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Canned Food, Sodium, and Serving Sizes

Today for lunch I brought a can of chili. Hormel Brand Stagg chili and I have to admit I love this stuff but there are a few shortcomings to say the least.

If you make homemade chili then you are in for a real treat. Chili is high in protein thanks to the beans and meat, has lots of vegetables for your vitamins and minerals, and the cayenne pepper that people put in chili to spice it up is very good for you as well.

Not so in a can.

Serving Sizes vs Can Size

stagg chiliBut the reason that started me on this bit of a rant is the fact that the nutritional information on the can list all the numbers for 247 grams of chili when in fact you can see by this picture that the can actually weighs in at 425 grams. You have to do some crazy math just to breakdown those nutritional information numbers.

Protein 425 gram can divided by 247 grams per serving times 15 grams of protein per serving equals 25.8 grams of protein per can.

So the protein in here is pretty good for a serving, a serving of course being one can of chili.

Trouble is that this happens in all the boxes, bags, and cans of food in the grocery store. Take a look next time, serving sizes are small always 8 chips, or 10 crackers, or in this case 2/3 or so of a can.

Sodium in Canned Foods

The second thing that drives me crazy is the sodium content. As a father of a kidney patient I can tell you what our nutritionist told us a couple of years ago.

Everybody should limit sodium. Sodium leads to hypertension, kidney problems, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and the average american diet includes about 3400 mg of sodium. Much more than the 2000 mg we should stay under

The numbers that we use at home which is what anyone should use in life is that you should have no more than 250 mg of sodium per snack and 500 mg sodium per meal.

So using these numbers lets do the crazy can math again

Sodium 425 gram can divided by 247 grams per serving times 750 mg of Sodium per serving equals 1290 mg of sodium per can. This is most of a days sodium all in one can. And it is not just them. Almost all canned products are very high in sodium.

Look on a can of even the “Healthy Soup” types in the grocery store. You will see that the sodium levels are really high.

Low Nutrient Levels in Canned Food

Finally, although it is really hard to check when you are looking at a nutrition label, the amount of nutrients in canned foods tends to be crappy. You get these overprocessed, overcooked veggies and all the preservatives that can kill nutrients. Although the Canned Food People say that freshly canned fruits and vegetables do not lose much of their nutrients.

Cans and plastic bottles are often lined with bisphenol A, or BPA, which has the ability to leech into the food. In large doses, BPA can act as the hormone estrogen and may be linked with an increased risk of some cancers.

You know what the much better option is? Frozen! Believe it or not frozen veggies and frozen fruit tend to be frozen very close to the picking time and the freezing does not affect the nutrients. This means that you get all of those great phytonutrients, minerals, and vitamins without hanging around in the field to pick it.

My normal lunch, and I mean almost every single workday is leftovers from dinners that we make at home. We will cook dinner, make extra and package it up for me to take the next day or freeze for later. This I think is the best and cheapest option but of course, just like today, sometimes the plans just don’t work out.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Spring Fitness Tuneup

I was getting ready to write my monthly newsletter and when I looked at last months newsletter I thought that this content maybe of good use to many people now that the sunn is shining and the days are getting warmer.

If you have been working out all Winter then great, you should be fine, but if you have not been working out keep these five tips in mind over the next few weeks as Spring becomes running, biking, exercising, and eating season.

balance-life-fitness1. Stretching. I have mentioned this before but thought it would be good to go over it again and that is the idea of stretching smart.

When you start to exercise get your body temperature up and your muscles warmed up and do not stretch much at all.

Once you are warm you can stretch away and this will help you get more limber.

The problem with stretching at the beginning of a exercise session is that you can potentially pull a muscle and then be hobbled for a few weeks and unable to exercise at all.

2. Eating. When you are exercising and spending more time outside you are going to build a bigger and more healthy appetite.

I used to feel like I did not deserve to eat very much in the Winter as my exercise was allweights and no cardio but one I got the cardio going I would just be more naturally hungry.

So make sure you eat enough, and that is good food not junk food.

3. Start slow and work up. I remember the spring three years ago that I decided to be a runner and with no background or experience started running every day.

Because of my fitness that I already had I was doing really well but my knees were not strong enough and I ended up with bad knees that Spring and have not really been back to running since. (more on that in the next point.)

4. Try something new. If you are going to go out and do the same thing every year you are going to be bored. Why not take up a new sport.

There are lots of community leagues for people that are new to a sport to try out. You can play Tennis, Softball, mountain climbing, hiking, baseball, volleyball biking, running or even join a walking club.

Trying new sports helps you to build up your body and mind in different ways.

5. Rest enough. This time of year the sun is finally up early and setting late so there is a lot more day.

I know I have been neglecting my sleep and have been working and doing more with the day and not worrying enough about my rest and have started to pay the price.

I can push myself for weeks and then finally one day I start getting sick and am down for a couple of days. My wife sees it coming every time but I still have not learned to listen to her warnings.

Anyway that is all that I have to report this month. If you have any questions please email me at bill@nadraszky.com.

Also as a little plug, if you are looking for a diet that you can do online I have a review of the fat loss for idiots plan and for people looking to transform their bodies I have done a review of the extensive and intense Burn the Fat ebook .

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Is Green Tea Weight Loss real?

There’s a lot of vocalization these days about Green Tea loss and whether or not it’s a viable option for losing and keeping it off.

For most people, the jury’s still out, but it does look promising, to say the least.

Green Tea Weight Loss

Green tea loss is a subject which is currently in vogue in the United States, one of the many kinds of diets to hit the media and magazine covers. Green tea loss is both old and new.

Green tea has been popular in the orient for millennia  it’s just new for us here in the States.

Green Tea Weight Loss

Green Tea Weight Loss

Proponents of green tea loss also cite the high levels of EGCG or epigallocatechin gallate with numerous health benefits aside from boosting the natural fat burning capabilities of the human body.

Green tea loss is something that depicted as good by many and ineffective by others.

The effectiveness is directly related to the amount of fats and sugars one consumes, as well as the amount of exercise one gets, so any generalization as to whether it works or not is relative.

It all boils down to this: if green tea is the factor that helps you lose , then it’s a success.

Green Tea Includes Antioxidants

Regardless of whether green tea loss is possible with exercise and healthy eating or not, it is a fact that green tea is saturated with antioxidants which have been shown to battle cancer.

This benefit alone is enough to add it to your daily regimen.

It’s been stated that drinking a cup either before or after meals will stimulate the metabolism and increase calorie burning by at least 4% over plain water.

That doesn’t mean much on a 2000 calorie diet, but for someone who consumes 10,000 or more calories a day, it translates into quite a reduction!

Certain brands of green tea loss are also thought to regulate blood sugar, preventing ups and downs that can lead to binge eating. Eating a balanced diet, on a regular schedule, is another factor to keep in mind when you need to lose extra .

Green tea loss claims to be able to raise your core body temperature and increase your metabolic rate. Higher metabolism translates proportionately into burning calories, which in turn means burning fat leading to the aforementioned loss.

Effort Free Green Tea Weight Loss

This is what makes green tea loss so attractive; it’s basically effort-free. If you can boil water and lift a cup, you can lose . If you couple this with a balanced diet  low in sugar and fat, and a modicum of exercise, the results can be phenomenal!

To make it even more appealing, many companies now put green tea extract in pill form, so you don’t even have to boil the water, just pour a glass and pop a couple of pills. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

This, along with aggressive advertising on TV and in magazines is pushing green tea loss into being the next generation of loss solutions.

Green tea loss is rapidly taking over the field for most actors, actresses, fashion models and anyone whose body shape factors into their livelihood.

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