Living Well in Yalobusha County
I have always enjoyed fairs and carnivals. There are so many this time of year that you could probably attend one every weekend for the next couple months if you wanted to. Not only do I love the arts and crafts, fellowship, and the music, but I also enjoy the food! You know, good ole’ fair food. Who can resist funnel cakes, cotton candy, fried Twinkies…? You get the picture. Besides, fairs involve a lot of walking, so we’ll probably burn off those extra fair food calories — right?
Well …
Maybe … If we walk up to 1.5 miles for a bag of cotton candy and three miles for a funnel cake!
Big portions with lots of sugar and fat calories characterize many of the foods we traditionally associate with fairs. For many of us, attending the fair wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without these tasty treats. Some may be once-a-year foods for us, and we look forward to those candy apples at the fair.
So how much exercise does it take to walk off our favorite fair foods?
We know on average, we have to walk about one mile to burn 100 calories. To visualize how far that is, think approximately 12 city blocks to the mile. While calories per our favorite fair food can vary depending on portion size, recipe, and more, burning off the calories of that cotton candy mentioned above could be an 18-block walk.
Following are the approximate distances we likely need to walk to burn off the calories of some popular midway foods:
Caramel apple: 3 miles
Corn dog, large: 4.5 miles
Cotton candy: 1.5 miles
Fried candy bar on a stick: 4.5 miles
Funnel cake, 6-inch diameter: 3 miles
Soft drink, 32 oz.: 2.5 miles
Sno-cone: 2.5 miles
Soft pretzel: 3 miles
Does this mean we need to load a picnic basket with carrot and celery sticks before heading to the fair? No. With a little planning, it’s possible to fit in many favorite fair foods. Here’s how:
Quench your thirst with a small soft drink instead of the larger sizes. Better yet, buy or bring along bottled water. Save your fair-day calories for something else.
Split foods among several people. For example, share a large funnel cake with friends. Everyone gets a taste, and no one gets overloaded!
Plan times when you’ll sit down and eat, rather than graze your way from one end of the fair to the other. It’s hard to keep a handle on how much we’re eating when we’re walking, talking and eating at the same time.
Limit yourself to one treat. Choose reasonable serving sizes of lower sugar and lower fat items for the rest your foods.
Dress in comfortable shoes so you’re more likely to walk off some calories. Wear a pedometer and see how many steps you can take at the fair. One mile equals about 2,000 steps, or around one third of the calories in a typical caramel apple.
Check out all the food booths before making your selections. Imagine you have a “calorie salary.” Enjoy the foods you like the most for your “salary.”
Finally, if you do indulge a little too much, remember to return to a more balanced way of eating the next day. A day or two of overeating won’t affect our weight that much — weeks of it will! Eating 100 extra calories daily can result in a 10 pound weight gain yearly.
Recipe of the Week:
Cappuccino Pudding Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup evaporated fat-free milk
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 3/4 cups hot water
2 (0.77-ounce) envelopes instant cappuccino coffee mix or 1/4 cup other instant flavored coffee mix
9 tablespoons vanilla fat-free frozen yogurt
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a 9-inch square baking pan; stir well. Stir in milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips. Combine brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa; sprinkle over batter. Combine hot water and coffee mix, stirring to dissolve. Pour coffee mixture over batter (do not stir). Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched in center.
