I’m sitting here in the Denver airport, freezing and starving, when behold! a bakery appears! Mmmmm one last shot at an American brewed coffee and a quick muffin for breakfast.

So as I’m savoring said muffin (zucchini nut), looking at the snow on the mountains, preparing to return to my hot little urban jungle, it occurs to me:

Kiersten, you research obesity and nutrition for a living. What are you eating?? So I did what any sane person should never do in the midst of a meal – I googled the nutrition information online.

ABORT MUFFIN!

Can you believe this little sucker has 700 calories!? That’s practically half of a woman’s daily recommended intake, all before 7am!

Clearly we’re doing something wrong here, America. Several of my ‘foreign’ friends who relocated to the US will tell me how they gained close to 20 lbs (9 kg) when they moved to the US without making any major diet changes. Could it be because there’s so much hidden sugar and salt and fat in all of the food we eat?

700 calories, 40 grams of fat, and only marginally more expensive than the banana.

Not okay.