Thursday, August 31, 2006

Simple Math

I’ve lost the ability to add…

I had baked Cheetos for lunch today, yes I realize this is not healthy or really very good, but I got up late (see previous post) and didn’t pack a lunch. So, I was happily munching away, fingers turning a lovely shade of orange, when I noticed the back of the package.

I’d purchased a small bag, noting that it was two servings worth since you can’t possibly find single servings anymore. I glanced at the calorie count, 130 per serving, OK, fine, great, so that’s 260 calories for lunch, right? I mean, last I checked 130 + 130 was 260…am I wrong? Apparently so, because upon closer examination of the right-hand column, the people at Cheetos had helpfully added an extra column for the ‘entire bag.’ It was actually listed like that. And under that helpful title, is the number 280. So, although there are 2 servings per bag, and 130 calories per serving, there are, in actuality, 280 calories in the bag.

It’s not so much that I mind the extra 20 calories, I’m going for a four mile run later, it’s just that I hate the feeling that I’ve got such a tenuous grip on basic math.

21 Comments:

Blogger Biddie said...

You and me both. J has to count carbs to figure out that amount of insulin that she needs with each meal. We run into this every day. Add to the fact that her mom took grade 9 math 3, count'em 3 times and barely passed, and you've got yourself a problem...

12:08 PM  
Blogger ldbug said...

See, the bad thing is I've had to take a lot of math in my time algebra, geometry, trig, calculus...yet Cheetos has stumped me



Ugh, precise calorie counting can't be fun!! I've heard there is a new device in the works that will be able to 'sense' insulin levels and automatically adjust to dose correctly.

Right now, the one that exists still requires people to program it, i.e. do the math, then the insulin pump will dispence based on your programing.

The new one should be a great device once it's available. In theory, your daughter could eat whatever she wanted, and the insulin pump would do what her body in essence, can't, it would sense when insulin needs to be released and do it.

12:47 PM  
Blogger dilling said...

I wonder how Cheetos might explain the obvious miscalculation... do they add calories to the outside of the bag that are then activated by the orange-y film that covers your fingers as you eat your cheetos? If calories can randomly leech through your skin while eating cheetos... it is a very sad world, indeed...

12:56 PM  
Blogger katy said...

cheetos, not got them over here they sound like whatsits as they leave your fingers orange, enjoy the run!

2:19 PM  
Blogger Michael Colvin said...

You should do what I do and just eat broken biscuits. It's a well known fact that if a biscuit is broken it's calories leech out. you can eat as many broken ones as you like!

3:14 PM  
Blogger ldbug said...

Calorie leaching? eeek!

Not missing much, indoors, I now feel sick off of cheetos...ugh

Good tip, tode, when I can stomach food again, I'll be 'breaking bread' before I eat!

3:22 PM  
Blogger David Tellez said...

Ok, forget the simple math, what about the simple English? I read that second paragraph like three times, because I was curious as to what baked CHEERIOS were. Man, I feel so retarded...

11:00 PM  
Blogger Biddie said...

we're still waiting to hear about the pump. counting carbs sucks and it's even harder when packages are mislabeled. todemesne is right! a broken cookie has no calories!

1:47 AM  
Blogger Michael Colvin said...

Neither do Maltesers that have rolled under the couch. Just make sure you wipe the fluff off first...

5:06 AM  
Blogger Kim said...

silly, everyone knows that the extra 20 is to account for the stuff that might be on your fingers before the cheetos, you know, for when you suck off all that orange cheesy goodness.


heh, i said suck off.

9:01 AM  
Blogger Buffy said...

Cheetos gives me migraines. All that monosodium glutamate or what not.

Still, I use to eat 'em like crack when I lived in the states.

4:34 PM  
Blogger C said...

I guess it counts differently if you eat them all in one go rather than making them last, LOL! Maybe the sheer effor of that willpower to wait is worth 20 calories. That is really weird.


I ate Cheetos tonight. If you get the big bag, you can feign ignorance as to how much you've actually devoured. Esp if the kids are eating, too, so that you can imagine that they ate most of them. :-P

12:13 AM  
Blogger Heidi Grether said...

I think they think if you eat them in two sittings that the bag will spill and you will lose a couple Cheetohs in between!! Either that or someone did a typo!

4:46 PM  
Blogger FOUR DINNERS said...

Fine up to twenty. Then the fingers n toes have been used n I'm stuffed.

Buffy eats crack?? Bloody hell. Even my hot curries sound safe now!

6:50 AM  
Blogger ldbug said...

mmmmm Cheerios, I think the people who work there know how to add, at least..

10:19 AM  
Blogger ldbug said...

Well, pup, you're healthier than me! By watching your diet so closely, you'll outrun me anyday:)

1:55 PM  
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