omg!!!!!

butterfly25

How much damage could one soft pretzel really do? Find out how many minutes of biking it takes to undo that oversized pretzel.

According to SparkPeople's Nutrition Tracker one large soft pretzel, like you'd get at the fair or the movies, contains 483 calories (who knew?) and 4.4 grams of fat (not bad compared to a lot of the fried fair foods). And that's the plain one without any toppings, dipping sauces or cheese! It also boasts nearly a day's worth of sodium at 2,008 grams of sodium. Surprisingly, a soft pretzel is not among the lowest-calorie options at the fair (click here to see a calorie breakdown of common fair foods, courtesy of FitSugar.com.), ballpark or theater.

According to SparkPeople.com's Fitness Tracker, a 150-pound woman bikes at a 10 mph pace will burn 6 calories per minute. To burn off the pretzel, you'd have to bike at this moderate pace for 81 minutes, which is just over 13 miles!

When you think of food "extras" in this light, it can make it easier to stick with your healthy eating plan. Maybe next time, you'll pack your own healthy snack or eat before your event of choice so that these foods won't tempt you.

Personally, I have to admit that when I'm in these sorts of places, I usually choose a soft pretzel, thinking it's a lesser evil compared to the other options, but now I'll think twice!

butterfly25

Halloween may be over, but its sweet treats aren't going anywhere for a while. From your child's bucket of loot to the overflowing bowl of goodies on your desk at work, the temptation doesn't end just because October is behind us. Ninety percent of you say that Halloween candy is tempting, according to one SparkPeople.com poll, and about one-quarter of health-minded adults admit to eating at least 10 pieces of fun-size candy, according to a recent poll on FitSugar.com. It's easy to get carried away with these fun-size, which can trick you into thinking they're low in calories just because they're small. One turns into two, then four, and before you know it, you've eaten 10 or more bite-size candies in a single day! How much damage could 10 tiny treats really do? Find out how many minutes of jumping rope you'd have log to undo a Halloween candy binge.

Of course, it will depend on the specific candy you eat, but let's go with a variety of choices for this experiment. Our 10 total pieces will include one fun size version of each of the following: Reese's Cups (40 calories, 2.5g fat), Snickers (45 calories, 2g fat), Kit Kat (50 calories, 2.5g fat), Whoppers (60 calories, 2.5g fat), Skittles (80 calories, 1g fat), Peanut M&M's (110 calories, 5g fat), candy corn (140 calories, 0g fat), Butterfinger (100 calories, 4g fat), Pay Day (90 calories, 5g fat), and one Tootsie Roll Pop (60 calories, 0g fat) for a grand total of 775 calories and 24.5g fat.

According to SparkPeople.com's Fitness Tracker, a 150-pound woman who performs jumping jacks (at a rate of about one per second) will burn 10 calories per minute. To burn off these 10 pieces of Halloween candy, you'd have to perform vigorous jumping jacks for 1 hour and 18 minutes, which is equal to 4,650 jumping jacks!

Those little candies add up fast. You may not have eaten 10 in a single day, but over the course of a few days, it's possible that many of us have. So next time you are facing temptation, just think about doing jumping jacks until you can barely move and you may be more inspired to do something else with that Halloween candy.

How much candy do you think you've eaten over the last few weeks? Knowing what it takes to burn off a few pieces of candy, will you think twice before you bite next time?

butterfly25

Do you plan to hit the mall for some deals this Black Friday? Well, be prepared for large crowds and long lines that will keep you there much longer than you anticipate. But even more worrisome than the lines is the mall food itself! It's hard to resist the wafting smells of freshly baked soft pretzels, cookies and cinnamon rolls that are as much a part of the mall as the department stores. And when you're tired, hungry, and stressed out during a long day of bargain hunting, these sweet comfort foods can be pretty tempting. In a moment of weakness, you give in and order a Cinnabon. Just how much damage will one Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll do? Find out how many laps you'd have to walk around the mall to undo this gooey treat.

The Cinnabon website doesn't disclose its calorie information. But a quick Google search will turn up over a dozen calorie counting websites that all say the same thing: One Classic Cinnabon Roll contains a not-so-sweet 730 calories and 24 grams of fat. It's sweet, gooey and, well, big—and it's got the calories to prove it!

Now the number of laps you'd have to walk around your local mall is going to vary since all malls are different sizes and shapes. You can actually call your mall customer service desk to find out the exact distance, because most malls offer indoor fitness walking programs. My research found that one mall lap could vary from 1/4 to 2/3 of a mile on average. To be conservative, let's say that one mall lap is equal to a quarter mile. And if you're walking through the mall on Black Friday, you can't exact speed walk around the people. Your pace will have to be pretty slow.

According to SparkPeople.com's Fitness Tracker, a 150-pound woman who walks a comfortable 20-minute mile pace (3 mph) will burn 20 calories per quarter mile (one mall lap). To burn off that Cinnabon, you'd have to circle the entire mall 36.5 times, which is just over 9 miles! (And that'd take 3 hours by the way.)

This brings up an interesting point that I like to make. "Activity" is not the same as "exercise." Your feet and back may hurt from a day of shopping, but that's more a reflection of being on your feet, wearing uncomfortable shoes, and poor posture than it is a reflection of the "intensity" of your day. Shopping surely doesn't justify the extra calories in something like a Cinnabon—not on Black Friday or any other day!

Do you think 3 hours of walking is worth the momentary pleasure of eating a Cinnabon? Better yet, do you have any tips to avoid mall food (or make it healthier)?

butterfly25

Surely, you've seen the commercials for Burger King's new fast food sandwich, the Angry Whopper. It's just like a regular Whopper, but with even more caloric toppings stuffed between the buns. Onions, jalapenos, pepper jack cheese, and "angry sauce," (their words, not mine) make it "the hottest Whopper ever," according to Burger King's website. If you're a fan of fast food, spicy food, or fast food that's also spicy, then you may be tempted to try this one. But before you bite, ask yourself this. Just how much damage will the Angry Whopper do? Find out how much gentle yoga you'd have to do to undo the wrath of the Angry Whopper sandwich.

The Burger King website does include the nutrition facts for the Angry Whopper, but it's in a separate PDF document than their regular menu items. (You can see it here, too, if you can Adobe Acrobat Reader.) So you might be wondering: Is the Angry Whopper higher in calories than a regular Whopper? See for yourself.



If I ate this sandwich, I'd be pretty angry to discover these nutrition facts afterward. I'd be so upset that I'd need to calm down with some yoga. How many downward facing dogs would it take?

According to SparkPeople.com's Fitness Tracker, a 150-pound woman who does yoga burns 3 calories per minute. It would take over 293 minutes—nearly 5 hours—of yoga to burn off the Angry Whopper and find a happy place. Even though yoga can be gentle, calming and feel great, that is far too much for most bodies to handle. I say skip the Angry Whopper—and the regular one, for that matter.

If you want to spice up your food without getting mad at yourself for blowing your diet, use zero-calorie herbs and seasonings like cayenne and chili powder, or hot sauce, which has about 5 calories per serving. Even jalapeno peppers and onions are low in calories, so I'm not sure why the Angry Whopper has to be so high in calories to be spicy. What do you think?

Do the nutrition facts of the Angry Whopper make you mad, or are you less than surprised by them? Do you think the Angry Whopper is worth the calories?

Photo Source: Found on Flickr

tattoodfreek

That's a lot of work for one pretzel! We have a chain around here called Auntie Anne's. Absolutely the BEST soft pretzels you can imagine. They dip them in butter. I can't even imagine the nutrition info on that one! They are one of my huge weaknesses! And there's a stand at Walmart here that sells them. Anytime I go there, I have to walk past it. Went there yesterday as a matter of fact, and walked right past it. And everybody tells you pretzels are a healthy snack!