*Zero Grams of Trans Fat* 26 March 2011
A 'hot off the stove' Original Glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut has zero grams of trans fat. It says so right on the front of the box of twelve I carried out of the store that day. Zero grams, that's 0 g, of trans fat! It's sooo good it melts in your mouth. You feel like you have a new lease on life, you're so full of instant energy. You move faster. You're heart beats quicker. You've got that spark you didn't have before you took that first bite. You feel renewed. Wow! That was a good doughnut. It's a guilty pleasure though, because by the time you've finished the first one, you want another, and another. You know you shouldn't. Each one has ten grams (10 g) of sugar. With a total mass of forty nine grams (49 g), this delicious treat has about one fifth of its' mass in sugar. No wonder my body was screaming on a sugar high after the first bite. (Nutritional data from http://www.krispykreme.com/about-us/nutritional-information ) When you go from being calm and mellow, to wild-eyed, high energy action in a matter of seconds, you know you're onto something. I could feel my heart racing. I knew my blood pressure was up, and it wasn't because of the ninety milligrams (90 mg) of sodium either . This thing was good. My blood pressure is normally 125/75, and for those of you who must know, the units used for blood pressure are mmHg, that's millimeters of mercury. Just guessing, but it felt like my blood pressure went up by ten or fifteen mmHg after the second doughnut. Each of 'My' doughnuts had eleven grams (11 g) of total fat, and five grams (5 g) of saturated fat. Ordinarily that wouldn't be too bad, but in this case eleven grams is about one fifth of the total mass of a single doughnut. So between sugar and total fat we have about two out of five of the mass of all the ingredients in sugar and fats. That is bad, no...good. Anyway.... If you're watching your blood sugar, one of these doughnuts will send that count over the top quickly. Normally, your blood glucose should be between 90 to 130 mg/dL – that's milligrams per deciliter- on your blood glucose monitor - but watch it race up after eating just one of these doughnuts. Some of you may be familiar with the 5 to 7.2 mmol<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mmol> /L range given for your blood sugar – that's millimoles per liter. (Blood pressure & blood glucose data from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sugar) Maybe I should just take vitamins instead. A 1000 mg tablet of vitamin C once a day would be better for me than all those grams of sugar and fats. There is another major problem with too many of these doughnuts, especially if you're watching your weight. Just one has twenty one grams (21 g) of carbohydrates. Yes! Carbohydrates provide energy for your brain and nervous system, but too much will make you fat. And by the time you include a two liter (2 L) bottle of your favorite soft drink..., well you can see where that leads. New tires on the car. More padding under your hardwood floor. Too many carbohydrates. If you eat too many of these doughnuts, you may need to go from 203/65R14 size tire to a 225/50R14 for a wider tire by twenty two millimeters (22 mm). The 14 is the rim size in inches. I suppose it's like every thing you see at your supermarket. - such as NET WT 28 g (1 oz) – the dual units on the labels. You may also need to add additional padding under your laminate flooring. The flooring comes in various sizes such as 51 inches long by 8 inches wide and 8 mm thick. Yes! Eight millimeters is listed in the description on the Lowes.com website. Those doughnuts caused a lot of problems. Maybe I should stay away from them, but after all the cascading thoughts and mental gymnastics you at least found out that you know more metric units of measurement than you've been told, or that you believed. Metric is everywhere....oh well, we, and you, will be alright. A metric America is here to stay. Besides, metric is the foundation of everything to do with science, medicine, technology, nutrition, trade and commerce. Might as well get used to it. Man! Those doughnuts were good. Tim Williamson, Brookwood, Alabama, [email protected] -- * * * * *Thanks! * * * *Tim Williamson Alabama, USA 1-205-765-6090 *
