Cooking At Home Saves Calories and Money

Doing a calorie comparison between cooking at home and eating out at a restaurant, you will almost always save calories by cooking your main meal at home.

You know exactly what goes into your meal at home. You know how much butter, oil, mayonnaise and condiments may or may not be used at home. For this reason, it's so much easier to count calories at home.

It's always nice to go out once in a while or get a to-go meal.

A friend of mine asked me how many calories were in a $10 to-go sashimi meal from a local restaurant.  So, I sat down and figured it out.

Combination Lunch To-Go Meal

  62 calories - 2 pc tuna sashimi
  21 calories - 1 pc white fish sashimi
  80 calories - 2 pc salmon sashimi
103 calories - 1/2 cup white rice
300 calories - 8 pieces California roll
  42 calories - 1/2 cup miso soup
  20 calories - 2 tbsp soy sauce
    2 calories - 1/4 cup mixed greens
  40 calories - 1 tbsp Italian dressing
  17 calories - 1/4 raw navel orange

687 calories - TOTAL CALORIES

Here is what I discovered.  It's more work to figure out how many calories are in a to-go meal than it is to figure it out home-cooking.

Honestly, the above tally is only an estimate because I don't know exactly how much mayonnaise was used in the California roll.  I don't exactly what was used in any of the food items or if anything was added to the soup.  I don't know what kind of salad dressing was used.

I also didn't add in the pickled ginger, which is an extra 30 calories, or the wasabi paste, which is an additional 15 calories.  All of that counts.  There are lots of calories in certain condiments and those need to be counted.

I would guess that this combination lunch would amount to a much higher amount, closer to 800 or 900 calories. And that's more than half of your daily amount of calories if you're aiming to eat 1,200 calories a day. This would be your biggest meal of the day or you would end up overeating and most likely, gaining weight on this meal.  You could always cut the food amounts in half or eat the rice and soup another day, but we all know that once you have a to-go meal at home, you eat the entire meal, extra items and all.

If you really need a fast meal to-go, think about the options.

There's always Subway for comparison. A 12" turkey on Honey Oat bread is 560 calories.  But there are a lot more carbs because of the bread.

There's also In-N-Out Burger as an option.  At In-N-Out, a hamburger with the bun, the spread, onion and veggies is only 390 calories compared to this to-go meal feast.  In my opinion, it's equally as filling and fewer calories.  But it's higher in carbs and fat.

Then, my sons love Chipotle.  I love their slogan:  Food With Integrity.  It sounds so healthy and low-calorie.  But... Did you know a chicken burrito at Chipotle is around 1,200 calories?!!!!  Let's not even talk about the amount of sodium, carbs and fat.  It's very filling, but it's your entire allotment of calories for the day because that doesn't count sour cream or some of the other extras.

Ah... decisions, decisions...

My advice... make it simple, lose some calories, and cook at home.

New Documentary: Fed Up With Sugar

There's a new documentary from producer Laurie David and Katie Couric about the amount of sugar in food.

Is the government subsidizing obesity in this country?  That's what the message is in this new documentary.

The filmmakers also issue a challenge:  Go sugar free for 10 days. It's not easy to do.  Look at any label and check out the grams of sugar in every serving.


The film is already streaming on Netflix.  I've watched it and it's a good film with lots of content.  If you're interested in healthy food and weight loss, you should watch it.

The bottom line is this:  Eat no sugar and cook real food in your own kitchen to be healthy.

The most fascinating part of the film came at the very end.

Who do you think declined to participate in this documentary film about the food industry and the obesity crisis?  Of course, lots of food and beverage companies declined.

Prepare to be shocked at the last name on the list: Michelle Obama.

Congrats to the filmmakers.  This is a must-see documentary film.

Ireland Baldwin Going Vegan

The beautiful, young Ireland Baldwin is going vegan.

How exciting!

It's so difficult to go vegan.  I've tried it.  And failed.

Now, Ireland is going to share her progress with the world.  She may start a blog about it, but it sounds as though she's going to track her 21-day vegan challenge on her Instagram account.

There's a wealth of advice about becoming vegan... maybe  we should join her.

Check Out These Photos: I Want a New Camera

These beautiful photos by Carey Fruth prove that women come in all shapes and sizes.

The photo series was clearly inspired by the iconic photo of actress Mena Suvari drenched in rose petals from the film "American Beauty."



All of the photos have been gathered by Carey and side-by-side they're  stunning.  The photographer also has an Instagram page with more photographs.

If you want to have a photograph taken of yourself for any reason, you want to look up this photographer.  She's in San Francisco.

Now, I want a new camera for my birthday!  Feeling inspired!

CoCo & Co a Hit in New York

I love this idea of serving up coconut juice directly from young coconuts.

They've been doing this in Hawaii forever and my son loves to have his coconut juice this way.



Well, these two guys at CoCo & Co have brought the Island of Hawaii to New York.  That's what it feels like.

The New York Post even made a video about this coconut business.

Now, they need to spread the love to the West Coast.  Wherefore art thou coconuts?

What Is Your State's Favorite Snack to Tweet About?

What is your state tweeting about?  SNACKS.  Lexiocalorimeter posted this map on Twitter.

My state, California, is tweeting about... tomatoes?  Bizarre.  I'm in the right state then, because my favorite food is the tomato.

The same poster on Twitter also posted this beautiful map about what activity most people from each state tweet about... for California, it's dancing?  I would have guessed watching a movie instead, because of the film industry.  Either way - I love maps that show us trends.

What's trending in your state?

Fat Guy Bikes Across America

This Mongoose bicycle is the only mode of transportation Eric Hites is using to trek across America.  His motivation:  Weight loss.

Eric weighs in at 560 pounds.

And he's writing a second book about his bike trek following his first published book entitled, "Everybody Loves Ramen."

Apparently, his bike rim is bent from his heft and someone is fixing it in Rhode Island right now... for free.

Once the bike is fixed, he will get back on his bike ride across the country to California.  But he is already two months into his trek.  He's only traveled from Massachusetts to Rhode Island.  He was estimating the entire trip across the country would take four months.  I'd bet it will take him a year or maybe longer.

If he makes it to the California coast, he will have a lot of tales to tell in his next book.

The best news:  He lost 60 pounds in the first two weeks.  By the time he reaches the West coast, he should be slim.  Tippin' my hat to Eric Hites for changing his life with the trip of a lifetime.  By publishing his journal along the way, he should have a finished book by the time he sees the Pacific Ocean.

Italy's Milk Shows Cow Size?

This picture is on Imgur and the comments below the picture are interesting.  If you're not on Imgur, you should be.  It's fascinating.  There are also comments on Reddit about this photograph.

This is smart and tells the consumer exactly what he/she is getting with every purchase.

Higher fat = Whole Milk = Fat Cow

Those pictures tell volumes about each product and where the highest amount of fat calories sit.




I wish food companies would consider putting photographs relating to the calories on the outside of products in the United States.

Can you imagine what those photos would look like?