I’ve been a member of the SparkPeople website for several years and love it. (It’s free and if you haven’t signed up, then you should be.) Anyway, I receive several emails from them a day regarding health and nutrition. One of those emails usually compares to foods and shows which one is the better choice of the two.
I’ll admit, most of the time I don’t read them, simply because I don’t have time, and also because I rarely eat out so I don’t have to worry about those temptations, but this morning I clicked just out of curiosity to see what the challenge was.
The question posed was- Which is the better choice- a Snow Cone or Cotton Candy?
Now this was a no brainer for me. After all, I have been around long enough to know that cotton candy is nothing but spun sugar, and after all, the bulk of a snow cone is ice which has no calories.
Imagine my HUGE surprise when I saw that the cotton candy was the better choice. While NEITHER one of them are good choices, the fact is-
Cotton candy is lighter in weight and lighter on calories. A large (but lightweight) 1.5-ounce serving is worth approximately 175 calories and it’s completely fat-free! While Sno Cones are made of mostly ice (calorie-free), that syrup really adds up. The average Sno Cone weighs about 12 ounces (half of that is ice and half of that is high-sugar syrup) and packs 540 calories into a seemingly “light” dessert. Every squirt of that syrup contains up to 100 calories alone! If you want a sweet treat, don’t let that Sno Cone fool you–it’s only masquerading as a low-calorie food.
Can you believe that????? 540 calories in a Snow Cone????? I would have NEVER figured that one to be true.. but I learned not to be fooled by appearances, because as you can see- they can be deceiving.