I’ve developed a habit of eating relatively large amounts of dried cranberries–maybe a pound on especially munchy days. I can justify this by arguing that they’re dried fruit, and are therefore good for me. Is this actually true, or should I treat them more like candy?
Well, do you have a weight or blood sugar problem? If so, then yeah, cut back. Dried cranberries are sweetened with sugar and/or corn syrup, and are a great source of concentrated energy - which means you eat a lot of them before they fill you up.
Dried foods are one of the conditional “no-no’s” on Weight Watchers (conditional because actually nothing is off limits, but dried fruit is one that we’re warned about as being a “not so filling for your Points” choice) because they’re what we call “calorically dense.”
But if you don’t have a problem, well, then, you don’t have a problem. 
Certainly they’re “better” than, say, an equal weight of ice cream.
That would be about 1400 calories of unsweetened dried cranberries. Are yours sweetened? ETA: Not sure that would be better than an equal weight of ice cream. Fat slows the absorption of sugar, plus there’s protein.
dried Cranberries have 360 calories per cup: 9 grams of fiber, about 85 grams of sugar. They aren’t the worst snack in the world – in moderation, which you clearly lack – but they really aren’t much better than candy in the volume you’re consuming them.
I assume that a pound contains more than a cup… that’s a darn lot of calories for a snack.
At least he’s getting a lot of fiber in his diet, but damn, that is a fair amount of calories.
I meant “better” as in, at least they DON’T have all the fat of ice cream. (I haven’t met an omnivorous American lacking in protein, have you?)
Better’s in quotes precisely because it’s hard to define. In WW (which I do, so it’s how I’m looking at food right now) fat>sugar on the list of food “badness”, especially when there’s fiber involved. But yes, from a glycemic index POV, the ice cream might be “better”. From a lactose intolerance, considerably worse. From a vegan’s…
…and this is why I hate “is this food good or bad?” questions! 
I bet he’s really, really regular.
Depends, I pretty much follow the same eating patterns (I don’t tend to use the word “diet” I eat pretty much the same way every single day for health reasons, and have for 20+ years) consistently and it’s very hard to get enough protein in my diet. I tend to need to use some protein supplements. But how much protein you need is going to vary widely, if you lift weights a lot to maximize the effects you really do need to eat more protein than most “normal” people.
I tend to get about 40% of my calories from protein, 40% from carbs, and 20% from fat.
As for dried cranberries (in re what susan said), according to the bag I have it’s actually 1400 calories for a pound of sweetened cranberries, not unsweetened.
I went from the nutritional info from a cranberry-only (no added sugar) bag.
I’m surprised eating that many cranberries hasn’t bogged you down yet.
Hey now, don’t be saucy.
Hah, thanks for the advice. I’ll watch the cranberry consumption from now on. I guess it would make more sense to eat undried (hydrated?) fruit, anyway.
Highlight of the thread was Hello Again’s “in moderation, which you clearly lack.” Bravo ;).
On the plus side, you will never have a bladder infection. Ever.
I was gonna make that joke, but then I wondered if the juice portion is the key when it comes to that.
Do you have a bag of dried unsweetened cranberries? What brand, and where do I get them? I’ve only ever found the dried *sweetened *kind.
Thats what I want to ask: Can you get them unsweetened? Years ago you could. I loved em…they were very tart and you could sprinkle them on ice cream and other overly sweet things (like some cereals) to cut back and the sweetness. Now they’re all “candied”…almost like red twizzlers. They suck.
Calculating from the information at NutritionData, sweetened dried cranberries come in at about 1377 calories per pound.
40 grams = 123 calories
1 gram = 3.075 calories
448 grams (1 pound) = 1377.6 calories per pound.
Cranberries are the ninja fruit.
For comparison purposes, that 1377 - 1400 calories per pound for the dried cranberries equates to about 240 calories per pound for fresh. Water rules! Plus commecial drying processes tend to vitually eliminate vitamins C and A.
Do you know why that is? It just occurred to me that I have a small home food dehydrator, and I could dry my own unsweetened cranberries fairly easily. But if they’re going to lose their Vit C and A, I don’t know if there’s a whole lot of point.