Wise eating challenging but possible
By Sally Squires
Washington Post
Kraft Food Inc., the nation's largest food company, last week announced plans to offer more healthful and smaller versions of some of its products, which range from Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers to Jell-O and Oscar Mayer lunch meats. But why wait for corporate America to provide the smart food choices you can make right now?
"Everywhere anybody goes, there is food these days and lots of it," says Marion Nestle, professor of food and nutrition studies at New York University and author of "Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health" (University of California Press; $29.95). "What everybody is fighting is convenience, ubiquity of food and larger portions."
Here are strategies to help fight the battle:
Divide and conquer: Go ahead, buy the jumbo-size bag of pretzels, peanuts or cookies. But at home, divide them into single-serving portions and place them in individual bags. That way, when the urge to snack hits, you can reach for a pre-measured serving.
Short on time? Make just a few small bags at a time and place the large bag out of reach. Or buy single-serving sizes. Just read the label to be sure they're really only one serving.
Out of sight, out of mind: Food is so readily available these days that it can pose a constant temptation. Since you can't do much about the world at large, regain control of your personal space. At home, keep food off kitchen counters and contained in opaque containers that don't remind you of their contents every time you see them. Place the highest-calorie foods in the least-accessible places to minimize impulse consumption.
Ditto for the office. Store snacks in drawers, file cabinets or cupboards rather than placing on desktops for mindless or stress eating.
Learn portion sizes: They've been creeping up in size for so many years that it's easy to get confused. A serving of milk is 8 ounces, not the 16 ounces now often sold in plastic bottles. A serving of meat, fish or poultry is 2 to 3 ounces — about the size of a single burger patty at a fast-food restaurant, not the Big Mac or the Whopper.
Ferret out hidden portions: Many popular foods contain more portions than you think.
A bean and cheese burrito actually has 2 1/2 servings of grains, a quarter-serving of vegetables, a serving of milk and a serving of the meat/beans group, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Two medium slices of cheese pizza provide 2 1/2 servings of grains, half a serving of vegetables and half a serving of milk. A cup of macaroni and cheese counts as two servings of grains and a half-serving of milk, according to the USDA.
A chef's salad without dressing provides about three servings of vegetables and about three servings of the meat group. A 6-inch sub has two servings of grains, half a serving of vegetables, half a serving of milk and 2 1/2 servings of meat/poultry.
Share: "There's something about a package size that makes people feel like they have to eat everything that's in it," Nestle says. "I do it, too." For example, the snack size package of Oreos has six cookies — about 300 calories. Share it and cut the calories to 150.
Think small: Instead of the "regular" bagel or muffin, which can contain a day's worth of grain servings, reach for the mini-bagels and the mini-muffins, which are the standard size. "Nobody can believe the number of calories present in some of these larger portions," Nestle says.
One large Sara Lee bagel has 330 calories, while a Lender's bagelette has 70 calories. A 10-ounce Stonyfield Smoothie has 250 calories, while a 4-ounce Dannon yogurt blend contains 110.
A standard bag of Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop microwave popcorn contains two servings for a total of 15 cups of popcorn, 225 calories, no fat and and 720 milligrams of sodium. Compare that with a one-serving mini bag, which has 90 calories, no fat and 320 milligrams of sodium.
On the Web: Find more tips at
- www.cnpp.usda.gov/Pubs/Brochures/DGFavFoods.pdf
- www.cnpp.usda.gov/Pubs/Brochures/HowMuchAreYouEating.pdf
