Andy and I have finally taken the time this last week to sit down and watch this year’s episodes of Jamie’s Food Revolution. I was really disappointed that it was only six episodes long. You know, I consider myself food savvy and knowledgeable about what is good versus bad, but every episode we watched had something on there that opened my eyes just a little bit more. I can’t recommend it enough- every parent needs to get ahold of this series and watch it. I’m actually thinking about seeing if I can get ahold of DVD’s of both this season and last years, and then using them for a health unit for my kids this year for school.
One eye-opener that really stuck with me this year was a caloric snack demonstration with high school students. He allowed the students to choose a snack for class- the options were an orange, a cup of soda, a candy bar, and a small slice of pizza. Each student had what they liked, and then after they ate, were taken out to the track.
Those who ate the orange had to walk 3 laps of the track to burn the calories in that orange. The soda drinkers had to walk 7 laps of the track, the pizza eaters had to walk 8 laps, and those who unwisely chose the candy bar had to walk 11 laps of track. Four laps is a mile! Nearly 3 miles of walking was required to use the energy found in one regular sized candy bar.
That stuck with me, because candy bars are indeed a treat here- they are not an every day thing- not even a once a week thing. But every once in a while, I will succumb to a candy bar at the checkout, and let me assure you, there is most definitely no 3-mile hike after consumption. The demonstration really made me think about the calories that we are consuming every day. We’re hardly unhealthy eaters here, but we could probably do more to eliminate unnecessary calories- especially those that don’t really add anything but the unwanted fat and calories.
So last night, we were having a really easy and simple dinner. Basic turkey burgers on the grill, with a side of cherries and a handful of Doritoes. For kicks, I looked at the back of the bag and while I knew they certainly wouldn’t be healthy, I was kind of surprised to see that one serving of Doritoes was only 10 chips. 10 little chips would equal 140 calories. I couldn’t stop thinking about all those times where you just sit down with a handful of chips- and then have several more handfuls. How many calories do you suppose we consume with that kind of activity? Yikes! So I dug into the bag and put 10 chips into a bowl to see how it looked.
Kind if puny, but by using a small bowl, it looked like a more substantial serving. Of course, it does not take any kind of degree to also know that nutritionally, this serving of chips is not going to do a thing for me. Next to my bag of chips, I also had a bag of delicious cherries I’d just picked up. A quick internet search told me exactly what I wanted to know. One cherry equals just two calories. 10 chips equals 140 calories, so to get 140 calories of cherries, I needed 70 cherries.
That’s a lot of cherries! Way more than I eat in a serving, that’s for sure. I think last night when I piled cherries on my plate, I determined that about 16 is the perfect serving for me- knowing that I’ll still be picking at them later. That’s 32 calories for the addition of cherries to my diet. Here they are side by side.
Now, as I was doing this, I thought that cherries vs. doritoes was actually kind of appropriate. Chips vs. celery just wouldn’t be fair, because who really wants to eat celery as opposed to chips? But delicious, in-season cherries? Hard to resist. But for one last demonstration, I put one chip up against its cherry equivalent- seven cherries.
Clearly, cherries win all around. I could eat one chip and add 14 calories to my daily intake, OR I could eat and enjoy seven whole cherries. I didn’t even have to think about it to know which one was going to be more satisfying. It would take seconds to crunch and swallow that one chip. Seven cherries would definitely take longer to eat- not to mention that cherries are loaded with antioxidants and anthocyanin. Cherry juice has recently been touted as a great way for athletes to give themselves a little energy boost before a workout. I’ve been buying them a little more often for my kids with their active dance schedule.
The whole point of this last night was to give myself a visual. I wanted a visual reminder to lock away into my brain to remind me that chips should not really be a part of our regular diet. They are total calorie bombs for our bodies- and void of any actual nutritional benefits. While I may not be ready to ban chips completely, they should be saved for special occasions. A road trip, a picnic, a movie night. They should not find themselves on our regular lunch plates or dinner plates. Ever. My body needs about 1800 calories a day to stay normal. Using up a large portion of that with a few handfuls of chips is clearly a huge waste of calories- and is also a surefire way to add extra calories that your body doesn’t need. My very active daughter needs between 1800 and 2000 calories a day. Zander should be a little less- between 1400 and 1800- more on his more active days.
Chips should not be a part of our family’s regular diet. There are so many good things we can be including in our diets- chips need not take up some of those precious calories. Yet another example of how Real Food is so much better for us.