Carnival Foods That Derail Your Diet

Planning on taking a trip to the amusement park on this holiday weekend? Well, here’s five treats you should think twice about before you hit the park.

1. A deep-fried Oreo, Twinkie or candy bar. Here’s a good idea: Take an already not-so-good for you food, like a Twinkie, pour pancake batter over it and toss it into a deep fryer. It may be mighty tasty, but the end product boasts a whopping 420 calories and 32 grams of fat per two-ounce serving. Three words: Run. Quickly. Away.

2. Cotton candy. Sure, it’s light and airy, making it a healthy choice before you hit the roller coasters, right? Wrong. All you are getting from this puffy candy on a stick is pure sugar and no nutritional benefits. The bonus? At 200 calories a cone, it is a lower-calorie choice when compared to other options.

3. Corn dog. People love this hot dog on a stick, and at 375 calories and 21 grams of fat it’s not the worst choice in the park. But watch out for the sodium content; a corn dog contains 1170 mg of sodium—half the recommended daily intake for an adult.

4. A snow cone. How much harm can frozen water and syrup do? A typical 12-ounce snow cone packs 550 calories, so, apparently, the answer is...a lot.

5. Funnel cake. Ah, yes, this carnival favorite is also a nutritional no-no. A typical cake contains 760 calories, 44 grams of fat and 20 mg of cholesterol.

But, alas, the good news is many of these foods are only available by taking the occasional summer trip to your favorite amusement park. And it’s OK to indulge every now and then. But here’s the deal: Get ready to bust your butt on July 5th, so you can get back on the weight loss track! [Newsweek]