Know Your Enemies

We all have them. We all try to avoid them sometimes/most of the time/none of the time or all of the time if you have the willpower of an Olympian. I'm talking about our diet enemies.

I don't mean "diet" in the typical sense of the word, but more in the traditional sense of a balanced diet. Everyone has those certain foods that sabotage even the best intentions. Some of us are better at avoiding those diet killers than others (I would be included in the second group - the others.) But I'm trying to make an effort towards better health right now. Both the Husband and I are working on making regular exercise a part of our routine, and we've had many a conversation about cutting out the crap in our daily diet. If not for ourselves, we owe it to our daughter and any future children to be healthy parents and to instill that knowledge in them.

Unfortunately this is not a "keep your enemies closer" situation... if only that were the case. When it comes to your personal diet saboteurs, ignorance is bliss. If you don't know how bad that burger is for you, then you can avoid the guilt that often comes with eating something you know you shouldn't. I'm not into complete deprivation by any stretch, but I think I could probably deprive myself a little more often and not suffer too badly. Truthfully in this age of increasing awareness of calories, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, etc., I believe it's a rare individual who doesn't have at least a slight idea of the nutritional content of the food they eat.

Below are a few of my personal enemies and their content. It's alarming in many cases, and while I'm not eating these foods every day, they certainly make the cut more often than they should if I want to slim down a little before summer. It's almost embarrassing to reveal...

*Islands (oh how I love you) is a favorite of ours on a Friday night so here's my typical order:
Big Wave w/ Cheese plus avocado and onion rings on the side
1230 calories + 60 (avocado) + 380 (onion rings) = 1670
83 grams of fat + 5 (avocado) + 15 (onion rings) = 103 g
Don't forget the Coke I usually have, which probably tacks on around 300 extra calories, bringing the grand total to almost 2000 calories. If I'm not mistaken, this is probably above the total calories I need in a day. Ugh.

*Starbucks
Tall Caramel Frappucino minus whipped cream
220 calories
3 grams of fat
Note: Sometimes they add the whipped cream by mistake and the total goes to 300 cal and 11 grams of fat.

*Panera Bread
Favorite Order: Chipotle Chicken Sandwich w/ Panera Potato Chips
1150 calories (including chips)
64 grams of fat
Recent Favorite: Cup of Broccoli Cheddar Soup & 1/2 Napa Almond Chicken Salad Sandwich
530 cal
24 g fat

I thought it would be interesting to see how some of my favorites stack up and it's pretty grim. Again I'll reiterate that I don't plan to cut these items out altogether, but instead make it a once in a while treat instead of a weekly occurrence. By the way, I got the nutritional info from each company's website and the links go straight to the nutritional content pages.