Friday Fun Facts!! Ten Worst and Best Foods!

1.  Artery Crust

Judging by the label, Marie Callender's Chicken Pot Pie has 520 calories and 12 grams of saturated fat. But look again. Those numbers are for onlyn half a pie. Eat the entire pie, as most people probably do, and you're talking more than 1,040 calories and 24 grams of saturated fat (more than a day's worth).

2.  Triple Bypass

Can't decide what to pick from a restaurant menu? No worries. Now you can order not just one entrée, but two…or three…all at once. Olive Garden's Tour Of Italy—Homemade Lasagna, Lightly Breaded Chicken Parmigiana, and Creamy Fettucine Alfredo—comes with 1,450 calories, 33 grams of saturated fat, and 3,830 milligrams of sodium. Add a breadstick (150 calories) and a plate of Garden-Fresh Salad with dressing (350 calories) and you'll consume 2,000 calories (an entire day's worth) in a single meal.

3.  Salt's On

Progresso Traditional, Vegetable Classics, and Rich & Hearty soups are brimming with salt: Half a can averages more than half of a person's daily quota of salt. Instead, try Progresso's Reduced Sodium soups. All the flavor, but up to 50 percent less salt than most other canned soups.



4.  Extreme Ice Cream

An average half-cup serving of Häagen-Dazs ice cream squeezes half-a-day's saturated fat and a third-of-a-day's cholesterol into your artery walls and makes a 300-calorie down payment on your next set of fat cells—if you can stop at a petite half-cup!



5.  Factory Reject

The Cheesecake Factory Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake has "layers of moist chocolate cake, chewy brownie, toasted coconut pecan filling, and creamy chocolate chip coconut cheesecake." Each five-inch-high slice weighs three-quarters of a pound and has 1,550 calories and 32 teaspoons of sugar. By the time you hit the exit, your arteries have 43 grams of saturated fat circulating in them that they didn't have when you walked in. It's a though you had ordered three McDonald's Quarter Pounders for dessert!!

6.  Burial Grands

No one thinks of cinnamon rolls as health food. But each Pillsbury Grands! Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll with Icing has 310 calories and 2 grams of saturated fat plus 2 ½ grams of trans fat and 23 grams of sugar. Two-and-a-half grams of trans fat (the worst kind you can eat) may not sound like much, but some health experts recommend 2 grams of trans fat as the limit for the entire day. "My heart to yours," says the package. How sweet of the Pillsbury Bypass Boy to share!

7. Top Secret 

                                     
Air-popped popcorn is a good-for-you whole-grain snack…but not when Pop Secret gets hold of it. Pop Secret Movie Theater Butter Popcorn Snack Size Bags has 9 grams of bad fat, 6 of which are trans, in just one snack-size bag (6 cups popped). Instead, try Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop! or Smart Balance Smart 'N Healthy!, both of which are trans-fat free.

8.  Starbucks on Steroids

The Starbucks Venti (20 oz.) White Chocolate Mocha with 2% milk and whipped cream is more than a mere cup of coffee. It's worse than a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Few people have room in their diets for 580 calories and 15 grams of saturated fat that this hefty beverage supplies. But you can save 130 calories and two-thirds of the bad fat if you order it with nonfat milk and no whipped cream.

9.  Tortilla Terror

Interested in a Chipotle Chicken Burrito (tortilla, rice, pinto beans, cheese, chicken, sour cream, and salsa)? Think of its 970 calories and 17½ grams of saturated fat and 2,200 mg of sodium as three 6-inch Subway BLT Classic Subs! Getting the burrito with no cheese or sour cream cuts the saturated fat to 5½ grams, but you still end up with 750 calories and more than a day's worth of sodium. Yikes!

10.  Stone Cold

Into the chocolate-dipped waffle bowl of a Cold Stone Creamery Gotta Have It Founder's Favorite goes, not just a 12-ounce, softball-sized mound of ice cream, but pecans, brownie pieces, fudge, and caramel. The tab: a startling 1,600 calories and 42 grams of saturated fat. That's roughly what you'd get if you polished off five single-scoop ice cream cones.

1.  Sweet Potaotes

A nutritional All-Star — one of the best vegetables you can eat. They're loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Bake and then mix in some unsweetened applesauce or crushed pineapple for extra moisture and sweetness.



2.  Grape Tomatoes

They're sweeter and firmer than other tomatoes, and their bite-size shape makes them perfect for snacking, dipping, or salads. They're packed with vitamin C and vitamin A, and you also get some fiber, some phytochemicals, and great flavor.



3.  3.  Fat Free (Skim) or 1% lowfat  Milk (but not 2% reduced fat)

An excellent source of calcium, vitamins, and protein with little or no artery-clogging fat and cholesterol. Likewise for low-fat yogurt. Soy milk can be just as nutritious — if the company fortifies it.



4.  Broccoli 

It has lots of vitamin C, carotenoids, and folic acid. Steam it just enough so that it's still firm and add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and a spritz of lemon juice.




5.  Wild Salmon

The omega-3 fats in fatty fish like salmon can help reduce the risk of sudden-death heart attacks. And wild-caught salmon has less PCB contaminants than farmed salmon.




6. Crispbreads

Whole-grain rye crackers, like Wasa, Ry Krisp, and Ryvita — usually called crispbreads — are loaded with fiber and often fat-free.




7.  Microwavable Quick Cooking Brown Rice

 
Quick-cooking (10 minutes) or microwaveable (90 seconds) brown rice is easy to prepare and more nutritious than enriched white rice. When the grain is refined, you lose much of the fiber, magnesium, vitamins E and B-6, copper, zinc, and phytochemicals that are in the whole grain.


 8.  Citrus Fruit

Great-tasting and rich in vitamin C, folic acid, and fiber. Perfect for a snack or dessert. Try different varieties: juicy Minneola oranges, snacksize Clementines, or tart pink grapefruit.




9.  Butternut Squash

Steam a sliced squash or buy sliced butternut sqash at the supermarket that's ready to go into the oven, a stir-fry, or a soup. It's an easy way to get payloads of vitamins A and C and fiber.



10.  Spinach and Kale

These standout leafy greens are jampacked with vitamins A, C, and K, folate, potassium, magnesium, iron, lutein, and phytochemicals. Serve with a spritz of lemon juice or vinegar.



Scary to see that my diet consists of way more things on the Worst list then the Best list!   I am a mix between eating healthy and eating not healthy.  I do love my cookies, donuts, chips, french fries, chicken tenders, pizza, ice cream, bread.....I try to squeeze in some grilled chicken, fish, whole grains, fruit and veggies in there but I know my diet could be way healthier!  There are just way too many good foods out there!


What kind of eater are you?