Scones and Cookies and Brownies, Oh My!

Bigger isn't always better...indulge with smart snacking!

I don't know about you, but I know that every once in a while I feel like a little snack to tide me over to lunch or maybe dinner. You know, just a little nibble to go with a cup of tea or coffee. Can't do much harm, or could it?

So I started checking out goodies like the Blueberry Scone at Starbuck's, a Chocolate Chipper Cookie at Panera, or a Frosted Fudge Brownie at Mrs. Fields and found out that these three sterling sweet snacks where equivalent to eating a McDonald's Quarter Pounder, except that the cookie and the brownie had 50% more saturated fat then the burger!

This came as a shocker until I realized that these goodies each weighed about a quarter of a pound, just like the burger.

Another good example of how we load on the pounds and clog our arteries and build toward diabetes, is the Chocolate Chip Muffins sold at Dunkin Donuts. One muffin contains 590 calories, loads of sugar and 10 grams of saturated fat. That's about one half a days limit. How's that for smearing on the fat?

According to the FDA, a serving of cookies weighs one ounce. This is something that Mrs. Fields can't be bothered with. Her Snickerdoodle Jumbo Cookie weighs in at five ounces with 640 calories, 17 grams of saturated fat and the equivalent of 12 teaspoons of sugar. This is especially good if you are a pre-diabetic and if you aren't, a few of these and you soon will be.

Einstein Brothers does an even better job. They manage to squeeze 640 calories into a four ounce cookie plus 10 grams of saturated fat and lots of trans fats for clogging your arteries, which is quite a bargain.

Now if that's not enough, you could try a 9.5 ounce Cinnabon's Pecanbon which sports 1100 calories and that's not counting the extra frosting you can buy. You could economize and buy the 7.5 ounce size and only get 810 calories, 13 grams of saturated fat plus plenty of trans-fats and 14 teaspoons of sugar. My blood's dripping with syrup just thinking about it.

Actually I thought these choices weren't too great so I looked to the Muffins, Croissants, and Danish. Figured I should be able to find a reasonable goody between them. No luck. Calories ran between 400 and 770, saturated fat between 12 grams and 24 grams, and sugar between 7 and 17 teaspoons. I read the stats while dreaming about my blood sugar going through the roof and my arteries clogging shut and the drug companies drooling over how many drugs they were going to sell me.

But wait! All was not lost! I spotted a biscotti! It had just 110 calories, 2 grams of saturated fat, no trans fats and 2 teaspoons of sugar. The only problem was that by the time I finished all the research, it was dinner time and I didn't need the snack anyway.

But if you're going to risk eating any of these artery and diabetes promoting snacks, do yourself a favor and cut it in half and leave half on the plate. Don't eat it!

To Your Good Health And Longevity!

Ira Marxe
CEO, Good Health Supplement

Read past Health Matter Minutes articles and consumer reports:

Scones and Cookies and Brownies, Oh My!

Health Matters Minutes Article Jun 4, 2004

Scones and Cookies and Brownies,
Oh My!

Health Matters
Minutes Article
Jun 4, 2004