Happy October 18th! No, this isn't a holiday (at least not that I'm aware of...), but we don't say "Happy insert-random-day-here!" enough, so what the heck? :) Hope you're having a fabulous week so far! Other than the fact that Rory (the terribly-behaved kitten) has now gained the leg strength to jump onto the counters and make it all the way up to the top of the cupboards, this has been a good week! As a trainer, I'm proud of his leg strength, as a kitten owner, I'm mortified. There goes the days of leaving frozen food on the counter to defrost...but alas, I'll get over it. Or maybe someday our efforts to train him not to destroy everything will prove worthwhile. Yeah, right. ;)
Enough kitten woes! I found this little gem of an article on MSN the other day, and thought it was a good one to share! I've already discussed the hidden evils of some of the seemingly-innocent fall delectables with some of my clients, but felt that you all might want to know as well! Since autumn 'tis the season for pumpkin-flavored everything (exacerbated by Starbucks and those darn pumpkin spice lattes, I imagine), I thought you'd enjoy a little nutritional breakdown of some fall faves. You can read the full article here if you'd like! All credits to those who hunted down these nutritional facts themselves. I'll just brief you on three of the worst and three of the best! Here goes:
The Bad Boys:
The Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake:
739 calories, 39 grams of saturated fat. As the article details, you'd have to eat 29, yes 29, slices of bacon to get as much saturated fat as you get from that one piece of cheesecake. Whoa baby!
Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (sad, I know):
Grande with non-fat milk- 330 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 50 grams of sugar (keep in mind one teaspoon of sugar= 4 grams of sugar)
Yes, these are delicious. But with a solid 12 teaspoons of sugar in one, they aren't a great option for your daily caffeine fix!
Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses:
9 pieces: 220 calories, 13 grams of fat.
Although the numbers on these don't seem as bad (especially in comparison to the cheesecake), don't forget that is only for nine little kisses. This seems like a good one to skip over when choosing a treat and pick something with way more bang for your buck (aka way less calories and fat, or at least a whole lot more of the treat for the same amount!)
The Keepers
Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice Coffee:
2-5 calories a cup.
Need I even explain the loveliness that is pumpkin spice coffee? If you're an avid coffee lover like myself, I doubt I need to. It is all the yummy flavor of pumpkin minus the extra 325 calories Starbucks adds (even I, a Starbucks long-timer, don't appreciate their {lack of} nutrition at times). How perfect! Drink that while watching the rain fall on a day like today, and you've got yourself a splendidly cozy time!
Red Mango Pumpkin Spice Froyo
1/2 cup= 80 calories, no fat, and 18 grams of sugar.
Though I've never tried this flavor, it sounds prettttty impressive to me in terms of dessert! A cup of it (which is a good amount) still puts you at a not-so-shabby 160 calories, rather than the much higher numbers a tiny little Blizzard from DQ would. Not a sweets person? No sweat, check out the next one!
Kashi Crunch Granola Bars Pumpkin Spice Flax
2 bars (in a wrapper together)= 170 calories, 6 grams of fat and 10 grams of sugar.
I love Kashi! I think they've got such good stuff, and they were around making all their products with whole grains and minimal words-you-can't-say ingredients way before other companies got around to it. These will hopefully be in my hands the next time I leave the grocery store. :)
So that's that! A few of my faves from an awesome article. Thoughts on all these crazy pumpkin-flavored findings? Let me know what you think! I'm off to enjoy a little break before I power through a long workday! (I'm not sure how my hunger level is going to be at 8:30 pm though ;) ) Have a wonderful rest of your Thursday!
--KQ
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