While we all make Halloween resolutions such as “I’ll only allow myself two pieces of candy,” or “I’m donating all leftover candy to the local soup kitchen,” you can safely indulge in your favorite Halloween treats without harboring guilt or using a padlock to protect yourself from raiding your child’s Halloween bag. Need proof? Here’s a look at the nutritional stats of some of your favorite spooky-time eats so that you can savor the fun of this holiday and still look great in your skinny jeans. Plan these nibbles into your daily calorie budget.

• Four plain Hershey’s Kisses: 104 calories
• One fun-sized pack of plain M&M’s: 88 calories
• One fun-sized pack of peanut M&M’s: 93 calories
• Two fun-sized 3 Musketeers bar (regular or mint): 128 calories
• One snack-sized (one cup) Reese’s peanut butter cup: 100 calories
• Three mini Reese’s peanut butter cups: 132 calories
• One Tootsie Roll Lollipop: 60 calories
• Four Tootsie Roll Midgies: 92 calories
• One fun-sized 100 Grand bar: 95 calories
• Two fun-sized Snickers bars: 160 calories
• Two mini boxes of Dots: 70 calories
• One fun-sized box of Junior Mints: 50 calories
• One Smarties roll: 25 calories
• Two mini Laffy Taffy’s (any flavor): 64 calories
• One fun-sized Kit-Kat bar (two sticks): 100 calories
• Two fun-sized Milky Way bars: 150 calories
• Three pieces of strawberry Twizzlers licorice: 120 calories
• One fun-sized Butterfinger bar: 100 calories
• One Charms Blow Pop: 60 calories

Happy Halloween!

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Calories in Your Favorite Halloween Candy

So much of weight loss comes down to simple math. We already know that Americans consume too many calories every day. I came across data for the period of 2000-2002 that states Americans at that time consumed 3,790 calories a day (UN Food and Agriculture Organization). When you consider the fact that the average man only needs about 2,000 calories to sustain his weight, slightly less for women, it doesn’t take a mathematician to see the dilemma.

There are approximately 3,500 calories in a pound of stored body fat. So, if you create a 3,500-calorie deficit through diet, exercise, or a combination of both, you will lose one pound of body weight.

Let’s say you take the advice of most experts and shoot for two pounds of weight loss a week. That means you need to cut 7,000 calories for each week. That sounds like a lot, but if you are one of the people eating nearly 4,000 calories a day, there are some simple changes that can add up really quickly.

• If you drink one regular soda a day, go to diet or flavored water and save about 700 calories a week.
• If you have one 8-ounce serving of milk every day (drink or in cereal), go from 2% to skim and save about 200 calories every week.
• Bagels and cream cheese are a tasty way to start your day, but man are they calorie hogs. Switch to a slice of whole wheat bread and save about 2,100 calories a week.
• Do you like a slice of American cheese on your daily sandwich? Leave it off and save about 550 calories every week.

This gets you right around the ballpark of 3,500 calories, or one pound of weight lost. There are many other examples, like these easy ways to cut 100 calories, but you get the point: simple changes in your diet will show progress. And, this isn’t even getting to the point of real sacrifice! Just a few substitutions and minor omissions.

If you really want to get somewhere, add a little exercise to double-up your chances for weight loss:

• Thirty minutes of moderate-pace walking on a average flat surface will burn about 100 calories.
• Thirty minutes of stationary biking can net a 300 calorie loss (5 days a week nets you close to a half-pound of weight loss).
• Moderate weight lifting is worth a couple hundred calories each session.
• Walking up and down the stairs at work instead of taking the elevator can burn another 100+ calories a day.

Moderate exercise most days of the week can add up to get you that second pound. These are generalizations, but you can see how modest changes to your diet and a little exercise can help you lose steadily each week.

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The Mathematics of Weight Loss

Full nutritional disclosure on menus leads to better choices.

But, I happily stand corrected.

The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has released findings of a recent analysis on the impact of the city’s new menu label requirements. The results show that people became more selective with foods, choosing items with fewer calories. People chose lower calorie meals at 9 of 13 fast food restaurant and coffee chains that were included in the study.

The analysis conflicts with an earlier independent study that asserted the contrary, that the menu labeling change had no effect on consumer eating habits.

The researchers in the latest findings say their information is more reliable because it involved a much larger sample size. It wasn’t limited to low-income neighborhoods, like in the earlier study. And the newer study surveyed more than 10,000 customers at a total of 275 locations, while the earlier study only surveyed 1,156 consumers at four restaurants chains.

“Dietary change is likely to come gradually; it will start with consumers interested in making informed, healthy eating decisions and we hope industry will respond by offering more healthier choices and appropriate portion sizes,” says Lynn Silver, assistant commissioner for New York’s Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control.

(via: HealthNews.com)

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Restaurant Menu Changes Lead to Healthier Choices

From the Starbucks website, the 16 ounce Grande size, made with 2% milk, contains 380 calories, 13 grams of fat, 51 grams of carbohydrates and 49 grams of sugar. That’s a hefty dose for one beverage – even if it does just come once a year. How can you enjoy this drink without ruining your daily calorie count? Order a Tall or even a Short size – an option that’s not listed on the menu board but is available. Have your drink made with non-fat milk and one less pump of the flavored syrup. Skip the whipped cream and you’ve dropped the drink into a more tolerable caloric range.

If you really must have the original drink in all its caloric goodness, what are some ways you can work it off? After all, what’s life without a treat now and again, right? Those 380 calories translate to walking a four mph pace for two hours, running a seven mph pace for 20 minutes, bikram yoga for 45 minutes, or bicycling 45 minutes. Is is worth it to you? Only you can decide – but know what you are getting before you step up to the counter.

Another alternative – you could make one yourself at home. While this Biggest Loser Frosty Pumpkin Smoothie isn’t warm, it does only have 132 calories.

Are you a Pumpkin Spice Latte devotee? How do you make it fit in your diet?

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How Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Fits in Your Diet

For instance, you can compare a McDonald’s grilled chicken salad to Panera’s grilled chicken Caesar salad, to find that the McDonald’s version is a better choice; or you can compare generic potato chips against Baked Lays and receive a complete nutritional analysis of calories, fat, carbs and protein grams.

Or if all you want to do is do a general query for orange juice, all you do is simply type “orange juice” in the query box and you’ll receive a list of generic OJs from concentrate to freshly squeezed and the nutritional profile of each.

You can also specify your search to a brand. For instance, the query for “Tropicana orange juice” will yield a laundry list of all of Tropicana’s orange juices and how their nutrition stats stack up against each other.

Make sure you take notice of serving sizes. Some are easy to discern while others may require a bit of calculating on your end.

Test your own food questions at TwoFoods and discover for yourself how your favorite eats compare to one another so you can choose the healthier option.

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TwoFoods: Your Diet’s New Best Friend

Translation: Basically, Americans are overdrawing the “calorie funds” in their “discretionary calories” bank account. Discretionary calories are what’s left over in the budget AFTER you have prioritized healthy, nourishing foods to meet nutrient needs (the ole fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans). While your bank would charge you an overdraft fee, unfortunately your body can’t do that.

So, what does this have to do with the diligent dieter? I’ve got some tips for how you can respond to the advice, if you need to.

• Take inventory – write down what you eat for a few days on MyPyramid.gov’s free tracker. This food journal tool will tell you how many “discretionary calories” you are over/under budget.
• Remember balance and moderation – the advice of 100 calories a day for women doesn’t equate to “never drink juice or soda or ever eat a candy bar,” but it does mean moderation. Some people love their juice. OK, so either have 100 percent juice with no added sugar or have a cup (eight ounce) of the sweetened stuff a few times a week. One cup of sweetened O.J. is 30 “discretionary calories.”  Like chocolate? Two Hershey’s miniatures with almonds has 74 discretionary calories. So it fits in the budget as a sometimes treat.
• Read and understand food labels – bypass all the marketing on the front of package and look at the nutrition facts and ingredients to hunt down added sugars. Be sure to watch my video on moderating sugar intake for a refresher on this.

The bottom line is pick your favorites and spend calories wisely. Portion control is always the number one thing you can do to eat more healthily. Don’t fool yourself and think that a daily sweet tea beverage or milkshake is a a good idea. But also be careful of foods that appear to have a “health halo.”

A small eight ounce fruit flavored low-fat yogurt has 108 “discretionary calories,” which puts it over the budget. You’re better off trying plain (no added sugars) low-fat yogurt or my personal fave, plain fat-free Greek yogurt and add your own fresh fruit. Try adding 1/4 cup of blueberries and a tablespoon of raw slivered almonds to a cup of Greek yogurt. MMMmmm…

Hopefully, this post help to put the AHA’s quick advice into perspective. Changes are individual so find out where you stand on discretionary calories with My Pyramid and think of changing the portion or frequency of your “treats” or find a healthier swap out.

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How to Cut the Sugar and Sweets from Your Diet

Cloud may have created a more convincing and less dangerous argument had he recommended the function and usefulness of maintaining a regular, moderate-intensity workout routine rather than suggesting that exercise and reduced caloric intake are perhaps not required to lose weight.

The overall take-home message spiraling from this divisive argument is that as a culture we need to quite simply eat less and move more. And this movement does not nor should it not come exclusively from being a gym rat, but rather a rat who walks, runs, skips, bikes, gardens, errands, climbs and treads more than his or her bum sits at a desk, idles in a car or lounges on the couch.

I’m a health advocate, but I’m also a writer. And what do writers do? They sit and write. But I know that in order for my body to not put on extra weight, I must move. Every day. And a lot. As I write this blog post, I can see my bike on which I rode to the cafe to get some work down and will ride back home when I’m finished. I whisk my daughter off to the park at least once a day, take our dog out for walks, and when I do drive, I forgo the proximal parking spots for the ones way back in the lot.

I’m saying this not to pat myself on the back, but to make a case that as a society, in order to move more, it doesn’t take much. For those who hate the gym, don’t go! Take up a fun dancing class. Join a walking club. Plant and maintain a garden. Move the laundry area downstairs so it forces you to climb up and down whenever a load needs to be changed. Have a phone conversation standing up as you water the plants rather than lying down on your bed. Just keep your body moving.

And when it comes to calories, eat more plant-based foods and cut down on your portion size.

Trust me: All of these actions will add up. But your weight won’t.

Also read Experts Debunk Recent Weight Loss Exercise Myth

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Calories Versus Exercise: Can’t They Both be Friends?

In fact, some fancy coffee drinks amount to the same caloric intake as an entire meal.

The largest size of Starbucks’ Dark Berry Mocha Frappuccino, a limited for summer-time offer, contains a whopping 561 calories. Speaking of whoppers, a flame-broiled Whopper from Burger King isn’t much more at 670 calories.

It’s the sugar, full-fat milk, and cream that make fancy coffees the waist-expanding drinks that they are.

The World Cancer Research Fund decided to publicize the staggering calorie counts in coffee drinks. Why would the World Cancer Research Fund be getting involved in a calories counting expedition? It’s because, after smoking, your weight “is the most important thing you can do to help prevent cancer,” they say.

“The fact that there is an iced coffee on the market with over a quarter of a woman’s daily calorie allowance is alarming,” says Dr. Rachel Thompson, Science Program Manager for the WCRF.

“As a general rule, if you want to have a coffee, go for an unsweetened version with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk as this is likely to contain fewer calories,” says Thompson.

The retort from a Starbucks spokesperson is a classic: the Dark Berry Mocha Frappuccino is only one “of over 87,000 beverage variations.”

Have fun verifying all of those permutations of ingredients.

Need more help enjoying your favorite coffee beverage without the calorie sting? Our dietitian explains How to Choose Healthy Eats and Drinks at a Coffee House.

(via: BBC)

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Designer Coffee Brimming with Calories

However, my clients have been very successful with losing weight with behavioral changes that don’t involve counting calories. In this post, I’ll give you a few tips for calculating your calorie needs (because I know you want to know) and I will give you a few suggestions that have really helped my clients drop a few pounds without needing a calculator and a math degree.

Grams Per Kilogram
A rough estimate is to figure out your weight in kilograms (body weight in pounds / 2.2) and then multiply it by a range (25 – 35). So a 175-pound (79.5 kg) person needs about 2,000 – 2,800 calories per day, plus calories for daily activity.

Simple Equation
Weight in pounds X 10 + (50% of the sum). So a 175 pound person needs:
175 X 10 = 1700 + (1700/2) = about 2,600 calories, plus calories for daily activity.

There are several other ways of “calculating” calorie needs. But as you can tell from these examples, there are variations and it can make anyone confused, especially if you are trying to find “perfection”. Dietitians can help get an accurate estimate in a nutrition assessment after screening for your current lifestyle and exercise activities.

One free resource is the Health Calculator here at DietsinReview.com. It calculates daily calorie needs as well as ideal body weight and BMI. Another tool I can recommend is from MyPyramid.Gov. You can use the website to maintain and lose weight, and also to plan and track meals very easily. I think you can learn a lot about your eating habits, including how much added sugars you are getting in your eating plan by recording your behaviors on this website for a week.

Not into numbers? No problem. My clients have found the most weight loss success with some of these important changes.

•    Eating during the day, and starting the “diet” late afternoon.
•    Mindful eating
•    Having meals off of smaller plates
•    Making half of all meals veggies
•    Eating one meal a week outside the home
•    Increasing exercise and calories (yep, many people cut too low and the body refuses to lose weight)

I will blog about these in the future because there’s a lot more to explore than what I can do in just one post.

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How to Determine Your Daily Calorie Needs

Here are some tips for a happy and healthy picnic:

• Eat with your eyes! Enjoy the look of all the food that’s there and pick out what you think you will enjoy that will also nourish you.

• Stick to one plate. It’s OK if you see something that looks “rich” and “off limits,” you shouldn’t feel deprived from what you put on your plate. Choose a small portion and balance out the plate with healthy salad greens, fresh vegetable crudite, and some lean protein like chicken. Take your time to enjoy every bite. Stop when you feel full.

• Lay off “the sauce”. Not only is alcohol a source of empty calories, but it can really lower your inhibitions and take you totally off track. If you’re going to be at a party for several hours, start with a sparkling water and keep your alcoholic drinks to one or two servings.

• Make it mostly healthy. If you’re hosting, you have a ton of control. Make sure there are veggies, fruits, salad greens, and beans incorporated in the foods you’re serving. Keep the chips, pretzels, and sodas on the small side. If you’re not hosting, bring a couple of healthy dishes. If you love egg salad and potato salad, health-if-y it by using nonfat Greek yogurt as a base and just a tablespoon of mayonnaise for flavor.

Have fun this Fourth of July! Make sure to share your good stories of achieving your healthy eating and exercise goals so you can inspire others to follow your lead! If you need a little help and support, ask a friend for some encouragement and check out more holiday diet tips here at DietsInReview.com.

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How to Avoid a Calorie Festival This Fourth of July