Who Invented the Snickers Candy Bar?
The Snickers bar was created by the Mars family corporation in 1930 with the name itself coming from one of their favorite horses. The Snickers candy bar is comprised of peanuts, nougat, caramel, and milk chocolate. The original 2.07 oz (58.7 g) Snickers bar has 280 calories and 130 calories from fat. The twin pack, king size version has 220 calories per bar (47 g) with 100 calories from fat per serving.
Mars Inc. is the largest confectionery company in the world and was started in the early 1900's by Frank C. Mars and his wife Ethyl Mars. They originally sold the Snickers bar in England and Ireland but named it the "Marathon" bar. In 1990, Mars changed its name to Snickers and this name change moved the candy bar from ninth to third place in popularity.
Fat Free Does Not Equal Calorie Free
Salad dressings: Virtually all the calories in salad dressing come from the fat in them. So it may seem logical to assume that a low fat or fat free dressing would be much lower in calories. They are somewhat lower (and greatly depend on each variety and brand) but also have calories added back from the other ingredients to keep the flavor and texture in the dressing. A two-tablespoon serving of regular ranch dressing has 145 calories; the low-fat variety has 80, and the fat-free, 50. As the fat goes down, the calories drop significantly, but certainly not altogether. And people tend to pour more on, since it's lower in calories! If you aren't careful using this type of product you could be sabotaging your weight loss efforts.
Snack foods: These are probably the biggest culprit. We all love to snack on cookies and chips, and are secretly hopeful we will find a way to enjoy all we want without adding hundreds of calories to our diet. But it just can't be done. Regular Lay's chips provide 150 calories per ounce, and although the Baked Lay's reduces the fat content from 10 grams to only 1.5, the calories are still at 130 per ounce. Not a significant difference--especially while people are eating more, figuring they are lower in calories to allow for a double serving!
Another example is the Low-Fat Oreo Cookie. At 50 calories a piece there is not much difference between this and the 54-calorie regular Oreo. Especially if you have an extra one.
The bottom line is, if you are watching your calorie intake you can't go by the 'low fat' advertisement on the front of the label--or even by the fat content of the food. You need to compare the actual calories provided, and by alll means be aware of what they call a serving size! The best way to reduce calories from fats is to cut back on your serving size, and eat dressings, candies, cookies and chips a little less often.
References: skittles nutrition facts
