Getting in shape is all about making smart and sensible choices.
You can still get lean while enjoying social occasions and small treats occasionally.
From working closely with executive clients I often find that it is in coffee shops or meetings where their food choices / decisions often have a detrimental effect on their long term results.
I am hoping that this post will show how eating foods that may seem somewhat similar, can have hugely different outcomes on your goals of dropping body fat.
We will use Starbucks as our example.
Option A: You order a Large Almond and Honey Hot Chocolate with Chocolate cake has the following nutrition profile:
Calories: 1,314
Fats: 40.4 grams
Carbs: 74 grams
Sugar: 60 grams
Protein: 19.2 grams
Option B: You order a Short Skimmed Milk Hot Chocolate and a Dark Chocolate Bar
Calories: 341
Fats: 18.5 grams
Carbs: 12.9 grams
Sugar: 10.8 grams
Protein: 2.7 grams
So with both options you can enjoy a hot chocolate drink with a chocolate based snack.
BUT option one contains a huge 973 extra calories!!!
Lets put this into perspective looking firstly at the calories and secondly sugar.
There are 540 calories in a Big Mac Burger and 323 in regular McDonalds fries. So a Big Mac and Fries contains 863 total calories. You would consume less calories eating Option B) along with a Big Mac burger and fries.
Option A) also has 49.2 grams of more sugar than option B). Putting this into perspective there is 39 grams of sugar in a full can of coke. So having option A), rather than option B) is the equivalent of having an extra one and a quarter cans of coke in terms of sugar content.
So the next time your in Starbucks look closely and think about your food choices. Every action has a reaction, as a coach it is my responsibility to give my clients the tools to ensure they can make smart and effective choices.
There are also other benefits of choosing option B) which will be a complex post that will have to be written at another time. But briefly I’ll touch on it.
Eating dark chocolate has many benefits as it is jam packed with antioxidants. It also contains key nutrients that people don’t often get enough of including iron, magnesium, copper, selenium, manganese, zinc and potassium.
So it’s not just a case of looking at calories, it is a little more complex as food quality should also be considered. However with this scenario Option B) is the much healthier option if body composition is your goal.
