Whenever I think of doughnuts I immediately see Homer Simpson in my mind and hear his heartfelt sigh of “Mmmmmmm …. Doughnuts”.

And who can blame him?

Anyone who has sunk their teeth into a freshly fried doughnut right off the assembly line knows exactly what he is talking about.

Or do they?

I spent some time at the websites of two of the most popular manufacturers of doughnuts in the U.S. and while the pictures made my mouth water, the words made the same mouth open wide in shock.

Consider the little, innocent (and unfortunately yummy!) glazed doughnut:

Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme have both (daringly) published nutrition information for their entire range of doughnuts and here is the informtaion for their glazed (base model, if you will) doughnut:

According to Dunkin:

And according to Krispy Kreme (click to enlarge):

One single doughnut, (yes the same thing that takes you less than 30 seconds to chow down because it’s just so yummy) contains:

• An average of 190 calories
• 85 calories from fat
• 10g of total fat
• and the killer: 4g of trans fat (if you have read my hydrogenated vegetable oil post, then you already know that 4g of trans fat is 4g more than you should be eating!)

And this is from their basic glazed offering. Don’t even bother asking what a Double Chocolate Cake Donut contains.

And when has one ever stopped at one doughnut? I know I can never do that. If you average about 2-3 doughnuts, then you can only imagine the result. And that is why Dunkin’s new ad campaign, ” America Runs on Dunkin’ ” really surprised me. For starters, the words “America” and “Runs” should probably never occur in the same sentence (and definitely not that close to each other anyway!).

Mom and dads. Students and senior citizens. Blue collar, white collar, and every collar inbetween. Dunkin’ Donuts is how everyday people get things done, every day.

-The America Runs On Dunkin’ Website

How everyday people get things done? Is this why, as I said earlier, at present, approximately 64% of all U.S. adults are overweight, including 30% who are obese?

If America really does decide to get off the couch and run, I hope and pray it doesn’t Run on Dunkin.

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, donut, doughnut, nutrition

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When I was in college, I was struck by the beauty and simplicity of Euler’s equation:

which, for the special condition x=pi, reduces to an even more divine form: e^{i pi} = -1

Never have two transcendental numbers (e, pi), an imaginary number (i) and a negative integer come together in such perfect harmony.

Don’t worry, I have not suddently changed this into a wonders-of-mathematics blog (although, that is a rather interesting idea… but I digress). In today’s world of fitness, though, there is another interesting equation that most people are ignoring or are just plain ignorant of.

Although not as elegant as Euler’s formula, its beauty is that it holds true whether you are Arnold Schwarzenegger or a new born baby.

(What you eat) - (What you burn) = (What you store)

Wow, maybe I was wrong about it’s elegance!

It does not matter what type of food you eat and what quantities of carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins or minerals it contains. At the end of the day the fact of the matter is that if you burn more calories than than you consume, you will lose weight and if not, then you will gain weight. (Sometimes, the most obvious things need reiterating!). Yes, this means you can lose weight by eating less calories than your burn rate of only cakes, doughnuts and ice-cream and you can also gain weight by eating more calories than your burn rate of only carrots and broccoli! Of course, the first diet may make you lose weight but end up clogging your arteries and raising you cholesterol and tryglyceride levels, while the second will be a weight gain that does a little less immediate harm.

Depending on various factors like your height, weight, lifestyle and whether you are a man or woman, it is possible to approximate your total calorie requirements using this calculator. This will give you a good idea about how many calories you need to either lose/maintain/gain weight.

But how can you know can many calories you are eating? You mix so many ingredients everyday day into so many different meals. Keep watching this space for more information!

So, once again,

(What you eat) - (What you burn) = (What you store)

Consider this the Golden Rule of Fitness Mantra. This is a fact that will hold true no matter what else you read, what else you eat or what else you do in the gym.

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, calorie, weight loss

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