Temptation In The Form Of A Peanut Butter Cup
Written on December 23, 2009 by moe2love
Category: Food Yummm
Only a small portion of the total amount of Reese's I've consumed in the past two weeks
Prepare the wedding bells, because I’ve declared Reese’s as the best form of chocolate candy on the planet and I plan on marrying the inventor as soon as I find out who he is (notwithstanding the obvious impossibility of posthumous commitment). I’ve been eating about 4 butter cups every day for the past 2 weeks, but thanks to my rapid metabolism I’ve probably only gained a few pounds of happy fat. Considering that this is most likely the only amount of fat I have on my body, I shouldn’t be too worried, but I think it’s time I started to eat healthy again.
By the way, did you know that in 1928 Reese’s cups were called “penny cups” because they were a cent each? What I wouldn’t do to live in that time period…
Now that I’ve been eating these so often, it’s time we look at the nutrition facts of this thing to make sure I’m not going to have some serious problems for my splurge, and also to see what goes into your body every time you eat a Reese’s cup. After going onto the Reese’s website, here’s what I found:
The nutritional facts for one serving, or two peanut butter cups, of a traditional Reese's
Well, the good news is that there’s practically no cholesterol, but unfortunately that’s not the kind of malnutritious content I was watching out for. Looking at the other ingredients of the peanut butter makeup, I’m a little disappointed and worried to see that only one serving of Reese’s seems to take care of a lot of your nutritional “needs”.
Let’s take a look at the data:
The recommended sodium intake per day is 1500 milligrams. One serving of Reese’s supplies you with 150. That’s not too shabby, but still not the best considering Reese’s is just one small snack of many that people eat during the day. For fat, the daily recommended intake is about 65 grams. This is where things start to get a little disturbing. Reese’s gives you 13 grams of fat – definitely WAY more than you need from a little snack. I’m just glad my metabolism’s going to be pulling through here. Now here’s the next thing that we should be worried about: sugar intake. The recommended sugar intake on a daily basis shouldn’t exceed 10 teaspoons, or 40 grams (not including natural sugars from foods such as fruit). The amount of sugars one serving of Reese’s gives you is 21 g! So therefore the two Reese’s cups alone will supply one tenth (1/10) of the daily sodium recommendation, one fifth (1/5) of the fat recommendation, and more than a half (1/2) of the sugar intake recommendation! Wow. I definitely think I might regret eating all those cups now. I’m a little anxious to find out how much punishment my body will give me next time I do some kind of physical activity, especially considering I haven’t done any kind of exercise in a while either.
So Should You Ever Eat Them?
Heck YES you should. Why? Reese’s make you happy, plain and simple. Chocolate releases endorphins into your brain to make you happy, which is very important in your overall well being. Just be sure not to use it as an emotional crutch – that’s when chocolate dependency results and you never want to depend on food to make you happy. So every once in a while, maybe no more than once a week, I would recommend taking a break from all that healthy food (well – assuming you eat healthy) and snacking on some chocolate. If you’re interested in knowing how much sodium, fat, and sugar other candies contain go ahead and look on the back for the nutritional value (or search online – the internet is a great resource) and compare it with the daily recommendations I’ve stated. Have fun with your splurging
