Customers on a diet can make better-for-you food choices at their local convenience store.
7-Eleven Inc. Corporate Dietitian Patsy Ross has advice for resolution makers who find themselves often falling short of their New Years goals, and how to make healthy eating choices at their local c-store.
She noted some resolution-makers try such drastic changes, completely giving up foods they love, that failure is inevitable.
“Extreme diets that promise quick-fixes seldom give lasting results,” Ross said. “Balance and moderation beat deprivation every time, and you can find better-for-you choices at 7-Eleven stores.”
So what does Ross choose/recommend at 7-Eleven when looking for healthier foods and beverages? Here are some of her picks:
Breakfast
• Strawberry Yogurt Parfait – 230 calories
• Chobani fat-free Greek Yogurt with Fruit – 140 calories
• Fruit Cup – 50-100 calories (depending on variety)
Lunch
• 7-Smart Oven-roasted Turkey Sandwich (300 calories) and Fresh Strawberry Fruit Cup (six ounces = 50 calories)
• Taquito (190-250 calories) and Cheddar Cheese with Carrots and Celery cup (140 calories)
• Chicken Tender (approximately three ounces = 160 calories), garden salad (30 calories) and low-fat vinaigrette salad dressing (10 calories)
• Three Buffalo Boneless Wings (180 calories) and Strawberry-Kiwi-Mango Fruit Cup (70 calories)
• Bistro Chicken Caesar Salad – 230 calories
• Four-Cheese Pizza Slice (280 calories) and Pineapple-Grape Cup (6 ounces = 80 calories)
• Bumble Bee Tuna in water (two ounces = 50 calories), Boiled Eggs (two = 140 calories) and whole apple (1 medium = 72 calories) or banana (one medium = 105 calories)
• Weight Watchers Smart Ones Three-Cheese Ziti frozen entree (300 calories)
Snacks/Sweets
• 7-Select Pretzel sticks – 110 calories (2.5 servings per bag)
• 7-Select Peanut Butter on Toasted Crackers – 180 calories
• 7-Select Kettle Corn – 120 calories
• Fresh red grapes – 90 calories (six ounces)
• Watermelon bit-size pieces (when in season) – 103 calories (12 ounces)
• M&Ms chocolate-covered pretzel pieces – 150 calories
• 7-Select Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins – 240 calories
Beverages
• Crystal Light Sugar-free Slurpee drink – 80 calories (16 ounces)
• Lipton Diet Green Tea in bottle – 0 calories
• Diet A&W Root Beer – 0 calories
• 7-Select Vegetable Juice – 50 calories (8 ounces)
• Hot tea brewed at Hot Beverage Bar – 0 calories
• 7-Select Bottled Water – 0 calories
• Fat-free French Vanilla Cappuccino (160 calories per 8 ounces)
“Whether counting points, calories, carbohydrates or fat grams, 7-Eleven has something for everyone,” Ross said. “Dieting shouldn’t be hard. In fact, some dietitians don’t even like the D-word (diet). For those who already like healthier alternatives, 7-Eleven carries items like veggie cups, cut fruit, boiled eggs, Greek yogurt, salads and bottled water.”
Each New Year, millions of people make resolutions to improve their lives—by starting, stopping, losing, saving, exercising, learning, organizing. Yet only days, perhaps even weeks later, their good intentions have been abandoned, again. Hope springs eternal, perhaps no more often than during the annual New Year’s Resolution exercise.
Multiple studies and surveys show that people who make resolutions renege on them, some as soon as one week later. According to a study at the University of Scranton, more than a third threw in the resolution towel by the end of January. By July, more than half had given up. A study by the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom was even more dispiriting. Although more than half of the 3,000 people surveyed predicted success, the findings concluded that 88% of their resolutions ended in failure.
However, results of the Scranton study also showed that resolution-making can still be worthwhile. People who make resolutions are more likely to achieve their goals than those who do not participate in the annual goal-setting. Only 4% of the study’s control group, who wanted to lose weight but did not formally resolve to do so, made progress toward their goal.
“For individuals’ still sticking to their New Year’s resolutions of eating healthier, 7-Eleven has lots of options every day of the year,” Ross said.
