Food Surprises?
 

What are some of the food surprises you've had on your journey? I mean things that you checked out after you ate them, thinking they'd be okay on your plan, and they ended up having WAY more calories/carbs/whatever-you-count that you thought.

And what are your good food surprises? Things that you found fit into your plan that you never dreamt possible?

Bad Surprises

• Bagels. Bagels are what hit me over the head with how calorific carbs can be. I used to think of them as a healthy breakfast. But there's almost 400 calories in a bakery bagel. That's my whole allotment for breakfast.
  
• Cereal. Actually measuring breakfast cereal was eye-opening to me. I estimate that I usually ate 2-4 times the recommended amount. But then, it was all I ate for breakfast, not the "good breakfast" of fruit, toast, and milk accompaniment.
  
• Eggs. I knew they were good protein sources, but didn't realize how much fat they had, too. It surprised me.
  
• Ramen Noodles. A staple snack or quick meal for me. But not only does it have lots of carbs, it has lots of fat. And one block of noodles is TWO servings. (as if!) So now, when I make it for a quick meal, I know I need to plan for 400 calories. Usually I just make spaghetti instead.
  

Good Surprises

• Onion Rings. Just for grins I compared onion rings and french fries in Fitday and was shocked at how few calories onion rings had in comparison. In retrospect it makes sense, since you're just worried about the batter and grease and don't have to worry about the carbs of the potatoes. But when I crave fried food (which is happening less and less) I know I can have a cup of onion rings for fewer than 100 calories.
  
• Bacon. I used to think of bacon and sausage as pretty comparable, calorie-wise. But 1 link of breakfast sausage is almost 300 calories, while 1 slice of bacon is less than 100.
  
• Bread. I did Atkins for a while, and had the view that "bread is bad." But one slice is only about 75 calories, and toasted with peanut butter makes a good protein/carb snack for fewer than 200 calories.
  
• Butter. I thought of butter as a definite no-no. But it packs a lot of flavor in a very small package for only 35 calories per pat. And it doesn't have any of the trans-fats that are getting big press nowadays.
  
• Cottage Cheese. I think my mother single-handedly kept the local dairy in business buying cottage cheese and trying to get me to eat it. But now I like it, and have found that it's a GREAT protein fix for very few calories.

prosciutto!!!! i had always thought that it was too high in fat and not enough protein. what a surprise when i read the label!!! 1 oz = 90 calories, and about 7-8 grams of protein. and if i take off the outer little bit of fat, that's even better!

wrapped around asparagus... YUMMM!!!! and yes, i know that it's classical to eat with melon, but that's too highly glycemic for me...

Re: Food Surprises?
 

Eggs only have 6 grams of fat. 5 of those 6 are the good-for-you kind. Eggs have nutrients that you can't get from any other food. Don't give up on them! For an omelette: Mix 2-4 "real" eggs w/those All Whites that come in a carton like the Egg Beaters. It makes them go further, so does mixing in lots of veggies. :) A hardboiled egg or two is the perfect snack or quick breakfast, because it's prepared w/no added fat.

I will add my good & bad surprises later.

Thanks for posting this, synger. The bagel and cereal information was a big eye-opener for me as well. So few people realize how a "typical healthy breakfast" puts them behind the eight-ball for the whole day, calorie-wise.

Regarding onion rings, I didn't note the same thing. From Burger King:

Size Small Medium Large King

French Fries 230 360 500 600
Onion Rings 180 320 480 550

Lower, for sure, but not by all that much.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
 

The Good

-Eggbeaters Southwestern style are so yummy and only 30 calories (no fat) per serving.
-Cottage Cheese with fruit is very yummy and super satisfying.
-Vegetables, from a big bowl of steamed greens to the great crunch of jicama.
-Fruit is my favorite dessert.
-Tomato soup is comforting and warm, calorically cheap and fills me up.

The Bad

-Salad Dressing. Christos!! What is up with all those calories?
-Soda. How many calories are in that can??
-Bread. Okay, I knew it was bad but I had no idea is was that bad. It attacks you EVERYwhere too.
-Ben & Jerry's... I will never be able to justify eating this for health reasons. :)

The Ugly

-Serving sizes! Okay, what crack head decided that tiny juices are 2-3 servings per container?? To make their label look better??? I saw a ITSY BITSY Naked Juice container and the label actually said: "1.25 servings per container." What?!??!
-Sodium in prepackaged food. Sure, making your food is cheaper, but is it better? YES! The amount of sodium they load into those packages is ridiculous!
-Added fat to everything in restaurants. Your vegetables are swimming in it, your OP chicken breast is slathered in it, is that a pat of butter in my wine??

Yeah, the onion rings thing is very specific. I'm an onion ring aficionado ("snob") so I don't ever get onion rings that are chopped onions in goodness-knows-what-kind-of-batter which is then dropped into hot oil. I only get onion rings that are whole rings of onion, battered and fried. It makes a real difference. Burger King's onion rings are the minced-onion-in-batter kind. /shudder I'd rather eat Funyuns.

The good:

Chicken soup--I love chicken noodle soup & was not willing to give it up. Most chicken soup is lowfat. I just have to watch the sodium.

The bad:

DID YOU KNOW TWIZZLERS CONTAIN HYDROGENATED OIL?????? :mad: :mad: :mad: I know it's only 1 gram per serving, but I don't care, it's pure sugar, why do they need hygrogenated oil? Grrrrrrrrrrr

The good:

Baked Tostitos (especially Nacho) actually taste better than the regular fried ones - there's so much more flavour! Of course the problem is stopping at one serving...

Steaming (gently) two cups of crisp, colourful, flavourful veggies (I love a broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and carrot blend) and then dumping your little cooked Lean Cuisine entree over top and mixing it up creates a massive, tasty, filling dinner.

Fat-free, sugar free Fudgicles!

The bad:

Most low-food or fat-free food being so filled with sugar so as to negate any benefits of going low-fat.

Sodium! If they can put a man on the moon, can't they figure out how to make canned and frozen food without so much sodium that I retain the equivalent of Lake Ontario after a meal??

Well I don't get surprised to often with calories. I am pretty good at guessing what is in food. However last night I was surprised. I had to drive to columbus to deliver a package for work. It's about a 30 mile trip one way. Well I like to have something to drink so I stoped at Mcdonalds for a coffee. I thought it's 6:00pm and I have 550 calories left I think I'll get a milk shake. I thought it can't be much more calories than a frosty(330) so I'll still have calories left for a little snack when I get home. Boy was I wrong that milk shake was 570 calories. So no snack last night and I was hungry. I sure feel good today about not eating when I came home last night.