I’ve wanted to do a post on KFC’s new sandwich, but I’ve held back.
I’ve been on a health kick lately. And, since I’ve been working hard to lose weight and get fit, I’ve become one of those people who knows the calorie and nutrient count of every food everywhere. I’ve spoiled a number of meals for my wife recently because I can’t hep but point out that the wedge salad has 900 calories, most of them fat.
I don’t like being that guy. So I stopped myself from going off on the Double Down. Thankfully, Nate Silver did it for me.
Go read his post. Really.
The beauty of his work is that he shows you that it’s not that thesandwich is high in calories. At 540 calories, it’s really not that bad. It’s just that it’s 540 empty calories made up of fat and sodium and cholesterol. It’s empty – so it’s not going to fill you up, and you’re gong to want to keep eating.
It’s the form of the calories, not just the total calories that matter. As Nate says:
So, is the Double Down the most gluttonous fast food sandwich ever created? It depends on how you measure it. At the margins, consuming one Double Down almost certainly isn’t as bad for you as a Triple Baconator, a Thickburger, or even a fully-loaded Chipotle burrito. But while those products should, in theory, fill you up for at least half the day, the Double Down might leave you hankering for seconds. It’s a high bar to clear, but it’s the closest thing to pure junk food of any “sandwich” being marketed today.
I’ve been thinking a lot more about nutrition lately (as you can see from my recent posts). More on this later.
