A 2,000-Calorie Snack? No Fudgin' Way, Says Nutrition Action

WASHINGTON—If the obesity epidemic needed a stimulus package, it would look much like the 24-fl.-oz. Oh Fudge! shake from Cold Stone Creamery, which sends a 1,920-calorie deposit of chocolate ice cream, milk, and fudge syrup into the bellies of those willing to pay $5.50 or more. To withdraw that from your daily calorie bank, you’d have to spend more than four hours on the step machine or nearly seven hours doing water aerobics. In other words, it's Food Porn. The gory details are published in the May issue of Nutrition Action Healthletter, published by the Washington-based watchdog group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"If you really need an Oh Fudge! shake, find a Cold Stone Creamery that’s ten miles away from you, walk there, and then drink it on your ten-mile walk back," said CSPI senior nutritionist Jayne Hurley. "Even if calories are of no concern to you, the large Oh Fudge! shake has 69 grams of saturated fat—the kind of fat that clogs arteries and causes heart attacks. It’s like slurping up two pounds of T-bone steak and a buttered baked potato through a straw."

The smaller-sized Oh Fudge! shakes, with 1,250 or 1,660 calories, still dwarf the bigger burgers at most fast food chains (a Burger King Double Whopper with Cheese is a dainty 1,000 calories by comparison).

Nutrition Action Healthletter spotlights a Food Porn in each issue alongside a Right Stuff, or healthy, recommendation (which this month is Quaker's new whole-grain Oatmeal Pancake Mix). Nutrition Action's past Food Porns include Starbucks' Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, Chili’s Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie, Sara Lee Bites and DiGiorno's Ultimate Focaccia Pizza. Introductory subscriptions are $10 for ten issues.