The 100 Calorie Pack Syndrome

Christine Lusita - Fitness Trainer, Motivational Coach & Nutritional Counselor
Okay ladies, do you feel like you want to be smarter about the foods you put in your body? Do you repeatedly hear--you are what you eat? Well, if you're like me and you're on the go A LOT-- running around, multi-tasking, as we women so gracefully do, we are always looking for a quick snack that we can bring with us on the road.

I know many of us have fallen victim to the 100 calorie pack syndrome. You must admit, the idea of eating a taste of our favorite cookies or chips leaves our mouths watering, excited that we are making a healthy choice for ourselves, but have you ever really looked at what our little favorite snack is made of? I'll tell you, trans fats, saturated fats, sugar, aspartame and tons of other processed ingredients.

Some of these 100 calorie packs, (no names needed), have 3-6 grams of fat, and more than 50% of that fat is saturated! In short, there isn't a dang ounce of nutrition in these little suckers. Ya know, we get so caught up in our waistlines, we forget about the rest of our body. Sure we may keep our waistline down temporarily but our arteries are potentially corroding with each bite!

Oh, and have you examined these "cute" little new 100 calorie coke cans? Yes, 100 calories but 27 grams of SUGAR! Do you know how hard we have to work to burn that sugar off? As a Fitness Trainer and Nutritionist, I will tell you VERY hard! This is a huge misconception in weight loss. I'm sure you have all heard of calories in versus calories out… Well that's the simple science behind weight loss, but do you know sugar is a stored form of glucose? Glucose is stored in our muscles as gylcogen, and when we have a surplus that we don't utilize, it metabolizes into fat! That's just a fact.

So make good choices and instead of having that 100 calorie pack, have an apple, or edamame, or some natural food source that is just as easily carried with you with minimal effort; that has nutrients to give our body lasting energy as we plug through our crazy event filled days, keeping our satiety in check, our heart rates up AND arteries clean.

You realize, in almost the same amount of time it took to reach into your cabinet, grab a bag of these snacks and put them in your bag, you could easily have packed a healthy nutritious snack of fruits and/or veggies, and a piece of lean protein. The proper balance of these macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fats) will actually keep our blood sugars stabilized and our metabolism burning evenly if we eat every couple of hours. This will actually lead us much closer to a slimmer waistline than these empty, quick filler, 100 calorie packs that give us a quick boost of simple carbs that metabolize within an hour or so, inevitably bringing us crashing down, leaving us craving for more.

With logic said, know when to eat them, like if there is a choice of a piece of cheesecake or 100 cal pack, I say run fast with the 100 cal pack. Just don't make it a habit or substitute these little snacks in place of the nutrients our bodies so preciously need. And please don't give these to your kids, they don't need them either!

 

About the Author: Christine Lusita , is a Certifed Personal Trainer & Nutritionist in the westside of Los Angeles for more info you can visit her on www.zenpenfitness.com.
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Ask The Expert

Q: I am so busy with my kids schedule, I can’t seem to make any time in to exercise, especially an efficient workout. Can you please help?

A: Gladly! We certainly don't need a gym to get an efficient workout!  An efficient workout would be targeting the front & back of each muscle group for balance in the body, using multi muscle groups at a time, (as we do in life), create the movements in our exercise that we do in our day to day routines, (which is called functional training) and lastly maximize our time. (Love that one)!! It's a lot to think about at first but we are of the modern day mom! We as moms get more efficient with juggling, prioritize & re-prioritize on a daily basis. It's what we do.  So, a few helpful hints for people struggling with finding the time to exercise…

1. Pushups (my favorite exercise). We can do many versions of pushups where ever we are. If we are in the park we can do them on the ground, if we are in a parking lot waiting for our children to come out of school, we can use the car to "push" off of, or we can do them against a wall...

2. We can do lunging in the parking lot, or lunge as we go back & forth to our car from a normal daily errand.

3. We can do squats wherever we are...outside, inside, I do them in the bathroom at the airport because my husband takes me get there so darn early, so I figure why not use it to my benefit.

4. You can use your children's book bag to do biceps curls & triceps extension while waiting for them to finish their after school lessons, etc (with homework these days, this bag will be a huge challenge)

5. You can park your car further away & do fast walking or sprints

6. You can do calf raises while cooking dinner, you can stand on one leg & practice balance while brushing your teeth

7. You can stretch your quads & hamstrings while waiting in line at the grocery store!!

There is always plan B. When there is a will, there is a way. You can always optimize your time if you set your mind to it.  Keep some sneakers; lose clothing & water in your car at all times.