Recently we spent the weekend on the road and we all know how difficult it is to maintain healthy eating away from home. Our trip was unplanned so I didn't have much opportunity short of grabbing some dried fruit and nuts and water. I knew I was going to face some challenges. I'm sure you've read about not so good fast food recently and McDonald's oatmeal didn't make the cut … as an avid oatmeal eater, I rather expected McDonald's oatmeal with fruit and brown sugar to be pretty high in sugar and the fiber isn't really all that great after processing either … tossing on a couple “fresh” pieces of apple with the skin intact (we won't even talk about the chemicals that may be on the skin of the apple) and some raisins and nuts and what do you have? Well, comparatively, it beats some alternatives available on the road, though I was troubled by a couple of items on the nutritional analysis … if you request the oatmeal without brown sugar some interesting numbers changed:
Here, let's compare McDonald's Sausage McMuffin with McDonald's Oatmeal:
I know I've been picking on McDonald's on this post and I'm sure other fast food restaurants have similar comparative offerings, I had just seen so much hype about McDonald's new oatmeal that I had to check it out. Another recent hype is the “new” sugar … fructose and high fructose corn syrup … which is causing quite a stir for nutritional nuts, too … I found this information on Summit Total Health's website: “ … Commenting on the potential mechanism, Welsh and her co-workers noted that, while the actual mechanism is “not completely understood”, studies have indicated a role for fructose – “a monosaccharide found in large quantities in nearly all added sugars”. The sugar has been reported to increase fat production in the liver and the production of both triglycerides and very low density lipoproteins ...” The new ad for the sugar industry says fructose and high fructose corn sugar is still just a sugar, plain and simple. Watch this from MSNBC News. The fact that Americans are getting bigger and bigger and bigger isn't so much what is offered it is what is NOT being offered by schools, parents, peers … when my children and now grandchildren ask for something to drink, they get water! If I do give them soda, they split one sugar-free 12 ounce can three ways. Many children today down a full sugar soda THREE times a day!! Add to that juice and juice drinks and all their calories …a better option next time would be to offer water and a piece of fruit. Juice offers nothing but sugar (albeit natural), but the fruit itself lends itself to a powerful nutritional analysis! What do you drink at mealtimes? Soda? Sweet tea? C'mon … have a big glass of water Or maybe a glass of wine? Your call. Your choice. So here we are again, friends, bottom line hasn't changed … think smart, buy smart, eat smart and your heart will be happy. You can still eat fast food but look for better options ... and go home to eat as often as possible ... your heart and your pocketbook will thank you. Click to set custom HTML
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I am ...
... a former blogger for a health site, which means eating healthy aka heart smart
which has become a passion for me. I will start at the beginning when I first
discovered I had high cholesterol. Loading
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