DQ Chicken Fingers Shocking Calorie Count

If you are at Dairy Queen your options are hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken fingers.

You might think that chicken fingers are the healthiest option but you might be surprised.

The deep fried chicken fingers, gravy, french fries, and toast come in around

1370 calories!! 

If you add a blizzard on to that you are coming in around 3000 calories

That is more than the majority of people are supposed to consume in a day (for some people, that is 2 days worth of caloric intake)

Don't be tricked into think you are choosing a "healthy option" at these restaurants.

{Click HERE to see more fatty fast food options - some of them might surprise you!}

Holiday Weight Gain

During the Holidays (American Thanksgiving - New Years)

The average North American gains about 1 pound

Not 7-12 like some people might have you think (i.e. gyms with new years deals)

And 1lbs doesn't sounds like a lot.

But most people don't LOSE the 1lbs they gain during the holidays

And since  Most Adults gain about 1-2 pounds a year 

that means that much of midlife weight gain can be attributed to holiday weight gain.

Watch what you eat this holiday season

Stick to water instead of high calorie beverages

Go easy on the sauce, gravy and butters

Never go to a holiday party hungry

Take small portions the first time around so if you go back for seconds you don't feel too guilty

Don't Hang out by the Food

And Get 30 Minutes of Physical Activity a Day.

-try going for a walk, getting on the stationary bike, go tobogganing or skating

Or Split it Up through out the day

Its Okay to get 3, 10 minute bouts of exercise during the day.

banana berry protein muffin

Berry Banana Protein Muffin

1 small container of liquid egg whites

1 cup low fat cottage cheese

1 scoop of non-flavored protein powder

2.5 cups uncooked oatmeal

2 fresh bananas

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

dash of cinnamon

Instructions:

preheat over to 350F

In a blender mix in everything

Spray muffin tins with pam or use liners

Pour in mixture and top each muffin with berries of choice

Bake for about 30 minutes

Freeze well - but allow to cool first.

Now you have a healthy, protein packed, low fat muffin!

200 calories and 15-20g of protein per average size muffin

Healthy Food? Part 2

Dried Fruit

It can have 5-8 times as many calories as the fresh kind.

The sugar becomes concentrated and many brands add extra sugar.

One cup of grapes = 60 calories

One cup of raisins = 460 calories.

And all the sugar and the sticky consistency makes dried fruit a major cause for cavities.

Granola

Sure its full of healthy oats and nuts

But Do you know why its so crunchy?

Because its cooked with oil. 

And there is a ton of added sugar.

One bowl can be 500 calories.

If you like granola, portion control is really important, try just sprinkling it on top of yogurt.

And make sure you read the label and choose the healthiest brand.

Trenta

4With spring coming you might be thinking about ice coffee

or perhaps a half sweet raspberry passion tea lemonade

And you might be thinking that the new Iced drink size at starbucks - The Trenta - sounds like a good idea

But is it really??

Its 916mL  - thats bigger than the average capacity of the human stomach!!!

and besides the size.....

think about allllll the sugar that is packed into this jumbo cup.

a venti iced espresso drink can range from 160calories all the way up to 600 calories

and have between 5 and 13g of carbs... or sugar.

The trenta is an additional 325mL... I cant even imagine.

Unfortunately the nutritional information isn't available on the site yet...

Counting Calories?

When trying to keep track of how many calories you are getting it might seem helpful when restaurants provide calories counts on the menu -

but Boston researchers have found that restaurant meals contain on average 18% more calories than listed.
Frozen entrees contain on average 8% more. 

Fight Fatige continued...

Make a sandwich or salad with these 5 ingredients and you will be getting all of the 7 nutrients mentioned in the previous post

Spinach ( potassium, magnesium, iron, complex carbs)
Avocados (potassium, complex carbs)
Carrots (beta-carotene, complex carbs)
Red Pepper (vitamin C, complex carbs)
Chicken/Cheese/Beans/Egg (protein)

Add a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing

Quick Tips

To move more and boost your metabolism by keeping your muscles active throughout the day.

1. Walk when you talk - when you're on the phone, walk around, or pace back and forth.

2. Walk down the hallway to speak to a co-worker rather than emailing. Standford Research Prevention Center found that emailing rather than talking will result in a 10 pound weight gain over 10 years.

3. Lift while you watch - get yourself some weights and do arm exercises while you watch TV. Try bicep curls, tricep curls, shoulder press, shoulder fly..

4.  Fidget More - shaking your foot, bouncing your leg, tapping your fingers, doing calf raises - it all adds up and studies show that fidgeting actually burns a lot of calories.

5. Laugh more - and I mean laugh - laugh til your belly and your cheeks hurt. Belly laughing 100 times is an aerobic exercise similar to 10 minutes on the rowing machine.

-All these tips and more can be found in the Best Health Health Weight-Loss Revolution summer edition.  On stands now

eat at home

The average Canadian household spends about 30% of their food budget on eating out.  People who eat out more often tend to eat less-healthy foods and be heavier.
Want to try saving some money and maybe cut back on some calories? Eat at home.
besthealthmag.com suggegests keeping track of how often you eat out and how much money you are spending at restaurants and then cutting back gradually.

Interesting fact:  the rise in obesity over the past 30 years has fallen closely inline with the decline in cooking meals at home.

to check out 9 otherways to drop a few pounds or be healthier click here






{image from whig.com}

3500 calories

Yesterday I mentioned that you need a deficit of 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat. So what exactly does that mean?
Everyone has a unique daily recommended calorie intake. This is based on age, weight, activity level and whether you are male or female.  Lets say your daily recommened intake is 1500 calories.
This is how many calories you need to eat in order to maintain your weight.
So lets say you eat 2000 calories a day, and burn 500 calories a day at the gym. Your net intake equals your recommended intake and you will maintain your current weight.
If you eat 2000 calories a day and burn 700 calories exercising every day after 7 days you will have a deficit of 4900 calories, or 1.4 pounds.
If you eat 2000 calories a day and don't exercise at all you will be in excess 500 calories each day. After 7 days you will have accumulated 3500 calories or 1 pound of fat.
How exactly do excess calories become jiggly thighs?
Anytime you have an excess of any food group - carbs, protein or fat - the body coverts it to fat and stores it in your adipose (fat) tissue.
So the trick is to not consistently take in more calories than you need.

Trying to lose a bit of weight? Don't fall for the latest fad/product/diet ect that promises "lose 7lbs in 7 days" - instead aim for slow and stead. A deficit of about 500 calories a day is a safe number to aim for. Try to cut out 250 calories a day from food, and burn 250 extra calories a day through exercise.
Trying to gain a bit of weight? Increase calorie intake through complex carbohydrates (ie. whole grains, fruit and vegetables), lean proteins (chicken, turkey, salmon, tofu), and unsaturated fat (ie avacados, salmon, almonds).  Avoid the unhealthy versions like simple sugars (ie. white sugar, white rice, and white bread), too much red meat or cured meats (ie. deli meat, bacon, steak), and saturated fat and avoid Trans Fat whenever possible.

30 Day Shred

I Love the Biggest Loser. I watch as often as possible and I think they teach some really important information on the show. I think one of the biggest flaws of the show is that they send home the people who don't lose enough weight - the people who obviously still need to be there.
I think everyone should get to stay at the ranch the entire time and then who has lost the most should win.
Anyway thats not the point of this post. The point is Jillian Michaels. She is one of the trainers on Biggest Loser. She has a huge amount of products on the market right now, one of those products is the exercise DVD 30 Day Shred.

The idea is to do 20 minutes of intense interval training every day for 30 days. And it is intense. It is a combination of full body strength exercises, isolated strength exercises, ab/core exercises and cardio. I have never done the 30 days in a row because I am always sore the next day.
Im not sure about the 20 pounds in 30 days thing. To lose 1 pound of Fat,  you need to have a calorie deficit of 3500 calories. And if you dont have that calorie deficit, you have lost water - not Fat.
But I would definitely recommend this DVD to people who are looking for a short, intense at home workout.
All you need is maybe a mat, and some 5-7.5lbs weights. It is hard work, it is effective, and it is perfect for people who don't have a ton of extra time in their days.
If you try it, let me know what you think!