A recent study in the US looked at what it takes to
influence ordering habits. Was knowing calorie counts helpful? Was knowing how much exercise was required to burn it off
helpful? The studiers took a group of similarly hungry people and gave them one of three menus. One had no info, the second
had calories and the third had the amount of time walking it would take to burn off the food. Those who knew the walking effort ordered 100 fewer calories. So, what is
at play here? Is it that our general human laziness is a powerful driver? Or are we aware that our time constraints may prevent
us from being able to make the physical effort.
It
doesn't really matter, what is necessarily true here is that the preventative elements of nebulous calorie counts aren't clear
enough. We have known for some time that calories aren't well understood and that each person's intake and output will be
different. We also know that there are other factors that affect metabolism.
Number of minutes walked is an easily understood marker that helps guide the right choice. So, I'm
going to bully my top 10 list of foods that offer up too many useless calories. And publicly expose them for the time and
effort suck that they are. Keep in mind that these numbers are in addition to the exercise
you already get in your day.
"Food"
- Estimated # of minutes of brisk walking
Starbucks
Venti Mocha Frappacino w whipped cream 510 calories or 94 minutes
Big Mac 563 or 99 minutes
Burger
King Medium Fries 387 or 71 minutes
7
oz sour cream and onion potato chips 1051 or 192 minutes
Large shake 32 oz 1104 or 202 minutes
Nachos w beef, cheese and beans (18 chips) 1707 or 212 minutes
Onion Rings (16) 552 or 101 minutes
Pizza Hut Meat lover's stuffed crust pizza (1 slice) 470 or 86 minutes per slice
Cinnabon caramel pecan (1 bun) 1080 or 197 minutes
Chocolate Muffin 450 or 82 minutes
Want to have a drink with that? Here's a list of your best bets in booze...
