Summer Food Myths – Thumbs Down

According to an ABC News video on Yahoo!, some Summer foods aren’t as healthy as you might think.  The video focused on food that people assumed was healthier than a classic summer dish, such as a turkey burger rather than a hamburger.  So you don’t have to watch the video for yourself, I’ll break down what they explained.

Turkey Burger: While you might think a turkey burger is healthy for you, it still has a lot of fat.  As much as 17 grams, which the nutritionist in the video explains is as much as 4 pads of butter.  Gross!  She explains that a better healthy alternative for the grill would be shrimp and vegetable kabobs.  Since shrimp are 70% water, they are very low in calories (about 5 calories per large shrimp).

Soft Pretzels: One soft pretzel has 500 calories and as much carbohydrates as six slices of bread.  That’s as many calories as five servings of cotton candy.  The nutritionist says that a good alternative is french fries, but only if they are made from real potatoes and fried in vegetable oil.  (Somehow i don’t think she means fries from McDonalds).  She explains that the potatoes have several nutrients and a small serving size will have about half as many calories as the pretzel.

Club Sandwich: By the pool, you might be tempted to go with a club sandwich over a burger because you think it’s healthier.  Don’t do it!  With the mayo, bacon, and cheese, a club sandwich has about 800 calories, or the equivalent of two burgers and a six chicken nuggets.  Personally, I’d take the two burgers and nuggets, but the nutritionist said that she’d go with a chilled potato salad instead because cooked potatoes served cold are a good source of resistant starch, which “revs up” our calorie burning ability.  

Frozen Yogurt: While fro-yo is lower in calories than regular ice cream, a serving still has 40 grams of sugar, which is twice as much as the suggested amount for a whole day.  That’s sixteen cubes of sugar!  Instead, the nutritionist suggests the dark chocolate dipped strawberries, which has only 35 calories and 4 grams of sugar per strawberry.  Also, strawberries have a lot of other great nutritional value as well with vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants that you won’t get from the frozen yogurt.  

So I hope that corrected some myths about healthy summer food.  Now I feel like making some shrimp kabobs for dinner tonight.  Here’s a link to the video.

RunPee – Thumbs Up

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is see a new movie in the theaters with a huge box of popcorn and an enormous soda.  The only problem with this is that my tiny bladder can’t hold all that soda for an hour and a half.  If it’s a great movie, I don’t want to run to the bathroom and miss anything important, but if I never use the bathroom, I’m in for a lot of discomfort at the end of the movie.  

Well, RunPee, a new app for the iPhone will solve my problems.  You start a timer for the movie you’re seeing when the movie begins, and it lets you know what the best times are to run to the bathroom.  It even gives you a summary of what you missed.  The app also lets you know if you should stay during the credits for a bonus scene.  Not only is this a fun app, it has a great real world use as well!  

Here is a picture of the app in action from Mashable.

Leinenkugel’s Pink Lemonade – Thumbs Up

I went on the Miller Brewery tour on Monday, and was a little disappointed that I had already tried all the beers that I could sample at the end of the tour.  I was hoping to try the re-formulated Miller Chill since I wasn’t a fan of the original version, but I do enjoy a summertime Bud Light Lime.  I was hoping  However, in the end, I did get to try something new.  Upon hearing that our group was excited to have some Leinenkugel’s beers, one of the tour guides suggested that we try a mixture of two Leinenkugel’s beers, Berry Weiss and Summer Shandy.  The mixture is called a “pink lemonade” and it lives up to its name – it tastes just like one.  It’s sweet, delicious, and a perfect summertime drink.  Because of the sweet taste, it’s a perfect beer to start off an evening, but not something you want to be chugging all night playing drinking games.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of too many bars, even in Leine’s country here in Wisconsin, that have both Berry Weiss and Summer Shandy on tap, so if you want to try the drink for yourself, you might have to purchase a six-pack of each.

Thumbs Down – Murders in New York

Apparently, summer isn’t the best time to be in New York City. According to this New York Times article, murder rates rise in the 5 boroughs during the summer months. This bit of data comes from analysis by the Times using police reports to create a database of murders based on a number of factors including location, date, and information about the victim and perpetrator. All the data can be seen on a map of the city and sorted by all the various factors.

Even more interesting than the data itself, is the comparisons to past studies. Steven F. Messner, a criminology professor at SUNY Albany, put together a similar study in 1981 and found a similar pattern of murder rates increasing during the summer months.  His theory behind the increase revolves around changes in people’s routines and increased social interactions in the summer.  At the same time, there are some differences between the two studies.  In 1981, 29% of murders occured between the hours of midnight and 8 a.m., as compared with 39% of all murders from 2006 to 2008.  Weekends are somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the week, with 36% of murders occuring on Saturday or Sunday.  So the next time you’re in New York, stay away from the 77th Precinct (the “bloodiest block in Brooklyn”) at 3 a.m. on a Saturday night.