davywavy: (Default)
davywavy ([personal profile] davywavy) wrote2004-08-02 12:17 am

So just how many calories is that?

Jolly guests at Stately Wade Manor this weekend* which involved us having a BBQ last night beneath the summer evening. It was really most enjoyable - there is something about flame charred dead animals which really makes for a good evening, plus hefty quantities of booze were supped which usually means a good evening is had.
As the night drew in and we banked the BBQ into a fire by adding wood, we realised that we had a half-packet of Pringles left. By that stage everyone was far too stuffed with grub to eat any more so we decided to put them on the fire to see what happened.

Do you remember that experiment you did in Chemistry at school where you burned foods to estimate their calorific value? Well,it was kind of like that but I have never seen any foodstuff - I would never have believed any foodstuff would - go up in flames like Pringles. Indeed, I have never seen any fire flare up like that without the addition of at least Diesel Oil: the fat boiled out of the pringles and flared off with a hot, white flame as the crisps themselves burned like thin slices of wood.
We all watched with open-mouthed horror at the amount of fats that these 'snacks' contained.

This morning I checked the nutritional information on the side of the Pringles packet. I was appalled to learn that a single packet contains more than 1,100 calories - that's half the recommended daily intake for the average human being. And these are snack foods - marketed to be nibbled between meals to take the edge off your appetite.
To make things worse, they're 50% carbohydrate (mostly Corn Starch) and 34% fats.

What's this to do with anything? Well, in the USA the incidence of type 2 Diabetes is rising by 25% a year and that sort of nutritional information is one of the very biggest reasons why. For what is really only a packet of crisps to contain half the recommended calorific intake of the average human being - and more than a third of that pure fat - is to ring up heart disease and ask him to your party and would he bring along his old friends diabetes and angina?

So I learned two things by throwing the crisps on the fire:

1) I'm never eating Pringles again as long as I live.
2) I'm putting more of my investment capital into companies that make diabetes treatments. I know just how many 'chips' are eaten in the USA. I know how fat and diabetes laden American citizens are getting. I know that 17% of the USA gross domestic product is now spent on healthcare and obestity and diabetes related diseases are now the number 1 killer of American citizens. I know that there's a burgeoning market for certain medical products that shows no sign of slowing.
And I want in.

*[livejournal.com profile] riksowden - you would have been welcome, you know.

[identity profile] skinny-cartman.livejournal.com 2004-08-01 05:25 pm (UTC)(link)
hmm, from memory starch itself isn't exactly bad for diabetes and neither is fat, granted fat isn't exactly great for obestity and that though.

IIRC the problems for diabetes come from sugar bombing the bloodstream so that you need to produce hormones like insulin more often rather than say having a decent meal and letting out a slow flow of sugars enter as the starches etc. are digested.

Part of the problem is that nearly everything processed contains sugar and fat to make it more palatible, but sugars then inhibit the production of digestive enzymes for starches so you don't digest them as quickly or as much, and you initiate a massive peak of sugar to your bloodstream. This gives you a sugar rush of varying degrees which is in itself addictive, as it causes your body to rapidly jack out hormones from your pancreas and so you get a peak then a quick drop off hence you want more sugars...
This wear and tear of the pancreas causes it to eventually give up the ghost hence diabetes.
Binge drinking has a similar effect especially considering the high sugar content of drinks, my uncle would be a good case study for that one continuing to fuck up his diabetes with his alcohol intake.

Basically if people stopped massive sugar intakes and ate complex carbohydrates instead then the diabetes risk goes down, as the body's metabolism gets on an even keel.

least thats what I recall anyway.

[identity profile] omentide.livejournal.com 2004-08-01 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
In laymans language, does that mean 'eat actual food rather than manufactured stuff that comes in packets@?

[identity profile] skinny-cartman.livejournal.com 2004-08-01 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
That'd be one way of putting it :-)

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-02 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
The big problem is the sheer amount of empty calories contained in Corn Starch and Corn Syrup (Fructose) which seems to get into everything. Bloody awful stuff, and the body sends it straight to the pancreas which doesn't like it much either. I'm seroiusly looking at checking everything I buy for the killer words "fructose" and "Corn Syrup" on the labelling, and not buying it if it's there.

[identity profile] rosamicula.livejournal.com 2004-08-02 11:25 am (UTC)(link)
Sucrose, glucose, lactose, - all the sugars have pretty much the same effect. The other killer in crap like Pringles is the sodium - multiply it by 2.5 to get the actual quantity of salt.

I don't eat Pringles for the same reason I don't drink Coke - never eat a foodstuff where the packaging costs more to make than the contents.

[identity profile] riksowden.livejournal.com 2004-08-02 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
Sounds good, we had a BBQ on Saturday, but was nothing grand ;)

totally unrelated

[identity profile] fire-kitten.livejournal.com 2004-08-02 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
I'd like to get in touch with you for a chat... when is a good time to call you?

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-02 12:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, this evening would be fine.

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] fire-kitten.livejournal.com 2004-08-03 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
now if only I'd actually managed to get that message yesterday - all would have been greatly improved.....

tonight?

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-03 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
I may be out this evening, but feel free to ring. I can always make time.

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] fire-kitten.livejournal.com 2004-08-03 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
thanks....

It will probably be around 6ish, as I'm also out....

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-03 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, I'll probably be swimming then and then off to see some cammies. You're best catching me after about 6:45.

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] fire-kitten.livejournal.com 2004-08-03 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
right you are... just between job hunting and D&D then :-)

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-04 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
I'll be in this evening, probably after 8:30 -9pm if you want to try?

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] fire-kitten.livejournal.com 2004-08-04 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
a plan with only one obvious drawback ...

I managed to loose your number

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-13 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
Did you still want to talk? Never heard from you...

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] fire-kitten.livejournal.com 2004-08-13 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
yes i do, i was just extremely distracted with job huntine and my mum unexpectedly turning up for a week

I'll try to get hold of you toninght / tomorrow

sorry about that

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-13 05:49 am (UTC)(link)
I'm out clubbing tonight and will probably be out all day tomorrow too...Sunday might be best.

Re: totally unrelated

[identity profile] fire-kitten.livejournal.com 2004-08-13 08:13 am (UTC)(link)
right you are then

I'll aim for that...

[identity profile] student-heaven.livejournal.com 2004-08-02 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
I thought fructose was one of the 'good' complex sugars that takes longer to break down. Mind you, I'm probably totally wrong.

[identity profile] raggedhalo.livejournal.com 2004-08-02 12:44 pm (UTC)(link)
So point two is "people are too stupid to realise they're feeding themselves to a long, slow, medicated death, and I intend to profit from that"?

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-11 06:29 am (UTC)(link)
You make it sound like a bad idea.

[identity profile] raggedhalo.livejournal.com 2004-08-11 02:11 pm (UTC)(link)
How unamerican of me...

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-11 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
You can't legislate people clever.

[identity profile] puddingcat.livejournal.com 2004-08-02 01:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Part of the problem is that a tube of Pringles isn't exactly equal to a packet of crisps. Walkers at least have increased their packet size, and Pringles are sold in still greater quantities. A few wouldn't have too much of an effect, but treating them like "a packet of crisps" encourages serious overeating.

[identity profile] crocodilewings.livejournal.com 2004-08-02 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
I've been telling people how scarily well Pringles burn since New Year's Eve, 1999, since [livejournal.com profile] dancingslaanesh and I conducted the original gin-fuelled, Pringle-burning experiment. I even repeated it outside the 2001 NE regional, because [livejournal.com profile] nocturnia didn't believe me.

[identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com 2004-08-03 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
Isn't it frightening?

[identity profile] crocodilewings.livejournal.com 2004-08-03 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
Well, it means I'm more likely to want to burn Pringles than eat them, so it's quite beneficial to me in that way.

Calorie-wise, they're only the equivalent of two Snickers bars, and it's been a well-advertised eating-rumour that a single tub of pringles destroys an entire week of being good (as regards eating, not helping old ladies across the street or anything), so I generally stick to the basic rule of thumb of only eating pringles if there are two or more other people there to share them amongst.

Besides, seventeen hours of straight juggling will burn off a single tub.