Thursday, September 3, 2009

iHCPL Wellness #39: Nutrition

Since I volunteered to be on the Wellness Committee, I feel more pressured to be healthy..or at least know more about my choices.
I checked out NutritionData and was hoping I would be able to find the date for The Tea House' Taro Cream Blend Bubble Tea. That stuff is so good and I'm sure it has to be more on the unhealthy side of the nutritional spectrum. Since I couldn't find Bubble Tea, I opted to search for a 2nd favorite treat: Taco Bell's Chili Cheese Burrito! I can easily eat 2, maybe even 3 if I try, but after I eat it, I feel so sluggish and get heartburn. I looked up the Chili Cheese Goodness and...surprise, surprise- the fullness factor is a 2.0! No wonder I could eat an entire box of them! It is also high in Saturated Fat and Sodium. I don't know much about fat (other than my body seems to like it) but I'm pretty sure saturated fats are bad.
Although I think the Recipes.Sparkpeople is useful, I hate having to list out ingredients (could it be b/c I don't want to really know HOW MUCH I'm eating?!). I don't cook all too often from scratch but I do occasionally make enchiladas with cream of mushroom (don't knock it til you try it!)
Here are the estimated ingredients I entered:

Ingredients:

* 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom 1/2 cup, 1 serving
* Corn Tortillas, 4 tortilla, medium (approx 6" dia)
* boiled chicken drumstick, 3 serving
* Olive Oil, 3 tbsp
* *Kroger Colby and Monterey Jack Cheese shredded, 1 cup
* Salt, 1 dash
* Garlic powder, 1 tsp
* Onion powder, 1 tsp

Here is the nutritional data:

Calories 1,081.3
Total Fat 78.0 g
Saturated Fat 26.9 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 30.6 g
Cholesterol 125.0 mg
Sodium 1,623.7 mg
Potassium 244.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 60.2 g
Dietary Fiber 7.9 g
Sugars 3.3 g
Protein 37.6 g

Did I mention cheese is a weakness of mine? I adjusted the amount of cheese I would use and that made a huge difference. Instead of a cup of cheese, I put 1/4 cup and the calories dropped down to 781. I then substituted my regular cheese for Fat Free Mozzarella (1/4 cup) and the calories drop down to 731.
So what is the lesson?! Eat less cheese!

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