From Hungry Girl 200 Under 200, here are some random facts/tips/trivia. READY GO!

• Cinnamon is one of the oldest known spices. Because it was sought by early explorers, some people say that cinnamon contributed to the discovery of America.
• McCormick Taco Seasoning Mix has chili pepper, cumin, oregano, red pepper, onion, salt, sugar, paprika and garlic.
• Chocolate had been enjoyed as a drink for centuries in ancient civilizations before Spanish explorers brought it back to Europe. No big surprise that it caught on! But it wasn't until the early 1800s that companies started producing the solid chocolate we know and love today.
• In the old days, marshmallows were made from a plant that was actually called a marsh mallow. These days they're comprised of sugary sweet stuff and no plants at all.
• The original Rice Krispies Treats were invented in 1939 by Mary Barber and the Kellogg's Home Economics Department. The original s'mores were inspired by Girl Scouts in the 1920s.
  

I'm back from vacation folks!
Check out this article in the Los Angeles Times about fast food options and obesity.

Eat This, Not That ala Auntie Anne's.

Little Trick: Order your pretzel without salt and the sodium drops from 930 mg to about 500 mg. Order without butter, and you'll lose two grams of saturated fat and up to 60 calories.

Weapon of Mass Destruction: Strawberry Dutch Shake (20 oz). Make it a Strawberry Dutch Ice and save 595 calories and 26 grams of fat.

Eat This:

• Jalapeno pretzel without butter and with marinara sauce. This pretzel/dip combo is the lowest-calorie option on the menu.
• Original pretzel without butter with sweet pretzel dip.
• Blue Raspberry Dutch Ice (14 oz).
  

Not That!

• Whole wheat pretzel without butter and with cheese sauce. The whole wheat pretzel supplies 7 grams of fiber, as much as a cup of bran cereal. Unfortunately, it also has a higher sodium content than any other pretzel on the menu, at 1,120 mg.
• Glazin Raisin pretzel without butter and with light cream cheese.
• Mocha Dutch Ice (14 oz).
  

Eat This, Not That: Jimmy John's! (my favorite)

Eat This:

• Turkey Breast Slim Sub with alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes onion, cucumber and avocado spread. Start with a Plain Slim and build a healthier sandwich by subbing vegetables for cheese, mayo and dressings.
• Totally Tuna sub.
• Vegetarian sub with avocado spread, cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts.

Not That!:

• Turkey Tom with alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, lettuce and mayo. Jimmy John's is liberal with the mayo - Hellmann's alone adds 25 grams of fat to your lunch. Stick with mustard and win back all 25 grams.
• Pepe sub with ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato, mayo.
• Gourmet Veggie Club with provolone, avocado, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, lettuce, tomato, mayo.

Weapon of Mass Destruction:

• The J.J. Gargantuan. A vegetarian's nightmare invented by Jimmy John's heavy-handed brother, Huey. This gut bomb features Genoa salami, smoked ham, capicola, roast beef, smoked turkey, and provolone smothered with mayo and Italian dressing.

Little Trick:

• Substitute avocado spread for mayo and knock off 200 calories, 24 grams of fat and 98 grams of sodium.

Did You Know?

• Jimmy John's vegetables are from local sources and delivered on a daily basis. Unlike at Subway, nothing is delivered pre-sliced. Meat and vegetables are cut fresh in-house every day. (I LOVE that about JJ's!!!)
  
• To maintain a focus on high-quality sandwiches, Jimmy John's franchises are not allowed to sell salads or soup.
  

Hey all! These next tips are straight from the Hungry-Girl daily newsletter, enjoy!

Check this out. According to an online auto insurance agency, here are the top 10 foods you should avoid while driving...

1. Coffee ('cuz it's hot)
2. Hot soup (like we said, HOT)
3. Tacos (volatile structures)
4. Chili dogs (high risk of drips)
5. Hamburgers (grease = slippery steering wheel)
6. Ribs and wings (potential finger-licking interference)
7. Fried chicken (again, grease)
8. Jelly donuts (the draw of the oozy center is apparently distracting)
9. Soda (fizz leads to sneezing)
10. Chocolate (warm hands cause melting; slick steering wheels cause swerving)

We think you should pretty much avoid eating most of these even when you're NOT driving. (Unless they're guilt-free HG versions, of course.) And, um, we don't really recommend eating ANYTHING while driving.



Here are the top three mistakes (in my opinion) that people make while trying to lose weight...

1. Serving size flubs. Whether people misread or overlook labels (yes, there could be THREE servings in that snack bag!) or are sloppy or lazy when it comes to measuring (and accidentally eat two cups of cereal at once instead of one!), ignoring portion sizes is a HUGE problem. So be sure to pay attention to serving sizes.

2. Believing the hype. What this basically means is that people often misunderstand the buzzwords that restaurants and food manufacturers throw around. People assume that because something's labeled light, low-fat, or healthy, it's therefore low in calories. That's DEFINITELY not always the case. A low-fat muffin can have 400 calories, and "healthy" wraps often have 600 - 700 calories each (just unroll one of those ginormous tortillas, and prepare to be shocked -- DO IT!). You need to be able to cut through the BS when it comes to this stuff. (Oh, please don't be offended by my use of "BS" -- asking nicely!)

3. Assuming salads are always good options. All salads are NOT created equally. Pay attention to what's in and on your salads. Cheese, tortilla strips, crispy noodles, nuts, etc. -- those extras can add hundreds of calories to your greens. The dressing can be even worse. It is not uncommon for restaurants to pour 500 calories' worth of DRESSING on your salad... a lot of those calories come from FAT. It's HORRENDOUS. Eating salads that have 1,000 - 1,800 calories is definitely a cause of diet sabotage for lots of people.

There are more mistakes people make, for sure -- but those three are BIGGIES. Are you making any of them? If so, now you know, and you can take steps toward fixing 'em. Good luck!

HG fun facts again! From 200 Under 200.

• How's this for inventive? Ruth Graves Wakefield of the Toll House Inn decided she wanted to put pieces of chocolate in her cookies, and that's just what she did. She chopped up a Nestle chocolate bar, and mixxed in the bits. The result was so good that she told Nestle, "Hey! Why don't you make little bits of chocolate so I can put them in my cookies?" (Okay, maybe those weren't her exact wors, but you get the picture.)
• The longest distance an uncooked egg has been thrown successfully WITHOUT BREAKING is 323 feet, 2 inches, according to The Guinness World Records. Think of the ginormous (but dirty) omelette that could have been made with all the eggs that BROKE!
• Americans are on the turkey bandwagon, BIG TIME! Since 1970, the amount of turkey eaten in the U.S. has gone up 116 percent, totaling around 17.5 pounds per person each year. (29 percent of it gets gobbled down over the holidays!) Good news for us, bad news for turkeys...
• The word "fajita" is the diminutive form of the Spanish word "faja," meaning "belt" or "girdle." Small belt? That's how we like em!