Wellness #39: Nutrition

What!!??? HOW can this not be good for you?? Behold the "Hillbilly Homewrecker," 3.5 lbs of deep-fried goodness including a 15" dog, peppers, onions, nacho cheese, chili sauce, jalapenos, mustard, ketchup, coleslaw, tomatoes, lettuce and shredded cheese. Basically: Food Porn. Offered at Hillbilly Hot Dogs (you must go to this site just to listen to the theme song) in W. Virginia, a paltry $14.99 OR, if you can consume it in under 4 minutes...it's FREE. Yeah, baby! I'm assuming that cardiovascular consultation (or resuscitation) is extra....

Okay, okay...I get it. Bad-for-you. Pppfffttt!! This exercise, however, is good for you. I found Nutritiondata.com interesting and (grudgingly) helpful. Although like a lot of folks, I scan the labels at the grocery store and nod my head as though I understand what it says, I really don't. I feign enlightenment as I choose one brand of Cheez Whiz over another. Clearly, this one is far superior. Ha! I was not surprised to see that my favorite Stouffer's French Bread Pizza has 895 calories per piece (yeah but I eat both of them!) and 1720.4 mg of salt. Bad news for those of us on blood pressure meds.

In the next exercise, I entered my previously posted Pork and Chive dumpling recipe into the site recipes.sparkpeople.com. Here's the recipe:

2 tbsp. canola oil, plus more for frying dumplings
1 cup diced onion
3 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. minced ginger
1 cup chopped garlic chives
1 1/2 lbs. ground pork
1 8-oz. package silken tofu
2 tbsp. hoisin sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 16-oz. package dumpling wrappers (look for the Twin Marquis brand, Hong Kong style)
1 egg, beaten and reserved in a small bowl
1/2 cup of water or chicken broth

Nutritionally speaking, here's what I found out: calories 234 cal total fat 6g cholesterol 81mg sodium 403mg carbohydrates 28g fiber 1g. Sodium, as always, a problem. I suppose it depends on how fatty the pork is and what kind of oil used for frying. But Chinese people believe that a chubby face, shiny with grease, is a sign of prosperity. I've always maintained that I want to die with a huge greasy smile on my face!

So...the Hillbilly Homewrecker is not an option in my lifetime, brief though it may be. *sigh* I did notice, however, that one of the ingredients was lettuce. Um...does that count??