Monday, May 21, 2007
Food & Life Free trans fats!
Posted by Cliff Bostock @cliffbostock on Mon, May 21, 2007 at 3:24 PM
June 1 is National Doughnut Day. It's your day to gobble up those saturated fats, trans fatty acids and sugars. And the good news is that you can do it for free — as long as you're content with one doughnut.
Krispy Kreme will be giving customers one doughnut of any type for free at seven stores in the metropolitan area. The company, which has been beleaguered by decreasing sales and poor
management, continues a tradition that began in 1938.
That was the year the Chicago Salvation Army celebrated the first Doughnut Day to honor volunteers who made doughnuts for soldiers during World War I. Many traveled to the front lines of the war to make doughnuts for comfort-craving doughboys. As far as I've been able to determine, the day is not marked by any government proclamation but continues mainly as a marketing gimmick for Krispy Kreme (whose location at 295 Ponce de Leon Ave. is pictured here, replete with big, bad, doughnut-swallowing bikers).
Many blame Krispy Kreme's plummeting sales on the demonization of carbohydrates. Talk about high calories. Most of us can whip through six glazed doughnuts in nothing flat. But each one has 200 calories, including four grams of trans fatty acids, which have been definitively linked to heart disease and are being eliminated from many other snack foods.
Of course, it's easy to forget the unhealthy qualities of doughnut consumption when you drive by a Krispy Kreme and see the "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign flashing its invitation to come in for just-made glazed doughnuts that literally melt in the mouth before they reappear on the hips and abdomen.
Believe it or not, the 200-calorie glazed doughnut is actually the healthy choice at Krispy Kreme. Others have higher calorie content, including the "caramel kreme crunch" at 380. Only the whole-wheat doughnut, 180 calories, is more slimming than the original glazed. More fun nutritional facts may be found here.
In my partying years, I frequently stopped at the Ponce Krispy Kreme after a long night. I'd eat nearly half a dozen during the drive home. The next morning, I'd get in my car and find the steering wheel sticky with the sugary glaze. Driving under the influence of hot glazed doughnuts should be illegal.
Late nights are by far the best time to visit the Ponce de Leon Krispy Kreme. You get carloads of teenagers from the sticks, you get the wandering homeless begging for 75 cents to buy a doughnut, you get cops. During my recent visit, I saw an ambulance crew sitting on the curb, smoking cigarettes and eating doughnuts. I hope they don't all have their heart attacks at the same time.
Check out the video below for proof that every creature on God's green earth loves Krippy Kwemes.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/UyqC9Gr94Ig" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
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