Oreos can really wreck your diet if you're not careful

[CRSunrise]

I made the mistake of eating a total of 12 Oreos this morning, and by the time lunch rolled around, and we had eaten, I found that with everything since this morning, I was over 1000 calories in the whole on the wrong side of the equation - like 1277 to be a little more precise.

So, after lunch was over, I decided to take my really long walk around town. The last time I was able to complete this walk, I burned off 830 calories. However, I wanted to do more than this because I wan't to work as much as I could to get my meter back on the right side of things.

While I didn't exactly zero out my calorie boo boo, I did take a massive bite out of it. In 1 hour, 36 minutes and 25 seconds, I was able to burn 980 calories. I still have 297 more to burn off, but I'm a lot more sure that I can cover that ground than I was a couple hours ago.

[iMike]

Oreos are a massive weakness for me, which is why I refuse to keep them in my apartment.  Oreos are a "binge food" for me.  I tell myself I'll have two or three and then I've suddenly eaten half the package.  If I could find a mini-pack that had maybe three or four Oreos in it that I could purchase once a month or so, then I would allow myself the indulgence. 

[CRSunrise]

Sounds like the closest to what you're describing might be the to-go cups that are in the cookie aisle. However, I don't know if that's any better or not.

[Ukase]

While I can certainly understand an attraction to oreos, and a determination to stay on the right side of the equation, I wanted to lend you some perspective. 

There are some diets that suggest/condone a "cheat meal". I tend to avoid them because it's a slippery slope. But - consider this next idea in the future: 

Tomorrow - "pretend" you ate 3 oreos; add 3 oreos to your caloric intake as if you ate them. Log them in, but make a note that you didn't really eat them. 

The next day, repeat the same exercise. Log them, but don't eat them. Just pretend you did. 

Do this for 6 days - and on the 7 day, eat no more than 15 oreos - and you're still 3 cookies ahead of the calorie game, on the right side of the equation. This is how I manage my "cheat" meals, so I can know how much over the meter I can go without losing progress on the week. 

I would say eat oreos as a last resort, though. Not a lot of nutrition in them, but sometimes, the taste of food is enough to overcome that. As someone who considers chocolate one of the 4 major food groups, I do get it. 

[USAF-Larry]

Every time I think about picking up a package of Oreos, I look at the ingredients and immediately decide they aren't on my healthy diet list. Some of the ingredients that I do not want to ingest are Palm Oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and Corn Starch. And then, I remember reading that there is very little chocolate in Oreo cookies, just mostly artificial flavoring.  So, I leave the Oreos on the grocery store shelf.... 

[Leau]

Oreos are the fun memory cookie. Who does not remember taking them apart, licking the middle out, jamming the chocolate halves into a cup of milk? We would have contests to see which kid could jam the most of them in their mouth at once. Fun stuff as a kid. When you buy them as an adult, only buy the treat packages, so you get some taste, but not all the problem. They come in 100 calorie packs, or 6 cookie packs. That might help. My problem was Pepsi, and Ding Dongs. I've managed to practically eliminate them because the companies have made Pepsi taste too chemically and DD now taste like sugary cardboard.

[Bobbinyc]

Interesting.  Saw there were posts on Oreos and had to get here.  For decades, that was my only binge food and I never would have used the word "binge". A package is one serving size, right?  I thought that when you eat Oreos, you, you know, eat them.  I was skinny most of that time, so, who cared?  A friend in med school one day said I had to stop because they are carcinogenic, cause diabetes, and inflammation, etc etc.  He was on my case for years. And no, I didn't stop.   Not until I had some health problems and went chemical free (mostly) which really helped.  I recently had a struggle with cancer, and that friend came to visit and was kind enough not to say anything.  But at one point, when I had been bed-ridden for weeks, I did acknowledge that the Oreos didn't just go to my hips.  They went to my immune system, all my organs, the core of my life.  I haven't had one in years, won't put that kind of chemical garbage into my body again.

And, yes, I still miss them.  And if I ate one, I would still eat the whole package.

[USAF-Larry]

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@Bobbinyc wrote:

And, yes, I still miss them.  And if I ate one, I would still eat the whole package.

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"You can't eat just one!" - they are intentionally created and advertised for that very purpose!

Hope you are recovering well from your battle with cancer!  I am a cancer survivor, and have lost many family members to cancer - I know the emotional toll it can take.

[Bobbinyc]

@USAF-Larry  Thank you.  I have been very lucky - caught it very early, and the treatment was simple.  I also have lost too many to cancer.  I have been doing a lot of reading about cancer prevention and am working on making a lot of changes in lifestyle.  I hope you are doing well, and I am sorry for your losses.

[emili]

I guess to each his own when it comes to binge food- but for me Oreos would never do it. Give me homemade pie with vanilla ice cream or freshly made creme brulee, homemade brownies with huge dark chocolate chunks- anything but factory pumped out cookies that will literally make you sick. I remember eating oreos for breakfast with a huge cup of coffee when I was 19 and zooming to work. I tried that again years later and ended up with the worst case of heartburn ever. Yes, sign of age but also a sign that they are not a food one should waste calories on. My opinion of course. And now I am hungry from my list of binge food. sigh.