HE-0688 Food Facts and Fun
Food Facts and Fun
 ou make choices every day. For example, you decide how to dress, who your friends are, and what to watch on TV. You also make choices about what you eat.
The earlier you begin to make smart food choices, the better you will feel – not to mention how “nutrific” you will look. You will have more
energy to do your school work and more energy during your free time. Your skin will glow, your hair will shine, and your weight will be right on target for your height.
What you eat today will also play a part in what your body will become later in life. For example, teenagers with a high cholesterol level – from foods or genetic makeup – seem to keep it as adults. High cholesterol has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, a leading killer in the U.S. But let’s face it – who’s going to worry about problems they’ll face in 30 to 40 years?
Today you have more pressing problems – how to ace the next test, how to be a better athlete or cheerleader or dancer or band member, or how to get a date with the one of your dreams. Peer acceptance is important, and saying “no” is often difficult. Then, too, you have concerns at home – money or getting along with your parents and other family members.
So why worry about making smarter food choices and exercising more? Because you can be in control. You can make the decisions – at the vending machine, going through the school lunch line, and at the fast food restaurant. You can take responsibility for your own health.
Chart Your Eating Habits
Before you can make smarter food choices, you need to look at your eating pattern. Your eating pattern can give you some important clues. It can show you what you eat, where you eat, why you eat, when you eat, and how you eat.
Jot down your eating habits for a few days – no cheating. Make sure at least one of your days is a Saturday or Sunday and the others are weekdays. Use this sample as a guide.
Fact or Fiction?
- Chocolate and french fries cause pimples. Fact or fiction? Fiction. Foods don’t cause acne. Your hormones, personal hygiene, and use of facial creams and makeup are more important factors than foods.
- The food groups are meat, bread, and potatoes. Fact or fiction? Fiction. The real food groups are fruits, vegetables, cereals and grains, meat and other protein foods, and milk and dairy products.
- Doughnuts will put on the weight faster than bagels. Fact or fiction? Fact. One doughnut has at least twice the number of calories as a bagel or English muffin. Make smarter food choices and make your calories count.
- Milk is for babies. Fact or fiction? Fiction. Teenagers need four glasses of milk per day or other calcium-rich foods. Worried about weight gain? Go with low-fat milk.
- Eating grapefruit before a meal can help you lose weight. Fact or fiction? Fiction. No food can burn fat.
- Eating a lot of protein builds strong muscles. Fact or fiction. Fiction. Only exercise builds strong muscles.
- Vitamin C is an incredible vanishing vitamin. Fact or fiction? Fact. Vitamin C (or ascorbic acid) just won’t stay put. It actually escapes from food, from fruit juices, even from your body. How do you trap the vanishing vitamin? You don’t. You just have to keep tanking up on orange juice, potatoes, and other Vitamin C-loaded foods.
- Granola bars are healthful and have few calories. Fact or fiction? Fiction. Don’t let the name fool you. Granola isn’t too bad, but in order to take the shape of a bar, it has lots of gooey fat and sugar added.
- Fish and chicken are smart food choices. Fact or fiction? Fact. But cooking methods must be smart choices, too. When the fish and chicken are coated in batter and deep-fried, they are loaded with extra, empty calories. Other items such as tartar sauce and mayonnaise add many extra calories, too.
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| Math problem: The difference in calories between 1 cup of skim milk and 1 cup of whole milk is equivalent to 2 pats of butter. If there are 32 pats of butter in a stick, how many days would it take you to drink the equivalent of a stick of butter in the extra fat found in 4 cups of whole milk per day? Hint: The answer rhymes with “pour.”
(But does this mean you shouldn’t drink milk? No. Just drink skim or low-fat milk if you are concerned about your weight.) |
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Breakfast on the Run
Time to go and no time to eat? Grab some fresh fruit on your way out the door – pears, apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, tangerines.
Television and Your Weight
The average American teenager spends 24 hours a week watching television. That’s a lot of TV! No wonder the term “couch potato” became popular. And here’s a statistic to think about: On average, the more TV a young person watches, the more extra fat he or
she will have. Why does it work like that? Think about it. Don’t you like to eat while you watch TV?
How can you beat this statistic? One way is obvious. Don’t eat every time you are in front of the TV. You can also substitute some of the healthier snacks (keep reading for a list of these).
Another way to beat the statistic is to exercise while you are watching TV. Try jumping jacks, jumping rope, jogging in place, knee bends, pushups, half sit-ups, or bench aerobics. If your family has an exercise bike, ask if you can move it in front of the TV.
Believe it or not, another way is to watch less TV. If you watch TV each day, decide which program you like least, and turn the TV off when it comes on. Get up and do some physical exercise while that program is on. You may find you enjoy the physical activity so much
you forget to come back to watch the next program.
The Sweet Story
Who would eat 10 teaspoons of sugar for breakfast? That’s what you’re consuming when you have a soft drink for breakfast! Sugar is everywhere. So much is added to foods than an average American eats more than 100 pounds of sugar every year. Check out how many teaspoons of sugar are added to some of your favorite foods.
| Food or Beverage |
Teaspoons of sugar* |
| Beverages |
| Gatorade (8 oz.) |
3.5 |
| Kool-aid, sweetened (8 oz.) |
6.0 |
| Soft drink (12 oz.) |
10.0 |
| Cereal (1 oz.) |
| Cheerios |
0.3 |
| Wheaties |
0.8 |
| Frosted Mini-Wheats |
1.8 |
| Frosted Flakes |
2.8 |
| Honey Smacks |
4.0 |
| Cakes, candy bars, cookies, and desserts |
| Brownies with nut (2-inch square) |
2.3 |
| Doughnut, plain |
1.8 |
| Doughnut, chocolate-covered |
2.3 |
| Graham crackers (2 large) |
0.9 |
| Granola cluster (1) |
4.0 |
| Jello (½ cup) |
4.1 |
| Milk chocolate with almonds (1 oz.) |
3.2 |
| Oatmeal raisin cookies (2) |
1.7 |
| Pop-tart |
4.5 |
| Sherbet (½ cup) |
7.6 |
| Twinkies (1) |
4.8 |
| Yellow cake with icing (2-inch square) |
7.9 |
| Condiments |
| Table sugar (1 tsp.) |
1.0 |
| Chocolate fudge topping (1 tbsp.) |
2.1 |
| Pancake syrup (1 tbsp.) |
3.8 |
| Dairy products |
| Vanilla ice milk (½ cup) |
2.7 |
| Ice cream sandwich (3 oz.) |
3.8 |
| Ice cream soda (10 oz.) |
6.0 |
| Thick shake (11 oz.) |
9.6 |
| Fruits and vegetables (½ cup) |
| Cream-style corn, canned |
1.5 |
| Peaches, light syrup, canned |
2.3 |
| Peaches, heavy syrup, canned |
4.0 |
| Other foods |
| Peanut butter (2 tbsp.) |
1.3 |
| Pork & beans (½ cup) |
2.4 |
| * Average values. |
Sweet, Sinful, Or Salty…
Calories add up fast from sugar and fat. Check out those in “The Sweet & Sinful.” Although salt doesn’t have calories, all foods having salt have calories. Instead of “The Salty,” you might want to try pepper or a salt-free herb seasoning.
From the table below, check the smarter food choice in each row. (The smarter choice has fewer calories – usually from fat but sometimes from sugar.) The answers are given after the table.
Salad Alert
Lettuce and other vegetables are low in calories, but foods you add to them aren’t. Salad dressings have about 100 calories a tablespoon. (And who uses just 1 tablespoon?) Bacon bits and olives add calories fast, too.
Vending Machines
You can find some good nutrition buys in vending machines, but shop around. For example, crackers stuffed with peanut butter or cheese both have about the same number of calories. But one of these has fewer calories from fat, which is what you should be looking for.
Become a label detective. Find foods that taste good but have fewer calories from fat. Check out the labels below and then follow the example to determine fat calories in the crackers. Your best bet is to select low-fat snacks – ones that have less than 30 to 40 percent calories from fat.
Creative Snacking
Can you snack and still eat smart? Yes. You can make your snacks part of an overall healthy eating plan. What’s the taste and texture you’re craving? Here are some snacks to fit your food moods:
Fiber, The Filler-Upper
It usually takes you longer to eat fibery foods than meats and dairy products. Although you spend more time eating, you actually eat fewer calories with fibery foods. This is a great way to fill up but still stay trim.
Fibery foods also help your digestive system and keep you regular.
- Fiber is found in:
- All fruits and vegetables.
- All cereal and grain foods.
- All starchy foods, such as potatoes and beans.
- Fiber isn’t found in:
- Any meat, fish, or eggs.
Any dairy foods, such as milk or cheese.
The Point Is…
Eating can be fun and healthy, too. If you start making wise food choices now, you’re doing your future self – the person you’re becoming – a big favor. So, assert your independence. Choose healthy foods. Your future self will thank you for it!
HE-0688 Revised April 2007, Barbara Struempler, Extension Nutritionist, Professor, Nutrition and Food Science, Auburn University.
Trade names are used only to give specific information. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System does not endorse or guarantee any product and does not recommend one product instead of another that might be similar.
For more information, contact your county Extension office. Visit http://www.aces.edu/counties or look in your telephone directory under your county's name to find contact information.
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work in agriculture and
home economics, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, and other related
acts, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Alabama
Cooperative Extension System (Alabama A&M University and Auburn
University) offers educational programs, materials, and equal
opportunity employment to all people without regard to race, color,
national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status, or disability.
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