Mark’s Daily Apple

Scientists Perplexed: Issue Impossible Calorie Award0

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Just as the experts from Orchard University thought they were close to cracking the mystery behind the Cheesecake Factory’s infamous carrot cake their work was derailed by a four pound behemoth of a meal that further tried their capacity to imagine anything so calorie dense.

Meet ‘Dos Manos’:

(this pic is from burritojournal.com and is shown sans “Enchilado style”)

This burrito comes complete with peppers, onions, rice, beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and your choice of meat all wrapped in a tortilla bigger than your head. Each lucky customer also gets a hefty sack of greasy tortilla chips.

As if a burrito named ‘Two Hands’ wasn’t meal enough, Baja Fresh offers the option of going “Enchilado Style.” Ah, the glory of fast food. Always quick to offer an “upgrade” option that makes something really, really bad for you, really, really, really bad for you. This one takes the Dos Manos and smothers it with enchilada sauce, melted cheese, more chips, and more sour cream.

As you can see from the dietfacts.com graphic below this California concoction weighs in at a mere 3,360 calories, 156 grams of fat (60 grams from saturated fat), 336 grams of carbohydrates, and 6,180 milligrams of sodium. That’s right. The numbers below are for half of the burrito!

Admittedly, Baja Fresh does state that the Dos Manos is equivalent to two servings. But am I crazy to think that this is a gross understatement? Table for 6?…8?

As we all stand by dumbfounded by this beast of a burrito (maybe Dos Gruas is more appropriate) our scientists are doing their best to unravel the enigma of this health and nutrition black hole. Let us all hope they don’t get sucked in with it.

Don’t be seduced by the “at least it’s not a burger” fast food mentality. Clearly fresh by itself does not equate to healthy. Here, on the other hand, is a fresh and healthy option for those craving a delicious and authentic Mexican meal.

Mexican Ceviche from recipezaar.com

Posted: Awards, Carbs, Diet, Health, Humor, Nutrition, Recipes, Reviews

I’m Not Lovin’ It0

It’s time for another Rotten Apple Award, kids. The Impulsive Buy blog - which puts the “ew” in product review - covers everything from the new mint flavored Tylenol to McDonald’s new cinnamon bites, or bits, or buns, or something. The Rotten Apple is not being bestowed upon Impulsive Buy, however - it’s Mickey D that deserves all the glory on this one.

We try not to pick on McDonald’s too much. After all, there’s the Cheesecake Factory, where you can gain a pound by eating a single slice of cake. And to its credit, McDonald’s does make nutrition and calorie information available, something which the Cheesecake Factory evidently has a lot of trouble doing. But I feel McDonald’s is being blatantly disingenuous when there’s all this talk about premium chicken, premium coffee, and premium salads going on yet surreptitiously the G.A. (that’s Golden Arches) still pushes new sugary, fattening products with more speed and consistency than their employee turnover rate.

Isn’t it rather hypocritical to advertise those happy mommy-n-me commercials featuring salads, apple slices and sweet smiles, or to make a big public announcements about eliminating trans fat from french fries, while simultaneously introducing this 460-calorie dessert of glorified sugar biscuits? I know McDonald’s isn’t trying to position itself as Mecca for health nuts, but they’ve also done heavy (elephantine, really) marketing in the last few years to play up their healthier options and apparent concern for people’s hearts and waistlines.

Now that’s just rotten.

Posted: Awards, Marketing

Rotten Apple Award1

This month’s Rotten Apple Award goes to The Apple Patch Diet, the next gimmicky weight-loss device in a long line of quack products.

All you have to do is slap a patch on your body to start this “diet� and watch the fat melt away. I’m not sure how a patch of any sort counts as a diet. Though I suppose if you subsisted on patches alone you would lose weight. Let us see what the users have to say.

The “Testimonials� are varied and claim a 10 pound weight loss in one month, an 80 pound weight loss since July 2006, and as “Baig� from Virginia states, “my sugar level (Diabetes) is under control and I am very happy.� Rapid weight loss with little to no effort! Quick and easy regulation of sugar levels! Unbelievable testimonials! Before and after pics! It sounds too good to be true! Hmmm… this sounds familiar.

Clearly a product that can do all this has some solid scientific research to back it. Well, yes and no. The ‘Why it works’ section is limited to these three fine answers: “we only use the finest natural ingredients,� we have “amazing weight loss testimonials,� and “we use a transdermal method of delivery.� With a word like transdermal this stuff must work. Right?

To be fair the “Ingredients� section does give more detailed information about the three ingredients used to solve your weight problems. Look closely and you will find that one of the three exotic sounding components, Guarana extract, is essentially plain old caffeine. Caffeine is not exactly a groundbreaking weight-loss supplement, nor is it something with which most people need to supplement their diets. I don’t know about you, but my daily green tea provides all the caffeine I need.

Quite possibly the worst thing about this product is that it gives apples a bad name – something in these parts we take very seriously.

Don’t buy into these gimmicky weight-loss devices Apples. This product is more about the supplement delivery system (transdermal) than it is the supplements themselves. And there is still no substitute for a balanced diet and regular exercise.

We’re watching you, Apple Patch Diet.

(This is the part where I lift up my shirt, ceremoniously denoting the end of this diatribe.)

Posted: Awards, Hype, Reviews

Mark’s Daily Apple Wins Bloggy Award!0

How neat is that? Thanks, Bloggy Awards! They gave us so many positive comments, we’re all blushing over here! They also offered a helpful piece of constructive criticism: shorten up some of the posts (ahem).

What do you think, Apples? And what would you like to see more of?
You can check out the entire review here. Now please excuse us while we bask in the glow…

Posted: Awards

And the Sherlock Award Goes to…1

The CDC!

Back in 1990, Uncle Sam launched the 5-a-day campaign. I won’t say it’s been a total failure - just a major one (here’s a good analysis). As reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Brightsurf informs us that only a handful of people eat more than a few servings of fruits and vegetables daily (here are the numbers).

I make a point of living on vegetables drenched in healthy fats, with a little protein added in. My diet isn’t really that complicated: simply, I avoid processed foods like the death nuggets that they are.

What I want to get people thinking about is a dietary paradigm shift. This isn’t about adding an extra side of vegetables or substituting fruit for candy. This is about making produce your primary source of energy, of fuel. Vegetables are more than garnish. No amount of antioxidant accessorizing is going to save your health. Accenting with healthy foods - whether it’s adding vitamins to breakfast pastries, minerals to soda, or a scoop of broccoli to alfredo-drenched pasta - is not the same as being healthy.

That’s the real reason Uncle Sam’s 5-a-day target completely misses the mark and is being put out to pasture. Health is not about a magic number (which, by the way, is far too low - we need 7 or 9 servings of produce daily). It’s not about adding. It’s about a lifestyle. And that means a total change, which, if we’re really honest with ourselves, is the hardest part.

Perhaps it’s the misconception that eating fruits and vegetables takes a lot of work. I’ve got two words for that: freezer case.

Web it out:

Then again, maybe it’s all just a terrible conspiracy.

Helpful articles:

Healthy on a Budget

What CAN I eat?

Vegetables that aren’t boring!

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Technorati Tags: sherlock award, vegetables, antioxidants

Posted: Awards, Sisson Said What?