"Calorie" news and stories

Unless you opted for a light dessert last night, chances are that you might want to cut back a bit to make up for the chocolates, cheesecake and/or creme brulee that you may have indulged in. Cutting a few calories doesn't mean that you have to stick with salads and Dana Carpender's Every Calorie Counts Cookbook: 500 Great-Tasting, Sugar-Free, Low-Calorie Recipes that the Whole Family Will Love is a book that is based around that philosophy and strives to provide a wide range of recipes that will appeal to a wide variety of tastes. It uses healthy fats and whole grains, avoiding sugar and other "bad" carbs, to make every meal as healthy (but still flavorful) as possible, from party snacks to dinner to drinks and desserts. You don't have to be "low carb" in general to appreciate the book, though. The important thing to note here is that with 500 recipes, it is quite easy to use it to slightly modify your standard diet, lightening up meals when you want to cut back and providing healthy alternatives to some of your more fattening favorites. Recipes include Broccoli Soup with Almonds, Coconut Curried Chicken, Mixed Greens Salad with Goat Cheese and Olives, Cornmeal Waffles and Fried Peaches.

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Food Network fans probably remember Juan-Carlos Cruz from his relatively unpromoted show Calorie Commando, which ran for about three seasons and was unfortunately forced into a TV no-man's land by the fact that the network kept switching around its time slot, making it difficult for viewers to find. The show itself was entertaining, with an underlying philosophy that said healthy foods could still be delicious and comforting. Some of Cruz's recipes could be a bit extreme (I seem to recall a generous use of watercress), but the premise was sound and is something that can translate easily to most home kitchens when cooks are looking to cut back a little bit - especially after the holidays.

The Juan-Carlos Cruz Calorie Countdown Cookbook: A 5-Week Eating Strategy for Sustainable Weight Loss offers a pretty reasonable weight-loss guide that doesn't go over-the-top and end up in the realm of "gimicky" diets. There are 150 sensible recipes, lots of menus that will eliminate guesswork as you get your new routine started, general health tips and even JCC's own personal weight-loss story (he lost 280 pounds!) for a bit of inspiration. The best part is that once the five weeks are over, assuming you stick to the plan, you'll have a nice collection of health-conscious recipes to fall back on. And who wouldn't mind reliable, but lightened, versions of chicken Parmesan, macaroni and cheese, chocolate cake and even cheese fries?

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It's hard to tell how many calories something has just by looking at it. We already know what an ounce of nuts looks like - but what do servings of other common foods look like? Wisegeek took pictures of 200 calories portions of 71 common food items, including everything from staples like flour, cornmeal, oil and butter to muffins, ketchup, bacon, Powerbars and Tootsie Pops. They every carefully cut down the items that were more than 200 calories per piece to provide the most accurate visual example possible. Measurements are given in grams or milliliters, as well as calories. And as an additional bonus, every item was shot on the same plate, bowl or glass, so the size of each item can easily be compared to its neighboring items.

Now, calories aren't the only thing to take into consideration when planning your diet, but it is still nice to see that one glazed donut doesn't have quite as many calories as a bakery muffin or a bagel because it makes it that much easier to enjoy every once in a while.

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Another piece of legislation was overshadowed by the press surrounding the New York City's trans fat ban, though they were passed at the same time. The issue is that the city is now going to require some restaurants to list the calorie counts of some of their foods directly on their menus. The rule only applies to about 10% of restaurants in the city, restaurants with standardized menus that already make the information publicly available. In other words, it applies to chain restaurants that publish their calorie counts or put them on their websites. It does not apply to high-end restaurants or to the corner hamburger stand, places at which you have no way of knowing what you're getting in terms of calories, nor does it apply to chain restaurants that do not make their nutritional information known.

This clearly discourages companies from disclosing nutritional information. In fact, it penalizes companies that are making this information available already. If you want to eat healthier, you probably already know that skim milk has less fat and calories than whole milk and don't need an amended menu board to tell you so. In their attempt to police eating habits of the city's residents, the city may actually be making it more difficult for interested people to count calories, as companies retract their official calorie counts to avoid having to change all their menus (while their competitors don't) by early next year.

There are a lot of foods that, usually because of their serving size, end up being "calorie free" according to the nutritional label on their package. Cooking sprays, which are oil in a pressurized can, are a good example of this because if you use a 1/3 second spray, you'll get no calories, but more sprays will start to add up. You can keep these foods calorie free by sticking religiously to the serving size. There are some other calorie-free "foods" that are made with, essentially, flavorings and water. So, some edible things are calorie free, but just because you can eat them doesn't mean you'll want to. Should you give them a try? The answer depends on what you're planning to eat. Hungry Girl bravely taste-tested four fat-free, calorie-free foods, including the bizarre sounding David Burke's Flavor Sprays, and found most of them to be lacking in more than calories. To find out which one(s) made her list of things worth trying, you'll have to read the reviews.

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