motd Thurs Feb 23, 2012 - candy bars

[Guest guest]

TWO MUSKETEERS?

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Wait...there were three of

them, right?

Oh but wait again...I'm not talking about those three

swashbuckling guys from the movies...not those Three

Musketeers. This message is all about an article I

read in a recent edition of the Los

Angeles Times. Now let me explain.

Who hasn't had a Milky Way,

Twix bar, a bag of M & M's, (plain & peanuts),

or Three Musketeers bar?

Mars, Inc. makes many of the candy bars we all grew up

with. Who among us hasn't had a Milky Way, Twix bar,

a bag of M & M's, (plain & peanuts)

and of course, the Three Musketeers bar? Well get a

load of this. Mars, Inc. has announced that it will

stop making chocolate bars that exceed 250

calories each by

the end of the year. While their intent may be good,

I'm wondering, should we give the company a gold star?

What their move means is that king-sized versions of

the company's chocolate bars will soon be

dissappearing from supermarket candy aisles. But may

I point out something? The change is not really that

radical when you look at the calorie-content of their

standard-sized candy bars. Consider this:

A regular-sized Snicker's bar you pick up at the

7-Eleven will cost you 280 calories. So by dropping

the size down to only 250, that's only a 30

calorie-serving, barely even 10%. And it's true,

while every calorie counts, whether it's 280 or 250,

that's still a lot of calories to be consuming as a

"snack." In fact, if you're on a calorie-reduced

weight-loss program, one Snickers bar would equal

nearly one-fifth of the calories you should be having

in an entire day. On top of that, they're empty

calories, that

is, mostly sugar. So does Mars, Inc. still get that

gold star?

Whether smaller-sized candy bars will equal fewer

calories consumed by people in the long run is another

question. We're all familiar with those mini-candy

bars so popular around Halloween, right? Those little

treats are so cute and contain barely 100 calories

each. But seriously, who stops with having just one of them?

Do you have any idea how

long you'd have to workout to burn off the calories in

a 250-calorie Three Musketeers bar?

If you're working to lose weight, it's all about the

calories you eat and the sweatin' you do each day.

You must not forget that. Think about it. Do you

have any idea how long you'd have to workout to burn

off the calories in that 250-calorie Three Musketeers

bar? Hey, you'd be much better off reaching for an

apple or a piece of some other healthy good-for-you

fruit. That piece of fruit will cost you only 100

calories or less. Plus...it'll

be better for you and because of its fiber content,

will be more

filling, too!

Okay, I give the Mars company credit for trying to

help us Americans cut back on our calorie

consumption. But whether it's Three Musketeers or Two,

those 250 sugar-rich calories will still catch up...to

YOU!

Love,