Know The Numbers

Some of you know me better than others, and if you know me you know I love a good cup of coffee. I used to load my coffee with cream and a lot of sugar. If you’ve been following my journey to getting fit, I have mentioned that I am cutting back on sugar – except for the apple pie I ate yesterday. Now I take my coffee with a little cream and no sugar at all. BUT, every now and then, especially when it’s a nice hot day or I am sitting at Starbucks working, I grab a nice Frappuccino. And of course I must to get the 24oz cup – no use of going small.

Since I’ve been easing sugar out of my diet, I began to look at labels more closely. Because I’ve cut down on a lot of foods, or in some cases, I forget to read the labels when I do eat, I needed a way to look at what fuel I used to and currently inject into this body of mine. I found this fabulous web page in which all you have to do is plug in what food, restaurant, or food maker and they will give you some options to be more specific in your search and then find the data that you are looking for.  The site is www.nutritiondata.com and all of us should put it to use.

As I was on the site, I put in Starbucks, and it gave me a list of their drinks, so I chose my favorite, the Vanilla Frapp, and look what I’ve been consuming!

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/foods-from-starbucks/9602/2

42 grams of sugar!! 42 GRAMS OF SUGAR – that’s almost 4 tablespoons of sugar. 225 Calories and 48 carbs? Ouch. And I wonder why I couldn’t lose weight. That’s unbelievable.

How about a big Mac? http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/fast-foods-generic/8053/2

563 calories  and over 40 carbs– just for the sandwich.  Add in a small order of fries and you are up to over 800 calories and over 70 carbs. Not a good meal, by no stretch of the imagination. Are you burning that 800 calories off?

I believe we are all attempting to control what we put in our bodies and knowing exactly what is good for our development is crucial.

I suggest you play around on this site and start a journal on what your calorie, fat, carb and sugar intake is for each meal.

Good night and see you Monday

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