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Or From Your Body’s Point of View, the Unfair
At the end of May, visitors to the CalorieLab blog might have noticed a post of mine listing some of the seasonal dietary pitfalls that accompany summer, such as picnics, ice cream, barbecues and refreshing but insanely sugary beverages. Leading off the list was the following entry:
State and county fairs. Or at least the food aisles and courts thereof, home to an array of food items so flagrantly over the top that they make S’mores look like celery sticks. Fair food is absolutely rampant with sugars and/or fats, and anything you can eat while walking should be shunned like the pox.
That was true enough, as far as it went, but that wasn’t very far. State and county fairs aren’t just one of the greatest nutritional and dietary minefields ever devised, but one of the most popular and populated. At least 20 million people attend state fairs nationwide — some 3 million alone hit the Texas State Fair, whose notorious food offerings are to the human diet what a left hook is to the human nose — and that doesn’t count county fairs, which in some cases (e.g. California) outdraw the state version.
It all adds up to an enormous number of people, some two-thirds of whom are statistically likely to be overweight, subjected to temptation, and indeed inundation, by foods of a dizzying variety whose only common thread is their off-the-charts unwholesomeness. Most fair attendees will spend several hours on foot, which is more than some of them have done since their wedding. They will be naturally, and appropriately, hungry. To pretend that fairgoers will actually refrain from eating or drinking anything is imbecilic. The best that can be hoped is that fairgoers will make an effort to avoid the very worst foods, nutritionally speaking, and opt for the handful or so that are lesser dietary evils. But that requires that fairgoers know the difference, which may not be true. And so, without wanting to go all “Eat This Not That” on you, here are a few Avoid/Substitute suggestions.
Avoid: Funnel cake, with its 700 calories and 40 grams of fat. Substitute: A candy apple, which consists of far more apple than candy and will deliver some 300 calories, true, but calories rich in beneficial nutrients and fiber.
Avoid: Turkey legs, which wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t the size of cudgels; you’re looking at over 1,000 calories and 50 grams of fat here. Substitute: Kabobs, especially chicken or fish, which will at least include some token vegetables.
Avoid: Giant pretzels, the operative word here being “giant.” In some cases, you’re consuming what amounts to an entire baguette in twisted form, and over 500 calories plus a whole meal’s worth of carbs. Substitute: Corn on the cob, unbelievably sweet for something that packs only about 50 calories, and that even with butter tops out at around 200.
Avoid: Snow cones, because they contain as much sugary sweetener and as many calories as a 20-ounce cola. Substitute: Iced tea, if you need something cold, but for the sugar hit, try cotton candy, which, being roughly 96 percent air, is about as calorie-free as sugar gets.
Avoid: Anything deep-fried that you know God never meant to be eaten deep fried — if at all — including Krispy Kremes, sticks of butter, Oreos, cheese wedges or Three Musketeers bars. Substitute: It’s America, it’s summer, it’s a fair — have a hotdog.
(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News):
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Surviving the Food at the Fair is a post from: CalorieLab - Health News & Information Blog
Source: http://calorielab.com/news/2012/08/17/surviving-the-food-at-the-fair/
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