Yes Easter is the biggest sugar holiday of the year! I know this weekend will be filled with many thoughts of peeps, cadbury cream eggs, and chocolate bunnies. (From personal experience) :) So to help control your actions here are a few reminders on why/how to cut back to just a few."When you OD on candy, your pancreas has to work overtime—it pumps out massive amounts of insulin, causing the body to build up a resistance to sugar.
Translation: The more sweets you eat, the more you need to feel satisfied."
AVOID THESE EASTER CANDIES
Worst Calorie Offenders:
Cadbury Cream Eggs – 140 calories
Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs – 180 calories
Worst Sugar Offenders:
Jelly Belly Assorted jelly beans (35) – 28 g sugar
(Small) Cadbury Chocolate Eggs (12) – 26 g sugar
Worst Fat Offenders:
Nestle's Crunch Solid Chocolate Easter Bunny – 36.2 g of fat
Reese's Reester Bunny – 42 g of fat
The Worst Easter Candy:
Hershey's Hollow Milk Chocolate Egg
This hollow egg is a tricky one--just the shell hides a shocking 570 calories. Eat the four Hershey’s kisses inside and you’ll hit 660 calories and 41 grams of fat. Leave this egg and it’s diet-destroying agenda out of your basket and scramble up a plate of healthy, real eggs, instead!
Not-so-sweet sugar facts...
If overdosing on calories is what worries you, reaching for a Diet Pepsi isn't the solution: Artificial sweeteners may be almost as bad for you as high fructose corn syrup. In 2004, a study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that rats ate more after consuming an artificially sweetened drink than they did after sipping sugar water. Researchers say that might be because calorie-free artificial sweeteners act like stomach teasers: As you down your diet soda, your body anticipates the calories. When they don't arrive, your body sends you looking elsewhere for them, often in a snack bowl.
And get this: A 2005 study by researchers from the University of Texas found that people who drank a can of diet soda per day had a 37 percent greater incidence of obesity.
Healthy Replacement Treats...
Apples:
A 2003 Brazilian study found that three apples a day can keep weight gain at bay--and can even help you lose. "There's no magic compound," according to Rui Hai Liu, Ph.D., an apple researcher at Cornell University.
"The best way to lose weight is to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables. That increases volume and decreases calorie density." If you've got 5 minutes and a knife, cut your apple up and mix it with some chopped walnuts and a teaspoon or two of maple syrup. Or eat it with a tablespoon of peanut butter to add about 100 calories' worth of the satiating power of nuts.
Frozen juice bars:
Unwrap a frozen juice bar and you can practically hear the ice cream truck rounding the corner of your cul-de-sac. "They're sweet and tangy, and anything frozen takes longer to eat," Gidus says. "They're just a few calories, and they've even got some vitamins."
Favorite: Edy's Tangerine, with flavor as bright as its color — and a mere 80 calories.
Licorice:
Decio Armanini, M.D., who did the research at Italy's University of Padua, explains that there are two ways licorice works. The first is complicated and involves blocking an enzyme that plays a role in fat accumulation. The second is simpler. "Licorice can reduce appetite," he says. "The effect is probably related to the agreeable taste of licorice, and for that reason people do not need to eat more."
Not talking Twizzlers here; go for the real thing, preferably with licorice extract high on its ingredient list. (Look for it in grocery stores, not convenience stores.) A handful is about 150 calories and will keep you busy chewing something sweet, flavorful, and satisfying for twice the time it takes to down a bag of M&Ms.
And if you must have chocolate:
Try Hershey's All Natural Extra Dark Pure Dark Chocolate with 60% Cacao. They're individually wrapped 45-calorie squares so you won't go off the chocolaty deep end. Plus, cocoa can lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and possibly even prevent cancer. But be sure to stick to the dark chocolate -- it retains more of the bean during processing and generally has slightly less fat than the milkier version.
Everyone deserves a treat here and there, just make it smart and proportional!
Have a fabulous Easter and a Happy Spring!!! :)
