The Aerie
Further evidence of evolution. Natural mutation or 'tweaking' of the chicken gene can result in a chicken growing crocodile-like teeth - evidence of their evolution from toothed lizards called archosaurs into birds. As if Bill O'Reilly weren't evidence enough that we evolved from apes - some of us less successfully than others.
These findings could lead to ways to cause people to re-grow lost teeth. Good news for James Bond.
On other topics...
I purchased a bag of "Gurley's Golden Recipe" salted pumpkin seeds. Like most bagged legumes, an aura of wholesomeness emanted from the rack where it hung, alongside peanuts and sunflower seeds and various granolaesque products. Back at my desk I perused the nutrition information, expecting the lugme-based wholesomeness to be offset by sodium-based awfulness. What did I find? (No nutrition information is available on the web...)
Calories 280
Calories from fat 210
Total Fat 23g 35%
Saturated Fat 4.5 22%
Cholesterol 0
Sodium 15 mg 1%
Total Carbs 6g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Sugars 1g
Protein 14g
Wha-huh? Waitaminute! 4.5g of saturated fat?!? I might as well freebase some butter and inject it straight into my veins! What happened to the wholesomeness? But on the other hand... 15mg of sodium? 1% of the daily value? Huh?
Boy was I confused, this was the opposite of salt-infused wholeness, this was fat-infused saltfreedness. I checked the Serving Size, expecting to see it listed as "single kernel." But no, Serving Size - one package. At least they weren't pulling that four-servings-per-bag nonsense. So what was going on?
Then I noticed the asterisk:
"**Nutrition facts are for the pumpkin seed 'kernal'. Eating the shell would bring the sodium total to 1,600 mg (67% of Daily Value)."
WHAT!? Okay, okay, hang on. Now, I knew this stuff had lots of salt: the fact that the pumpkin seeds are covered with a white shell of salt was my first clue. The idea that it's as much as 1.6g is startling, but not surprising. But to pretend that someone is going to shell the salt-covered pumpking seeds before eating the "kernals" and use that as an excuse to list the salt in a subscript?
WOW! That's not just nervy, that's Bush Administration style nervy!
So the REAL nutritional information for this 'wholesome' snack is:
Total Fat 23g 25%
Saturated Fat 4.5g 22%
Sodium 1600 mg 67%
And here's what a McDonald's Bacon Egg and Cheese McGriddle has:
Total Fat 23g 25%
Saturated Fat 7g 34%
Sodium 1270 mg 53%
Sigh... So much for a bag of pumpkin seeds as a wholesome snack. Maybe I'll go gnaw the fat off a frozen slab of bacon instead. At least I'd get more exercise...
Posted by Albatross at February 22, 2006 3:19 PM | TrackBack