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So just how many calories is that?
Aug. 2nd, 2004 12:17 amJolly 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]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
riksowden - you would have been welcome, you know.
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.
*
riksowden - you would have been welcome, you know.
