The Sporting Event New Nutrition Plate

This past week, the USDA came up with a new way to measure nutrition to replace the food pyramid.

The June 5th Chicago Tribune's Main Event in the sports section took a tongue-in-the- cheek look at the proper levels of consumption at sporting events.

It was in the form of baseball's home plate and divided into portions:

Frosty Beverages-- beer featured, but also pop (as we in the Midwest call it).
Melty Cheeses-- pizza and nacho cheese.
Encased Meats-- brats and hot dogs
Cold Sweets-- ice cream
Sweets-- Cracker Jack's, of course.

ESTIMATED CALORIES: Somewhere north of 10,000 (mostly empty calories, too!).
SODIUM INTAKE: Excessive
VEGETABLE AND FRUIT INTAKE: Minimal (unless you count ketchup--and we do).

Of course, all this doesn't figure in whether you're able to afford to ATTEND the game or eat and drink once you're in. I hear beer at Wrigley Field is $7 this year. I remember writing in my journal back in April 1981 that after my first trip to the ballpark that year, that they had raised the price of beer to $1.50 and I couldn't afford to drink there anymore.

Eating Healthy at the Ballpark? --RoadDog


LIVING NEAR CHICAGO...We had so much fun on the Northwest Tollway, that we added the Elgin-O'Hare and the I-355 to the congestion. (Incidentally, the Elgin-O'Hare does not go to either place.