Health of My Family

Many people are quick to think that they can have this or not have that at bedtime because they don’t want to gain weight. Truth is, we are often mistaken on what is better for us to eat. Just yesterday I was at Costco shopping- along with the rest of my list of items I was buying yogurt for my daughter. There are many different kinds of yogurt to buy, but I was shocked to find out that Gogurt (a kids yogurt) was actually cheaper and less calories and sugar than a popular name brand yogurt with duplicate serving sizes. This made me think – if I can be deceived ( a nutritionist and food label reader for more than a decade) than I was betting that most people could be deceived as well.

So here is a little game of which is better for you – if you want to lose weight?

Which is better? and why…

1. Fat free or regular cookies?

2. Coffee with cream and “sugar in the raw” or Diet Cola?

3. Apple or low calorie Ice Cream (at bed time)

4. Pizza or Salad for dinner?

5. 1 serving of alcohol or a cookie?

6. See’s candy or no See’s candy? This one has to be a trick.

First of all let me say this… all the answers to these questions will be wrong if you only read part of these answers. The only real way to lose weight is through self control and portion size. My point here is to show you that you do have choices and sometimes the best choice is the unhealthy choice as long as you can control the portions.

Here’s the answers:

1. Regular cookies. Why? Because we are more likely to overeat on a fat free dessert than on a regular desert. When we see fat free we lose self control and eat too much and often the whole pack. A sure-fire way to gain weight from a fat free cookie.

2. The coffee vs the diet soda. This is a conditional answer – if you go for the diet soda you are likely better off because there aren’t any calories. the risk you take here is over eating. Studies have shown that there is a connection with having caffeine and over eating. The reason this happens is because caffeine without calories (like a diet coke) makes you more hungry. The reason the coffee may be better is because if you add cream in your coffee you are adding fat- the sugar isn’t needed. Fat makes you feel full by turning on a receptor in your brain that says you are feeling full.

3. Ice cream at bed time is better if you can manage the portion size. The reason this is true is because your body is more likely to process fat while sleeping than sugars. Sugars are stored while you sleep and will be converted to fat. The calories from fat in the ice cream will be burned while you sleep and will be less likely to be stored. To make sure this stays true you may even buy an ice cream that is sugar free or low sugar.

4. This one is a free choice depending on the type of person you are. The pizza is a more balanced meal that will keep you full much longer, but the portion must be one large piece or 2 small pieces. The salad can be the best, but is the most likely trap. Salad dressings, like ranch, can be so high in fat that they may be more fattening than a chicken sandwich from McDonalds. With options like chicken salads using alternate dressing like salsa or low-cal BBQ sauce the salad will become the best choice.

5. Alcohol is not the best choice. No matter what a cookie will have a better chance of being used as fuel than alcohol. Cookies have sugar, but will give you energy (calories to burn). Alcohol gives you little or no calories to burn and  may reduce energy. On top of all this, to make it even worse, alcohol’s calories are not initially digest, they are absorbed through the blood stream, which basically means you can only get rid of them through exercise.

6. See’s candy is better, but only if it’s a true craving. Studies show that following your cravings with moderation (one piece of See’s in this case) actually stops the overeating process. If you were to deny yourself anything for too long you will find that you will likely eat too much of it when you finally allow it and that is more likely to make yougain weight.

Hope this makes your holiday eating a little more fun. And Merry Christmas from Health of My Family.