Serving Sizes

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stevwil41
stevwil41 Posts: 608 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've been looking through a couple of dietish cook books trying to find some reasonably low calorie desserts and it's starting to annoy me. The most obvious offender is the Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet cookbook. Don't get me wrong, I love the format. It's set up by course and each section is subdivided into calore ranges but I don't really agree with cutting the portion sizes down to next to nothing in order to fit in the "100 calories and under" or whatever range. I mean there's a fudge recipe that has 70ish calories per serving...provided you take an 8x8 pan and cut it into 81 pieces. I believe there's also a brownie recipe that is similarly low in calories if you get 60 pieces out of a 9x13 pan. I totally understand the need for portion control but seriously?!

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  • EmmaRankmore
    EmmaRankmore Posts: 125
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    I was thinking just the same thing today!! :) I made some brownies a while ago (before I got back on the bandwagon here) and had frozen the whole thing. I cut it into portions they suggested for 110 calories, and the portions were TINY..... maybe I'm just better off not eating them altogether lol. Sometimes though, chocolate is necessary... ;)
  • lolainlondon
    lolainlondon Posts: 160 Member
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    I think the idea is that, even though you're trying to lose weight, a little of what you like does you good. Even if you have to use a microscope to see it... ;-)
  • pelleld
    pelleld Posts: 363 Member
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    ...provided you take an 8x8 pan and cut it into 81 pieces.

    Think about all the calories you burn while cutting cutting cutting to get all those servings :smile:
  • cobracars
    cobracars Posts: 949 Member
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    Use the recipe as a guideline and then make your own substitutions along the way. I just modified my normal chili recipe. I love this chili, its more like a stew and not spicy at all. But at over 600mg sodium per serving it just wasn't good for my MFP goals. So I cut out the canned kidney beans and I'm using dried beans instead. I cut out the canned tomato and using fresh diced instead. Also cut out a tablespoon of kosher salt and I'm using Morton's Salt Substitute. Per serving I got the sodium to drop to 34 and the calories to 200. Now I won't feel bad about including it in my diet. I just hope it tastes as good or better!

    So check those ingredients in the receipe for pre-packaged stuff that is high in calories and see if substitutions can be made.
  • sweetiebelle
    sweetiebelle Posts: 332 Member
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    Try fiber one brownie they are very good 90 calories already portion out for you. Yummy!! Its a decent size portion.
  • AloyMomNwife
    AloyMomNwife Posts: 146 Member
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    I've been looking through a couple of dietish cook books trying to find some reasonably low calorie desserts and it's starting to annoy me. The most obvious offender is the Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet cookbook. Don't get me wrong, I love the format. It's set up by course and each section is subdivided into calore ranges but I don't really agree with cutting the portion sizes down to next to nothing in order to fit in the "100 calories and under" or whatever range. I mean there's a fudge recipe that has 70ish calories per serving...provided you take an 8x8 pan and cut it into 81 pieces. I believe there's also a brownie recipe that is similarly low in calories if you get 60 pieces out of a 9x13 pan. I totally understand the need for portion control but seriously?!

    This made me laugh! It is so ridiculous it is almost insulting. If anyone gave me a brownie 1/60th the size of the pan I would throw it back at them like a tiny paper ball.
    Sweets have so many empty calories for such a small portion that I have decided it's not even worth it. Some time ago I had a tiny piece of cake and when I entered it in MFP it estimated it had almost 300 calories... more than my daily breakfast!! If I'm really craving sweets I'd rather workout more that day and eat very light meals so that a decent and normal piece of cake or a whole donut won't throw me over the calorie limit.
    LOL... 1/81 portion size... seriously!!??!!
  • stevwil41
    stevwil41 Posts: 608 Member
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    I have the fiber one brownies fairly regularly I was just looking for something different. I enjoy cooking so I like to give new things a try here and there. I also try to plan real desserts every once in a while by working out extra and having a light meal or two when I really want something decadent. I'm talking about you, tiramisu...
  • soniams
    soniams Posts: 95 Member
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    Make sure to check out Skinny Taste website: http://www.skinnytaste.com/

    There are great low calorie recipes on there, in appropriate serving sizes. And she includes calorie counts (also WW points for those who are counting).
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Desserts are high calorie. There's no secret or magic to it. Desserts, by their nature, are high sugar, high fat for the most part. The only way to keep calorie counts way down is to use very small portions, or use a lot of artificial ingredients. Personally, I just plan for desserts if I'm going to have any, I don't worry about cutting calories.
  • MIMITIME
    MIMITIME Posts: 405 Member
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    I have not tried this but a friend of mine has and she says it is very good. Take a chocolate cake mix, add one can of diet cola and bake per directions of the cake mix. You can also do it with yellow cake mix and use something like diet 7-Up. The only calories here would be the actual dry cake mix so you could get larger portions for less calories.
  • mandasimba
    mandasimba Posts: 782 Member
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    Really no different than those silly 100 calorie packs. Same food, smaller servings. At least with your 81 pieces of fudge you get the joy of baking and it is probably much cheaper ;)

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