Value Meals and Caffe Latte

A quarter pounder with cheese has about 530 calories at least at the last time it was analyzed. But convert that into a medium value with fries and medium drink added and what have we got? A whopping 1190 calories, that's what. And don't even make me start thinking of a large value meal because that will add up to 1380 calories.

Now black coffee does not have calories. In fact, it's one of the free foods in the exchange diet. And usually, a latte is not made with cream but with milk. This sounds like it is a wise choice for us but don't jump into conclusion just yet.

If we graduate from a coffee that has low-fat milk to a grand caffe latte each and every day, we will be richer by 250 calories. And what does this translate into, weight-wise? A half a pound weight gain per week. That's 26 pounds a year!

How about if we stick to a tall latte with skim milk that is only 120 calories? And this healthier choice has zero grams of fat? If we have this every day, we will cut our weight gain by half. We will gain thirteen pounds a year instead of the scary 26 pounds.

So how do we eat in this type of environment when we dream of the quarter pounder at night and crave for a caffe lattee all day long? Well, it will take a lot of determination, doesn't it? We will switch off those marketing strategies and build our own plethora of plans to fight this.

I am not talking about suing these places for making us fat because they did not put the food and drink into our system. We did that all ourselves. What I want us to do is to think of ways and means to fight these temptations so we can be healthier and stop diabetes along with its complications.

Let us make a pact to be careful of beverages. These can supply us with a lot of calories. Let’s take this example. A small drink of 16 ounces (They call that small? Small used to be 6 ounces.) has 150 calories. But if we supersize that to 42 ounces, what do we get? Calories of 410! Oh, okay there’s still zero fat but 410 calories, give me a break!

Let’s review the nutrition information before we buy anything. We will be able to make wise choices to keep us healthy. Most restaurants have this information as well. I know Swiss Chalet has it if you ask for it. This way you will know what we’ll put in our body before we put out the wallet.

Let’s stay away from buffets. I don’t know about you, but they make me eat more. Oh, okay once a month, as a treat. But don’t go for seconds on the drink just because they come with the meals. Just get a glass and sip, don’t gulp.

Try not to skip meals too. Those who eat one or two big meals a day tend to lose less than those who eat more frequently but small meals even when the same amount of calories is consumed. So let’s try having three small meals and two snacks a day for this spells more success. Don’t ask me why because I don’t understand it myself. It’s just one of those things in life we have to accept as a gospel truth.

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