Aug
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Trendy Desserts…The Perspective of a Dietitian
August 13, 2010 | 5 Comments
Cupcakes baked at home...still tasted great for less than half the price of fancy cupcakes!
Fancy Cupcakes
Cupcakes are THE cakes for their birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers, and weddings. Cinnabon has even started selling cupcakes! Trendy and fun. But, are fancy store-bought cupcakes worth your money?
I’m not a dessert-hater, but unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket, $29 to $39 a dozen is a lot. A box of cake mix from your grocer and a tub of icing, add to that 2 eggs and 1/3 cup of oil, will cost you no more than $7. And, you get two dozens of cupcakes.
The fancy cupcakes might be made with fancy vanilla, fancy chocolate, fancy butter, and gourmet chocolate sprinkles. But at the end of the day, the fat, sugar, and calories–fancy or not–will do the same job in your body. It’s just that more expensive fat, sugar, and calories are in action.
I do eat cupcakes occasionally. But I’ll either get a cake mix or make them from scratch and save myself the money. I like the smell of baked goods in my kitchen anyways! I’d rather spend the money I save on healthy fruits and vegetables, organic or local produce, fish, or leaner cuts of meat or chicken. We, as a nation, complain that healthy food is more expensive. But are we smart about where our food money goes?
Wanna get fancy at home? Learn how to fill your cupcakes and check this banana pecan spice cupcake recipe from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.
Frozen Yogurt
They are fat-free, natural, with probiotics, and often fortified with healthy acai, antioxidants, or immunity agents. No wonder this dessert is a hit! We don’t want to feel guilty about our dessert, and this one makes us feel we did good. We did the right thing.
Well, they’re fat-free but not calorie-free, the term “natural” has no real definition, Greek yogurt–with much less sugar–also has probiotics, and the acai and antioxidants fortification, there’s no proof they will do anything to your body.
A quick nutrition analysis on some of the frozen yogurt stores in my area reveals:
Red Mango: 1/2 cup frozen yogurt is only 90 calories. Great. Sugar: 18 grams. The fine print says: “Approximate servings per size: small=1.4, Regular=2.3, Large=3.5.” Aha, you gotta do the math while you wait in line!
Yogen Fruz: 125 ml is 110 calories and 21 grams of sugar. Again in the fine print: “Approximate reference servings per actual serving: Small: 1.1 Medium: 1.6 Large: 2.2.”
Iceberry: 1/2 cup or 101 grams, has 70 calories and 11 grams of sugar. The fine print again: “Serving size: small cup=5 oz, medium cup=8 oz, large cup=13 oz.” Ok, well, how many calories are there in your order? Again, gotta do some more math, except that in here, you either need to convert the grams to ounces, or you need to know that half a cup is 4 oz.
My point? I love frozen yogurt! It’s a healthier dessert, and assuming you choose fruit–not chocolate chips or crushed cookies–this probiotic-rich yogurt can help you get more fruits it. But, I spy a “health halo.” I wonder how many people get the large because they’re getting something “good,” not realizing that the calories and sugar add up. Frozen yogurt is still dessert, and moderation is still key.
Smoothies
You get a serving of fruit and sometimes “healthy” antioxidant or immunity boosting shots. From frozen yogurt stores, to small fruit smoothie stores in malls, to fast-food restaurants (McDonald’s now has wild berry and banana strawberry smoothies), these drinks are in.
What makes them popular? Besides the summer heat, people know they need to eat more fruits, and a smoothie is a delicious, convenient way to do that.
Where’s my problem? I think smoothies can be a great way to add fruits to your diets. But, large portions too often is a bad thing. Even a glamorous-looking acai berry smoothie has 300 calories for the regular (16 oz) size and 450 for the large (24 oz). Plus, they lack fiber.
Even more, when people either eat a solid food or drink a beverage of the same calories, the solid food keeps them full for longer. After the beverage, they are more likely to eat another meal sooner than they would had they had the solid food. Why? There’s something about how our satiety hormone respond to drinks and solids. If you think about it, what do you consider your smoothies to be? A meal? Snack? Dessert? When you grab that smoothie, do you consider it lunch? No. But if you had a sandwich of the same calorie level you would.
Enjoy your smoothies–especially if they have real fruit in them–but be mindful of your portions and how the calories fit in your diet. And if you’re really hungry, just sit down and eat. Don’t drink.
Comments
5 Comments so far
Chocolate Monday – Mississippi Mud Cake!…
I liked your entry and I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog! JB…
As a dietitian and avid baker I have to disagree with the comparison of a doctored up box of cake mix and freshly baked cupcakes from a real bakery. Unfortunately there are bakeries that do serve doctored up mixes (especially grocery store bakeries), but those who really love baked goods know the difference. I have no problem with paying $3 to $5 for a really good dessert, and I hate box mixes – they won’t even do in a pinch. I think the comparison you made is equivalent to advising someone to “just buy the book Nutrition for Dummies” instead of going to school to become a dietitian. You really do get what you pay for in time and money. Cake mix is for having fun at home. A decadent bakery product is a special treat that’s well worth the extra effort and money it takes to get it. The beauty of buying an expensive cupcake from the bakery is that it prevents overindulgence, and is less likely to have all those yucky preservatives you get in a mix and can of frosting, which is what I thought a dietitian would appreciate more than anyone.
Renee: I can understand your perspective, especially as a baker who takes pride in her work. And what you said is true, a decadent bakery product is a special treat that is well worth the extra effort and money–but I would like to add: if you can afford it and it won’t prevent you from spending your cash on healthier foods. For $30 a dozen, a family can buy a week’s worth of fruits and vegetables
Good luck with your business.
Thanks you Heritage Cook!
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