Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Remember when I wrote an entry about Greenwashed Food? Companies do little to make their products more healthy aside from the addition of few vitamins, maybe some fiber and a different package. Coca-Cola must have been listening because I have seen this floating around the stores lately.

Just because they added a few vitamins and minerals doesn’t mean it’s any healthier for you. If you enjoy Diet Coke, don’t bother spending the extra money for this. You don’t need a multi-vitamin in your soda when you eat whole foods in healthy portions.

The buzz around the foodie circles is a new dessert that is supposed to be healthy. It’s called Pinkberry and it’s a frozen yogurt.

Yeah, frozen yogurt. Remember that? It was a fad in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Well, it’s back.

Pinkberry is supposed to be different because it tastes less like ice cream and more like yogurt. And, it’s “healthy.”

When you look at the nutrition facts, it does look really healthy. No fat, only 25 calories, but when you look at the serving size, it’s for 1 oz. You have to go to the menu page to find out how many ounces are served. The photo above is an 8 oz. serving, so your “healthy” dessert just jumped up to 200 calories. That doesn’t even count the fruit added. I give them props about the fruit because they serve only fresh, unsweetened fruit, so that IS healthier than most frozen yogurt shops.

When I checked the nutrition facts for Golden Spoon, however, their 8 oz. serving of fat-free yogurt is 136 calories. The nutrition facts for TCBY’s non-fat frozen yogurt is a little more at 220 calories. What Pinkberry is doing isn’t amazingly low in calories. It’s very similar to the frozen yogurt of years past.

The difference is supposed to be the taste. Kristen at Accidental Hedonist went to Pinkberry with some of her friends and described it here:

• Accidental Hedonist – Pinkberry: how good could it really be?

We all tried to describe what, exactly, the yogurt tastes like. Eun-Duk thought it tasted like Japanese yogurt drinks while I thought of something similar: yogurt-flavored Hi-Chew candy. For lack of a better adjective, it’s very yogurty. It’s much like a slightly sweet, frozen, Greek yogurt, creamy without being fatty, with a very lactic, almost sour, tang. The fruit is extremely fresh, never frozen, and unsweetened.

My second thought: Did I seriously just pay six bucks for this?

In the end, I would rather have a half-cup of REAL ice cream than a full cup of frozen yogurt. With real ice cream, I feel like I am splurging for the same 200 calories. When it comes to dessert, it’s not about hunger or quantity for me. It’s about indulgence.

About a month ago, I found this thread at Metafilter:

• How did you redefine your relationship with food? | Ask MetaFilter

There is some good stuff there:

Two things I had to seriously change about my thinking in order to keep myself sane and also not gain weight. I had to stop pretending that my male partner and I could eat the same food. He’s far larger and has a far higher metabolism. I make less testosterone, creating muscle mass on my body is a herculean task. He just has muscles. It’s a bastard. There’re usually two separate breakfasts, lunches, and dinners around here.

The other thing is that if I overeat I try not to consider it a moral failure and just keep overeating out of guilt and self-hatred. It was a reeeeeally hard practice to get into but now it’s second nature. So I ate an entire sleeve of oreos at lunch? Oh well, it’s still salad and an omelet for dinner, and fruit for breakfast.

I keep telling myself that I need to read the entire thing, gleaning ideas from it that will help me, but something is resisting that idea. I don’t know what it is, but I think it’s the same part of me that wants to eat an entire sleeve of Oreos…

I has been a hard week and it only just started. Last week was just fine, but this week I have had problems every day. What did I try to do? I tried to limit my intake:

I reduced it by 100 calories a day. That’s it. Just a 100 calories a day. That’s like… an apple. Less than an apple…

Okay, a little more than an apple, but still it’s just a small, small, small amount. It’s like two Hershey’s kisses. A tiny, tiny amount.

Learning to eat healthy is still an adventure for me. Wish me luck!

A quick link to this entry from Tish Grier about faux-food and her reactions to it:

• love and hope and sex and dreams: Faux-Food Snobs

I love her response to the Faux Food Snobs:

“Oh. My. God. You eat POTATOES?!?”

Why, yes I do. They’re a great source of Vitamin C.

“But what about those CARBS! I simply can’t eat all those CARBS!”

Well, at least I don’t break out in a rash from potatoes.

“And you drink WHOLE MILK? what about all that FAT?”

Well, I’d rather have a glass of whole milk than eat a box of Snackwells–or some other “engineered” foodstuff…at least I know what’s in my milk (and it cures my sugar cravings really fast.)

I’ll never forget the day when I microwaved my Lean Cuisine for lunch and just couldn’t take a bite of it. I had eaten so many frozen dinners that I was just sick of even the smell of them. Rice was my savior then and Mike made good use of his fancy rice cooker for me. I never thought of potatoes. A potato sounds really good right now.

If you have become bored with the old salad routine, O Magazine has a Salad Mix N’ Match Chart that might spice things up for you:

• O Magazine Salad Chart

Stock up on the basics and you’ll be able to create something different every day for over a month. If you cringe when you think of eating another salad, it’s probably because you don’t have an interesting variety. Now, you don’t have that excuse!

Via: Oprah’s mix & match salad chart – Slashfood

Kate Hopkins at The Accidental Hedonist reminisces about the candy that was offered by her grandma:

• Accidental Hedonist – Grandma Candy

“Someone once said that you know when you’re an adult when you can walk into a convenience store and have the means to purchase every piece of candy upon the shelves…and you willingly choose not to. I’d like to amend that statement a bit to include that when you do make a candy choice, you’re an adult when choose licorice, breath mints and yes, even cactus candy over the plethora of chocolate bars at your disposal.”

Just like Kate, I find myself fascinated at how my own tastes have changed over the years. Is it because I can buy whatever candy I want now and it is no longer a limited supply? Have my taste buds actually changed and candies that used to be horrible like licorice now are interesting and different? My taste for candy has changed and not because of any restrictive dieting. I just don’t want to eat some things anymore.

I wish I knew why. I wish I could harness it and change my tastes to crave fruits, veggies and whole grains instead of other unhealthy foods. Instead, I eat whatever I want in small portions and leave the old candy cravings by the wayside.

The Diet Blog has a great review of Subway Vs. McDonalds here:

• Is Subway Better Than McDonald’s?

Here is the conclusion:

Let’s face it: both outlets are massive businesses dedicated to increasing their bottom-line. Overeat any of their fare – and you will no doubt increase your bottom-line (so to speak).

At risk of sounding like a pimply-faced fanboy – I think that Subway offer the better options – but you still need to choose carefully. Subway tend to focus on their “eat fresh” mantra – while McDonald’s try to follow every fad at once – hoping to reach every corner of the market.

Personally, I am able to find something healthy at every restaurant available. Sometimes the salad is the only thing on the menu that can be eaten in whole without damage to an eating program, but there is always the option of eating half or even just a few bites of any food on the menu.

If you want to eat healthy, there is always a way to do it at any restaurant you go.

Here is a link to a recipe for Fennel Mashed Potatoes:

• Comfort Food: Fennel Mashed Potatoes ♥ | A Veggie Venture

If you look at their picture, the creamy and fluffy potatoes look so delicious, but their calorie estimate brings them in at 144 calories a serving. For 3 Points, you can enjoy down-home mashed potatoes made with butter and half & half.

If you have been limiting your diet too much, an indulgence like this might be just what you need.

I am currently in Austin, Texas. The restaurants here are a tribute to the Texas BBQ, so there is lots of meat to choose from, but I’m a little short on my veggie rations. Help me!

How can I eat healthy in Texas?

What are the healthiest items on the Southern Cooking menu?

Are collard greens healthy? They taste too good to be fat free. Are they cooked with lard or something to make them taste so good?

Should I be avoiding restaurants altogether and packing my own food?

If you have any experience with Southern Cooking, please leave comments here so I can make sure I’m really choosing healthy options.