Carnival Fare Nutritional Info

With summer upon and the plethora of carnivals, festivals, fairs, etc. I thought it was the appropriate time to post this article that provides the nutritional info for some carnival favorites.

FRY, OH WHY?! COUNTY FAIR SHOCKER!!!!

Where is the human being who decided it was a good idea to take a
Twinkie,
dunk it in batter and shove it in a deep fryer? Well, whoever is
responsible
for making these 420-calorie-34g-of-fat creme-filled monstrosities so
popular
at carnivals and fairs needs to be dealt with accordingly (not that a
life lived
exclusively in stretch pants isn't punishment enough).  FYI, the king
size
deep fried Snickers are WAY worse for you, packing in a whopping 700+
calories each! 



CANDY IS DANDY?!

While fair fave cotton candy isn't exactly good for you (oh come on -
you
CAN'T really be surprised that spun sugar isn't nutritious, can you?!),
a 1 oz.
cone of the stuff only contains around 100 calories or so, no fat and
less
sugar than a can of soda. So while we're not saying you should eat it
every
day, cotton candy might be a more sensible choice than a lot other
carnival
treats. WOOHOO...PAR-TAY!



SNO-CONE SURPRISE

It may seem like sno-cones would be relatively light on calories--after
all,
they're made mostly of ice, which is, of course, non-caloric (it's just
frozen
water, don't get all excited). The problem is all that sugar-laden
syrup the
crushed ice is drowned in. If you want to keep your sno-cone calorie
counts low, you need to do one of two things. You can either a. use
sugar
free syrup (which means your treat will likely be calorie-free), or b.
carefully
monitor the amount of syrup that is poured over your ice. Remember, a
12
oz. sno-cone with 6 oz. syrup contains a shocking 540 calories! Yikes.
Stick
with half the amount of syrup and your "cone" will contain half the
calories.
HG Tip: Sno-cone syrups usually contain 80-100 calories per ounce. 



BURGERS VS. DOGS

Ahh--the age old question -- burgers vs. dogs? To be perfectly honest,
neither one is a great option for you. And there are burgers that are
healthier and lower-cal than dogs and vice versa. Unfortunately, the
worker
at the food stand isn't going to know how many calories these things
have
and if you ask, you'll likely get laughed at. So save yourself from
public
humiliation and be smart. If you do cave and order a burger or a dog,
get
yours without cheese or mayo, and eat only half the bread. Order extra
pickles to fill you up if you're hungry.  And If you're lucky enough to
find a
grilled chicken option, grab it, as it will likely be lower in calories
and fat than
any other available meats.  



COOL IT!

Need something cold to cool you down? Choose carefully. Ice cream sold
at
carnivals is often premium (aka full fat) stuff served in sugary waffle
cones.
That adds up to a ton of calories--close to 1,000 of them for a large
sized,
jam-packed cone. Many vendors do carry individually wrapped frozen
novelties, though. So if you absolutely MUST have ice cream, consider
getting one of those. At least you'll have built in portion control.
Treat
yourself to one if you're dying for it, otherwise, if you can, try to
stick with
some ice cold water or a diet beverage and hold off on the frozen
treats until
you get home. 



FAIR IS FARE...

Wondering about the nutritional info on some other popular carnival
foods?
Take a peak...

Soft Pretzel: 340 calories, 2g fat

Funnel Cake (whole): 760 calories, 44g fat

Fair Popcorn (7 cups, no extra butter): 400 calories, 27g fat

Caramel Apples: 300 calories, 1g fat

Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana: 240 calories, 4g fat
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