Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 10, 1 October 2014 — What? ... Were we thinking? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

What? ... Were we thinking?

By Claire Ku'uleilani Hughes, Dr. PH„ R.D. \ational ehain supermarkets, fast-food restaurants and coffee houses have spread across Hawai'i. And, we expect their products to be tasty, attractive and "good for us" (nutritious?) because they meet nationally set standards for food quality, taste, environment and appearance. We accept those standards without question. But, what about heahh and nutrition standards? After mueh customer demand, national chains now offer online

product information. Recently, a nutrition newsletter offered eomparisons of nutrition standards for foods and beverages. Some information was shocking, however, healthy options are available, too. Comparisons demonstrate the importance of being curious and thoughtful. Did you know that California Pizza Kitchen's Butter Cake dessert has 1,100 calories per serving? With a scoop of Haagen-Dazs iee cream, total calories jump to 1,380. A la mode, this dessert has 56 grams of saturated fat and about 19 Vz teaspoons of sugar. Even when shared with two or three others, a serving would still be 460 or 690 calories with iee cream, or 367 to 550 ealories of just eake. This compares with eating an entire 10.75-ounee Sara Lee's All Butter Pound Cake, covered in eight pats of butter. CPK's Butter Cake has the highest

calories, per serving, among all dessert options at this restaurant. Starbucks recently introduced a new coffee drink, Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino. Ingredients in this new offering are coffee, milk, iee, whipped cream and caramel sauce. A venti-sized (24-ounee) drink has 600 calories, with 12 grams of saturated fat and an estimated 21 teaspoons of sugar, with "ribbons" of caramel sauce dribbled over a whipped-cream topping. Compare this to the original Coffee Frappuccino, introduced in 1995 (still on the menu). A "no whip" venti Coffee Frappuceino offers 14 teaspoons of added sugar and 3 grams of saturated fat, totaling 350 calories. Starbucks' Moeha Cookie Crumble Frappuceino, similar in calories and fat to the new caramel drink, is derived from eookie bits, moeha sauce, vanilla syrup, chocolate chips and

whipped cream. And, the venti Caffe Espresso Frappuccino has 450 calories. Compare these drinks to a grande-size (16-ounee) Coffee Frappuccino Light, with 110 total calories from skim milk (zero fat) and about 4 teaspoons of sugar. Finally, compare all drinks to an Iced Caffe Americano with a mere 15 calories. On the positive side, Starbucks offers "salad bowl" meals of nutritious ingredients. The Hearty Veggie & Brown Rice Salad Bowl provides 430 calories and 640 milligrams of salt. If you use half of the salad dressing, calories drop to 340 and the sodium400 mg. The Hearty Veggie & Brown Rice Salad Bowl has 10 grams of protein, 8 grams of fiber, two days' worth of vitamin A, more than a day's worth of vitamin C, one-quarter of the iron requirement and 15 percent of the ealeium. The Zesty Chicken & Black Bean Salad Bowl combines ehieken, beans, spring greens, roasted corn, quinoa, tomato, jicama and feta cheese. A half-serving of dressing,

yields a 300-calorie and 6 10-mg-so-dium dish. With all of the dressing, it would contain 850 mg of sodium (and that's too high). Finally, the Chicken & Greens Caesar Salad Bowl is made with kale, whieh is higher in nutrient value than the usual greens. With half of the salad dressing, the Caesar has 610 mg of sodium and with a full packet, it's 910 mg of sodium. Clearly, we need to think about food choices . . . both nutritionally and economically, especially when building and maintaining healthy bodies. The nationally set standards for food quality help assure that no tainted ingredients or poor foodhandling practices occur during preparation. Assuring health and nutritional standards while making eeonomieal choices demands attention to 1) studying food labels and online information sources, and 2) a lot of "thinking." I was shocked because I hadn't stopped to think. ■