steven Aldana, Ph.D, shows calories, fat (split into various categories), sodium, and dietary fiber of a wide range of the snacks, meals, and drinks you could find at close to 70 chains ranging from A&W to White Castle. Entries are color-coded in a green, yellow, and red motif to show relative healthiness of of the chow.
Let's take an example or two. Like the Starbucks apple fritter? That's 790 calories, with 37 milligrams of fat and a whopping 830 milligrams of sodium. Death on a dish. A plain old 16 ounce latté? That's a grande at 260 calories. How about a Hardee's Big Country Breakfast Platter with country steak? Just 1150 calories, 455 milligrams of cholesterol, and a completely astounding 2660 milligrams - otherwise known as almost 2.7 grams - of sodium. Personally, I'd double check the numbers for the green, yellow, and red coding: a Subway sweet onion chicken teriyaki 6-inch sub may have only 5 milligrams of fat and 370 calories, but it's got 1220 milligrams of sodium.
At $6.95 list, it's a great investment, and if you want to go to the web, you can get all the contents for free. Take it with you when you're out and get rid of some weight, because you'll surely lose your appetite.
Let's take an example or two. Like the Starbucks apple fritter? That's 790 calories, with 37 milligrams of fat and a whopping 830 milligrams of sodium. Death on a dish. A plain old 16 ounce latté? That's a grande at 260 calories. How about a Hardee's Big Country Breakfast Platter with country steak? Just 1150 calories, 455 milligrams of cholesterol, and a completely astounding 2660 milligrams - otherwise known as almost 2.7 grams - of sodium. Personally, I'd double check the numbers for the green, yellow, and red coding: a Subway sweet onion chicken teriyaki 6-inch sub may have only 5 milligrams of fat and 370 calories, but it's got 1220 milligrams of sodium.
At $6.95 list, it's a great investment, and if you want to go to the web, you can get all the contents for free. Take it with you when you're out and get rid of some weight, because you'll surely lose your appetite.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Strange News from the Food Front (9/17/07)
A weekly round-up of food and drink oddities:
- Bottle Wrapper Bourbon manufacturer Jim Beam is putting a 40 story-tall ad on the side of the RIO All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. We're waiting to see which hotel becomes the glass. (Press Release)
- Cheeseburger Diet A woman in Cheshire, England lost 63 pounds on a cheeseburger diet. What, no double patties? (Ananova)
- Chocolate Not Addictive A University of Bristol psychologist says that chocolate is not addictive. Clearly he can give it up any time he wants. (Reuters)
- Drive-Through Run Down A man tried to run down a Burger King worker in Syracuse, NY after a dispute. What, it wasn't after he tasted what he bought?(AP)
- Pasta Strike Many Italians boycotted buying pasta last Thursday in protest of planned price hikes. A saucy move. (Reuters)
- Garlic Stomp A worker the Great China Buffet in Nanuet, NY was caught crushing garlic by stomping on it in an alley. Don't ask about the sausage. (AP)
- High on Education A former student of Lake Highlands High School in Texas pleaded guilty to delivering marijuana-laced muffins to the teacher's lounge. The instructors didn't notice, being too amazed at the vivid colors of the text books. (AP)
- World's Largest Sundae About two dozen people in Canada set a new world record for ice cream sundaes at almost 55,000 pounds. Who set the record for the spoon? (The Calgary Sun)
- And a World Record for Soup Venezuelan officials claimed a new record for a pot of soup at 3,960 gallons with 6,600 pounds of chicken and 4,400 pounds of beef. It was to make a political point. Anything for politicians to stay out of hot water. (AP)
- Dog Beer Festival The Bunter Hund cafe in Vienna will serve special beer for dogs during Oktoberfest. Aged in dogwood kegs? (Ananova)
Labels: bourbon, burger, Burger King, diets, dogs, garlic, pasta, record, soup, sundae, weird
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Product Review: Salter Nutri Weigh and Go Scale
One good reason to have a kitchen scale is to weigh stuff. Yes, I know that sounds obvious, but I'd guess that most kitchens don't have one, even though it's the most accurate way to measure for baking. Guess that's what bakery chains and Krispy Kreme doughnut shops are for.
But another reason for a scale is if you're dieting and need to keep track of just how many calories and how much fat you're putting into yourself. The Salter Nutri Weigh and Go scale is supposed to help with that. You put the food on the scale, punch in one of the 1440 foods and liquids stored in the device, and you get a nutritional read-out. The company’s PR firm sent one over for me to test.
First step was taking some items and weighing them both on this scale and on the Tanita KD 400 that I reviewed in February. I noticed pretty quickly that the two would generally differ by about 1 or 2 percent of weight. That’s not surprising, because no measurement instruments are completely accurate, but it’s a sobering reminder that even exactitude in the kitchen is so much vapor from a boiling pot of spaghetti. That becomes a bit more critical if you’re measuring for nutritional content, but it’s probably close enough for eating work.
You can dial in a weight of food or a liquid measurement – handy, because you’re more likely to pour a half cup of milk than some number of grams. Of course the scale has a tare setting, so you can remove the weight of the container from the equation and get the values for the food alone. I put an 868 gram/1 lb. 14.5 ounce raw butternut squash on the scale. Next, I used the display keys to spell out the food, and then noted the results:
The scale folds up for more compact storage and comes with a slip cover that shuts with a Velcro closure. Suggested list price of the scale is $59.99. If you can deal with the uncertainty, this is probably going to be faster to use than going to a reference book or web site.
But another reason for a scale is if you're dieting and need to keep track of just how many calories and how much fat you're putting into yourself. The Salter Nutri Weigh and Go scale is supposed to help with that. You put the food on the scale, punch in one of the 1440 foods and liquids stored in the device, and you get a nutritional read-out. The company’s PR firm sent one over for me to test.
First step was taking some items and weighing them both on this scale and on the Tanita KD 400 that I reviewed in February. I noticed pretty quickly that the two would generally differ by about 1 or 2 percent of weight. That’s not surprising, because no measurement instruments are completely accurate, but it’s a sobering reminder that even exactitude in the kitchen is so much vapor from a boiling pot of spaghetti. That becomes a bit more critical if you’re measuring for nutritional content, but it’s probably close enough for eating work.
You can dial in a weight of food or a liquid measurement – handy, because you’re more likely to pour a half cup of milk than some number of grams. Of course the scale has a tare setting, so you can remove the weight of the container from the equation and get the values for the food alone. I put an 868 gram/1 lb. 14.5 ounce raw butternut squash on the scale. Next, I used the display keys to spell out the food, and then noted the results:
- 391 calories
- 8.7 grams protein
- 101.5 grams carbohydrates
- 19.1 grams sugar
- .9 grams fat
- .2 grams saturated fat
- 17.4 grams fiber
- 35 milligrams sodium
- 0 milligrams cholesterol
- 84.1 grams net carbohydrates
- low GI value
- 2% calories from fat
- 390.6 calories
- 8.68 grams protein
- 101.68 grams carbohydrates
- 19.22 grams sugar
- .62 grams fat
- 0 grams saturated fat
- 17.36 grams fiber
- 34.72 milligrams sodium
- 0 milligrams cholesterol
- .098 calories from fat, or 2.5%
The scale folds up for more compact storage and comes with a slip cover that shuts with a Velcro closure. Suggested list price of the scale is $59.99. If you can deal with the uncertainty, this is probably going to be faster to use than going to a reference book or web site.
