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Saturday, July 11, 2009

100-Calorie Chocolate Treats, Chocolately goodies that won't do in your diet.
By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD

What do you do when you need a chocolate fix (gotta have it!) but only want to invest 100 calories or so? It's not an impossible dream. Take it from a veteran chocoholic: You’ve got quite a few tasty options for 100-calorie chocolate treats. When you're trying to cure your chocolate craving, the key questions to ask yourself are:
  • Do you absolutely need creamy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate -- or will just the flavor of chocolate do? If it's gotta be the real thing, take a look at the "real chocolate" options below.
  • Do you want something that's cold and refreshing as well as chocolatey? Then check out the frozen chocolate treats and chocolate dairy choices below.
  • Are you in a hurry butstill need a shot of chocolate? Look through my grab-and-go suggestions below.
  • Will only chocolate cake or cookies calm your craving?Take a look at the 100-calorie chocolate recipes at the end of this article.

100-Calorie Real Chocolate Options

When only real chocolate will suffice, try:
  • Nestle "Dark" Raisinets:1/8 cup has 90 calories, 1 g fiber, 4 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, and 16 g carbohydrates.
  • Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses:4 kisses have 89 calories, 0.5 g fiber, 5 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, and 11 g carbohydrates.
  • Hershey’s Sticks (they come in several flavors, including milk chocolate): 1 stick (11 g) has 60 calories, 0 g fiber, 3 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, and 6 g carbohydrates.

100-Calorie Chocolate Dairy Options

These chocolate options are cool and comforting:
  • Chocolate milk made with 2/3 cup 1% milk, 4 teaspoons Lite Hershey’s Syrup, and lots of ice: 100 calories, <1 g fiber, 1.7 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, and 17.5 g carbohydrates.
  • Sugar-free instant chocolate pudding made with fat-free milk: 1/2 cup has 80 calories, 1 g fiber, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, and 13 g carbohydrates.
  • Yoplait Whips Yogurt comes in several chocolate flavors: Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Cherry, and Chocolate Raspberry. Two-thirds of a container has 100 calories, 0 g fiber, 2.5 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, and 16 g carbohydrates.

100-Calorie Frozen Chocolate Treats

There are some really tasty lower-cal frozen dessert choices out there these days, including:
  • Slim a Bear 100-Calorie Fudge Bars:100 calories, 4 g fiber, 3 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, and 20 g carbohydrates.
  • Slim a Bear 100 Calorie Chocolate Sandwiches:100 calories, 3 g fiber, 1.5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, and 21 g carbohydrates.
  • Slim a Bear 100 Calorie French Vanilla Bars:100 calories, 2 g fiber, 6 g fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, and 12 g carbohydrates.
  • Weight Watchers Giant Fudge Bar:110 calories, 5 g fiber, 1 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, and 25 g carbohydrates.
  • Healthy Choice Premium Fudge Bars(includes 3 g sugar alcohol): 80 calories, 4 g fiber, 1.5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, and 13 g carbohydrates.
  • Skinny Cow Low-Fat Fudge Bar:100 calories, 4 g fiber, 1 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, and 22 g carbohydrates.
Grab-and-Go 100-Calorie Chocolate Fixes

When I think about grab-and-go chocolate treats, I think of two things: individually wrapped bags or bars that feature chocolate. Of course, just about the easiest things to grab are those "100-calorie packs" of treats. But keep in mind that most of what you're paying for when you buy 100-calorie packs is portion control, pure and simple. So make sure you just grab one pouch.

Here are some of the quickie chocolate fixes I found in my supermarket that tally up to about 100 calories (some are a little more or less):
  • Quaker Mini Delights (Chocolatey Drizzle Multigrain Cakes): 1 pouch has 90 calories, 1 g fiber, 3.5 g fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, and 14 g carbohydrates.
  • Chips Ahoy! Thin Crisps (100-calorie pack): 100 calories, <1 g fiber, 3 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, and 18 g carbohydrates.
  • Chocolate Teddy Grahams (23 g worth): 100 calories, 1.5 g fiber, 3.4 g fat, 0.7 g saturated fat, and 16.5 g carbohydrates.
  • Honey Made Chocolate Graham Crackers (24 g worth): 100 calories, 0.8 g fiber, 2.3 g fat, 0.7 g saturated fat, and 18 g carbohydrates.
  • Kellogg’s Special K Bar (Chocolately Drizzle): 90 calories, <1 g fiber, 1.5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, and 17 g carbohydrates.
  • Quaker Chewy Granola Bar (Chocolate Chunk): 90 calories, 1 g fiber, 2 g fat, 0.5 gram saturated fat, and 19 g carbohydrates.
  • Quaker Chewy Granola Bar (Chocolate Chip 25% Less Sugar): 100 calories, 1 gram fiber, 3 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, and 17 g carbohydrates.
  • Chocolate Honey Maid Delight Bars (100-calorie pack): 100 calories, 3 g fiber, 3.5 g fat, 2 g saturated fast, and 19 g carbohydrates.
  • Kashi TLC Chewy (Cherry Dark Chocolate): 120 calories, 4 g fiber, 2 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, and 24 g carbohydrates.
  • Fiber One Chewy Bar (Oats & Chocolate): 140 calories, 9 g fiber, 4 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, and 29 g carbohydrates.
  • Slim Fast Protein Snack Bars (Whipped Chocolate Nougat): 110 calories, 0 g fiber, 3.5 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, and 16 g carbohydrates (8 g sugar alcohols).
  • South Beach Living Snack Bars (Chocolate Raspberry): 100 calories, 5 g fiber, 3 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, and 16 g carbohydrates (3 g sugar alcohols).

Recipes for 100-Calorie Baked Chocolate Treats

If you've got an urge for chocolate cake or cookies, try this easy cake-mix fix, or whip up one of the recipes below:
  • Devil’s Food Cupcakes: Make it with a standard cake mix, but use fat-free sour cream instead of vegetable oil, plus egg whites or egg substitute instead of whole eggs. One cupcake made this way (the mix makes 24 cupcakes) has 93 calories, 0.5 g fiber, 1.5 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, and 17 g carbohydrates.

The 100-Calorie Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients:
  • 1 8.25-ounce box Devil’s Food cake mix
  • 1 1/3 cups water
  • 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
  • 5 large egg whites (or 3/4 cup egg substitute)
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Preparation:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper baking cups.
  2. Beat cake mix, water, fat-free sour cream, and egg whites or egg substitute in large bowl on low speed for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium speed and continue beating for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter between 24 cupcake cups.
  3. Bake for about 17 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.
  4. Dust the tops of the cupcakes with powdered sugar using a sifter, sugar shaker, or wire mesh strainer.
Yield: Makes 24 cupcakes

WebMD Weight Loss Clinic members: Journal as 1 portion light dessert

Nutrition Information per serving: 98 calories, 2 g protein, 18.5 g carbohydrate, 1.8 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0.5 mg cholesterol, 0.5 g fiber, 200 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 16%.

Low-Cal Cocoa Meringue Cookies

If you don’t want to use Splenda or don’t have any, just leave it out. It works well either way!

Ingredients:
  • 3 large egg whites
  • 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
  • 3 tablespoons Splenda (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Preparation:

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil.
  2. In a large, clean, grease-free mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites with cream of tartar on high speed until soft peaks form.
  3. Slowly add sugar and Splenda, beating until stiff peaks form and mixture becomes glossy. Beat in vanilla extract and fold in cocoa powder until blended well.
  4. Drop mixture by level tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until meringues are firm and dry. Slide parchment onto wire racks to cool cookies completely. They will firm up a bit as they cool. If you aren’t serving right away, store in an air-tight container or sealed plastic bag.
Yield: Makes 32 cookies (8 servings of 4 cookies each)

WebMD Weight Loss Clinic members Journal as 1 portion light dessert

Nutrition Information per serving (4 cookies): 58 calories, 2 g protein, 13 g carbohydrate, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0.5 g fiber, 21 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 0%.

Recipes provided by Elaine Magee; © 2008 Elaine Magee

Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, is the "Recipe Doctor" for the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic and the author of numerous books on nutrition and health. Her opinions and conclusions are her own.

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by: T-Rex Fitness 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Most people have heard the phrase “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” However, few people know just how nutritionally valuable apples are. To understand the real importance of eating an apple, it is important to look at which nutritional components make up this popular fruit.

First of all, apples are great for hydration. They are made up of roughly 83% water. The average small apple has only 60 calories. However, larger fruits can have up to 100 calories per piece. An apple is also fat free and has no sodium. Apples have virtually no protein, but they do contain a lot of carbohydrates. In fact, roughly 15 percent of an apple consists of carbohydrates from sugar and fiber. An apple can have 13 to 15 grams of sugar, which may seem like a lot. However, it is important to remember that this is natural, unprocessed sugar that will not cause the same blood sugar spikes as refined white sugar can.

Fiber is perhaps the most important nutrient that apples provide. In a small apple alone, there are usually 3 to 5 grams of fiber. However, most of the fiber is located in the fruit’s skin. So, peeling an apple will remove most of this very important nutrient. Remember, fiber fills you up. This, plus an apple’s high water content makes it a filling snack and great for anyone on a diet. An apple’s skin also has plenty of quercetin. Quercetin is a type of antioxidant that has been shown to have brain boosting benefits by protecting cells from damage.

In addition to fiber, apples are loaded with antioxidants that are associated with lowering bad cholesterol levels. Apples also contain flavonoids and phytochemicals that can help protect organs like the lungs and colon. They are also a good source of boron, which is associated with improved bone density and a stronger heart. Apples also protect the heart by their high folic acid content.

While the saying goes that doctors prescribe apples for good health, dentists also promote eating apples as a method of preventing tooth decay. For one thing, apples have nutrients known as tannins that can protect against plaque and gum disease. Also, the act of eating a water-rich, solid fruit can help clean away bacteria from teeth. This is because chewing an apple helps stimulate the production of saliva. Saliva kills bacteria and helps prevent tooth decay.

Ultimately, apples are one of the best foods a person can eat. They are sweet, crunchy, delicious, and, of course, very healthy. Their nutrition facts are quite impressive, and apples should be a part of any healthy diet.


by: T-Rex Fitness 0 Comments
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