The Biggest Loser Super-Challenge!

This was on TV last night. If you're a fan - wasn't it awesome to see the six contestants achieving what they did during the race? a 500m uphill run, followed by 4km bike ride, 3km canoeing on the sea (which included turning around a small island so it wasn't just canoeing in a straight line).

But then the nastiest part of all - six food items to choose from. The person who arrived first got the first choice of course, and the person who arrived last didn't get a choice at all. And whoever ended up with the food with the highest caloric content would be eliminated immediately.

Here is the order in which contestants finished the race, plus their food choices:

1. Cosi - 200g tub Nestle Diet yoghurt
2. Sam - 55g Cadbury milk chocolate
3. Kirsten - a can of baked beans (I'm not sure of the size but it looked like a smaller rather than larger size)
4. Michelle - 600mL bottle of Fanta (I think the normal kind rather than a diet variety but again, not sure)
5. Alison - small McDonalds french fries (weighing 74g)
6. Garry - 60g of Carmen's fruit muesli
   

What a dilemma. I actually think it would be worse to come 2nd or 3rd last instead of last because you could potentially not be the last to finish the race and yet have a hard food choice to make. Last year Damien got knocked out ... even though his amazing effort got him in 2nd last place (remember the guy was still carrying close to 200kg of body weight at the time) he chose a healthy food - eggs - but there were six of them, something he forgot to take into account!

My main issue with this challenge is that some of food items are clearly unhealthier than others (e.g. McDonalds vs muesli) and yet might have a lower caloric content due to portion sizes. However, when I thought more about it, this issue does teach a few important lessons for anyone wanting to lose or control their weight:

1. Portion size matters! You can still eat too much of a healthy food item and not lose weight, or gain weight. An example of this is fruit - yes, fruit it healthy, but it is also filled with sugar. Now if you were to eat, say, more than 4 servings every day in addition to your normal meals, this could be a contributing fact to why you're not shedding those unwanted kilos. Or you could be eating muesli for breakfast every morning but having double or triple what you need to have.
2. Many of us are aware that one factor of weight loss or maintenance is allowing ourselves to have treats, as long as the portion size and how often we have them is under control. Chocolate is a good example - many people, if deprived of this simple pleasure for too long, are likely to get out of control and have a binge. Again, the principle of portion control needs to come into play. Have a piece of cake on your birthday if that's what you've been looking forward to in the weeks leading up to it... but decide in advance to have one slice, decide on the size of that slice, savour and enjoy that slice, and don't go back for seconds!

So... what's my personal verdict on the above food items and their caloric order? Well it's a very tough call for a number of them, I wouldn't be surprised if several of the items are less than 30 calories apart, but here's my guess, from lowest to highest, plus my estimate of calories they contain (I'm really testing my knowledge here!):

1. Cosi's 200g tub Nestle Diet yoghurt ~ under 100cal
   
2. Kirsten's can of baked beans ~ assuming it's a small can, maybe 150-180cal?
   
3. Garry's 60g of Carmen's fruit muesli ~ 250-300cal
4. Sam's 55g Cadbury milk chocolate ~ 250-300cal (would have more fat than muesli)
   
5. Alison's 74g McDonalds french fries ~ no idea! I would hazard a guess at 250-300cal, but
   I'm putting it as higher than the chocolate because it weighs more, and I'm not sure which of the two have the higher fat%. I know chocolate is typically quite high... french fries might have a lower fat % because despite being deep fried the fat is on the outside not mixed right through the middle like chocolate, but then french fries have a large surface area.*
   
6. Michelle's 600mL bottle of Fanta ~ at least 300cal
   

What do you think? How would you order the foods? Most importantly, which food would you have chosen and would you have been eliminated as a result?


*side note - knowing the fat % of these foods is importance because, gram for gram, fat is double the calories compared to carbs and protein. Fat is about 9cal per gram, carbs and protein are 4cal per gram. Hence the McDonalds chips being heavier than the chocolate should not be the only factor to consider... if this doesn't make sense to you, pop me a question.