Scary Facts About Your Favorite Foods [Infographic]

May 1, 2012 5:00 pm     Posted in Body, Food, Health, Homepage Exclusive, Top Stories  Candy -- NYU g+ page


By Candy

If you love mac and cheese, go crazy over chocolate cake or rely on a morning chai, you better keep reading. What seem like healthy choices — or what seem like fun splurges — are often actually anything but. Don’t be the unlucky person who diets on salads and gains weight. Know what you’re putting into your mouth, people! It takes a lot of exercise to burn off some of your favorite foods. We pulled research on just how many minutes of running, swimming or walking it takes to work off the negative effects of common meal choices.

And if you really want to be scared, take a look at the five salads we found that were worse for you than a Big Mac!

14 Comments on "Scary Facts About Your Favorite Foods [Infographic]"

  1. Bry says:
    Tue, 1st May 20125:11 pm 

    It definitely takes more than 7 minutes of running to burn off 2 small scoops of ice cream.

  2. Kell says:
    Tue, 1st May 20128:45 pm 

    NOOO! Mac and cheese is pretty much my favourite food. This is tragic :(

  3. Abby says:
    Wed, 2nd May 20127:07 am 

    Ah is it bad that reading through all of that just made me hungry :P
    http://onestilettoatatime.blogspot.com

  4. Kate says:
    Wed, 2nd May 20121:24 pm 

    Um, that would be a huge serving of mac and cheese. Probably 1,000 – 1,500 calories, if you can run between 10-15 miles in 2.5 hours? But even if it were 1,000 calories, as long as you have a daily calorie deficit, you can still loose weight. If you had a really light breakfast and lunch and then mac and cheese for dinner, you still wouldn't be doing too bad. I mean, I get knowing calories in everything, but this doesn't list serving sizes or anything. And so what if you have to run 10 miles after eating it? Sometimes it's worth it. :)

  5. Ashley says:
    Wed, 2nd May 20124:21 pm 

    I'm still okay with ice cream then but adios mac!

  6. Kate says:
    Thu, 3rd May 20129:05 pm 

    I used to work at Panera Bread and it always grossed me out when people would order mac & cheese (sometimes in a bread bowl!) with a side of bread- that's SO many carbs!

    If you lose the burrito at Chipotle you can slash 300 calories.

  7. Nah Cho says:
    Sun, 6th May 20127:21 pm 

    I just ate mac and cheese today for the first time in YEARS.
    I don't even like mac and cheese!

  8. Lena says:
    Sun, 3rd Jun 20122:01 am 

    Yeah but you also move around and actually do stuff during the day, hopefully. So it's not like you aren't burning off any calories throughout the day. As long as you stay at or under your daily calorie intake for the day (around 1600 or so for women give or take some), who the fuck cares. Eat what you want.

  9. Madalyi says:
    Fri, 8th Jun 20124:20 am 

    And if you really want to be scared, take a look at the five salads we found that were worse for you than a Big Mac!

  10. coco says:
    Wed, 27th Jun 20122:21 am 

    Wow that was some great info to know…who knew it took 2 hrs to burn off mac n cheese?!

  11. Annie says:
    Mon, 16th Jul 20124:26 pm 

    As a college student who currently is in recovery from an eating disorder, this chart is incredibly disturbing. There is nothing wrong with eating any of these foods, our bodies need fuel. As long as people have a balanced diet, it is perfectly fine to eat a chipotle burrito or a quarter pounder every once in a while. Thinking about food solely in terms of the calories contained in it or how much exercise is necessary to burn those calories can be incredibly dangerous and unhealthy, and can eventually lead to serious problems like anorexia and bulimia.

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