Double Double

"One medium double double please!"  This is what I have always heard people saying when they order coffee.  Double double is a term that Canadian use to order their coffee.  You can't find it in the menu and it's not a brand or type of coffee, it's 2 tsp of sugar and 2 creams!  Coffee itself provides very little calories but with the cream and sugar, it's totally different.  People here take 2-3 cups medium double double per day, it's their habit.

According to Tim Hortons nutrition calculation, their medium double double provide 230kcal and if you take 2 cups, you have already consumed a McChicken sandwich!

Of course, you can drink coffee to make you more concentrate at work in short run (but it definitely affects your quality of sleep at night), tips to minimize the calories taken:

1. Order a small size coffee
2. Replace with milk
3. Add artificial sweetener instead

Written by: Michelle Cheung, Registered Dietitian

Strawberry Heat!

June, it's the season of strawberry in Toronto! We picked quite a lot of strawberries this time, was really fun! Many kids like strawberries, well even the adults do too. What's so special about it nutritionally?

1cup of raw strawberries (140g)
11g carbohydrate
2.9g fibre
7g sugar
1.0g protein
0.4g fat
85mg vitamin C

*1 cup of raw strawberries contains about 1.5tsp sugar (but it's fruit sugar-fructose, a sugar that has lower glycemic index than table sugar, which prevent a sudden surge of blood glucose level in your body and helps to normalize your blood glucose level too!)
*Great source of vitamin C to boost up your immune system against flu and cold!
*The iron of strawberry is only about 1/3 of that of dried prunes, don't just look at the color and think it's high in iron!!!

Written by: Michelle Cheung, Registered Dietitian