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Fair warning
Concession stands' treats can do a number on your waistline
AMY NEFF ROTH
healthy living
Kelly Adams met a pieman
Going to the fair.
Says Kelly Adams to the pieman,
"Let me taste your ware.
I'll have a cone of Dippin' Dots
And another filled with snow
A deep-fried Twinkie, nice and hot,
And a plate of sweet fried dough."
Says the pieman to hungry Kelly,
"That feast will cost you dear.
It comes to 1,422 calories
And 56.2 grams of fat, I fear."
Like many planning to attend the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse in late August, Adams, a Clinton resident, can't wait to sink his teeth into fair fare.
"Oh my God, how much do I like fair food? I think "a lot" would be the simple answer," said Adams, the director of public relations for Utica College. "I can tell you that as a child and as an adolescent, I grew up outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, and we certainly marked our calendars every year for the Great Allentown Fair."
In fact, Adams said he now marks his calendar for the New York State Fair and tries to get home to Allentown for the fair there, too.
"When I was a kid, we probably went through the turnstile and immediately sought out the rides and all of that. But once I got past that point in my life, we had the map of what kind of food stands we were going to go to. I don't think there's anyone who goes to a fair without a specific plan for eating certain foods there," Adams said.
So bring on his beloved "walk- away" sundaes, chocolate-and- peanut-covered frozen bananas on a stick, deep-fried Oreos and cheesecake on a stick. Just don't tell Adams about all those calories and grams of fat, he said. And definitely don't tell him that he could walk off the 1,422 calories from ice-cream Dippin' Dots, a sno-cone, fried Twinkie and fried dough in 7.8 hours, less if he weighs more than 150 pounds or walks faster than 2 miles per hour.
There's time enough to eat well and train for the Boilermaker the rest of the year. "When you go to the fair, you kind of put your healthy lifestyle on hold for a short while," he said.
Dietitian Andrea Johnson agreed to some extent. "My whole take on this is if you're going to a fair once a year, pick your poison. Find something that you like and go ahead and have it and don't worry about the calories and fat," said Johnson, clinical nutrition manager at Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown.
But that is not an endorsement for going hog wild. Unlike Adams, Johnson looked up the health statistics on some fair food.
Except for the occasional fruit cup, fair foods are loaded with sugar and/or fat and, as a result, calories, she said.
"I was a little shocked at some of the calories in this stuff. I'll be thinking twice when I go to the fair."
Here's some of Johnson's advice to help you survive summer fairs with your waistline more or less intact and your arteries at least partially unclogged:
• If you have an irresistible hankering for a treat, share a serving with friends.
• Walk and exercise more. Park far away. But don't think you can walk off a deep-fried Twinkie.
• If you do splurge, be careful about what you eat the rest of the day.
• Don't waste calories on drinks, which don't fill you up. Drink water or bring Splenda and ask the lemonade stand to mix up a glass using it.
• If you don't need to worry about calories, go for low-fat options such as cotton candy and sno-cones, which do come loaded with sugar calories.
• Go for lesser-of-two-evil options, such as a hot dog instead of a corn dog; a soft-serve ice-cream cone instead of a caramel apple or chocolate-covered banana; or a soft pretzel instead of funnel cake.
• Watch out for the "extras." Skip the chili on your hot dog; dip pretzels in mustard, not cheese; and have a burger without fries.
• Barbecued chicken isn't so bad if you take the skin off.
• Anything with protein will keep you full longer.
• Don't drink alcohol. It adds calories and can lead to poor food choices. So here's the bottom line, according to Johnson: "If there's something you really like, don't deprive yourself of it. ... But you've got to think moderation."
But Adams can't be that judicious. "If the fair doesn't bring out the kid in you - that means it brings out your longing for junk food - then I think you're really missing something."Food at summer fairs may not be good for you, but it should be safe to eat.
County health departments make sure that all fair concessions meet the same health standards as anyone else who sells food, said Susan Batson, principal sanitarian with the Oneida County Health Department.
"We want to make sure the food is just as safe as it would be in a restaurant," she said. "You want to make sure the hot stuff is hot, that the cold stuff is cold, that there's no bare-hand contact, that there's no contamination, no cross-contamination."
And the health department also now oversees water on fairgrounds, making sure that it, too, is safe to drink, Batson said.
Batson said she can't remember ever denying anyone a permit, but she does have people change the way they do things to meet safety standards. For example, when serving cold foods, only a small amount can come out of the refrigerator or ice chest at a time, she said.
And all food has to be prepared in an approved kitchen, not in someone's home, Batson said.
These kinds of safeguards will keep fairgoers from getting food poisoning, but won't do a thing to make up for the folly of eating too many funnel cakes and deep-fried Twinkies, she said.
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