If you’re not absolutely crazy, you probably agree with me when I say that ranch dressing is one of the most heavenly condiments. This stuff makes everything taste better, from salads to pizza. However, with about 22% of your daily amount of fat and 11% of your daily amount of sodium, it’s not exactly the most nutritious topping out there.
It’s way too easy to justify eating more ranch than you should at mealtime. Take, for example, 500 calories—about 7 tablespoons of ranch, a little less than half a cup. That sounds like a lot, but exactly what does that look like? Allow me to show you through a series of 500 calories-worth of some of your favorite snacks.
Check out this article to find entire meals at SLU that have fewer calories than this stuff.
Girl Scout Samoas
It’s Girl Scout cookie season, so chances are you’ve been chowing down on plenty of these. 500 calories of ranch is the equivalent of about seven Samoas. While you may be totally willing to eat that many in one sitting (as am I), you really shouldn’t. That’s, like, a sleeve and a half of cookies, y’all.
Cheez-Its
Here, we have 90 Cheez-Its. The actual serving size for these addicting little suckers is 27 crackers, so we’re looking at over three times what should be eaten in one sitting. Jeez
Nutella
Five tablespoons of Nutella is equal to 500 calories of ranch. Do you know how many bagels you could cover with that? Or slices of toast? Or pieces of fruit? Or whatever delicious thing you plan to perfect with Nutella? Seriously, so many.
Kraft Easy Mac
Two and a half bowls of Easy Mac equals 500 calories of ranch. Does anyone need this much mac and cheese at once? The answer is no, but one certainly can dream.
Mini KitKats
Eating 500 calories of ranch is the same as eating 12 of these fun-sized KitKats. That makes over two times more than the recommended serving contains and a whole lotta sugar. Let’s save this level of binging for Halloween, shall we?
I know, a lot of these snacks have equivalent numbers that seem totally doable. Would you eat 90 Cheez-its, 12 KitKats, and seven Samoas? Hell yeah you would, and so would I. But think of it this way. Would you eat these foods along with a meal that consists of a salad, an appetizer, a huge entree, a dessert, and a soda?
When you put it in the perspective of your entire meal, eating a whole, say, two and a half bowls of Easy Mac on top of everything else is excessive. Therefore, so is eating 500 calories-worth of ranch dressing. Next time you’re getting ready to load down your plate with ranch, remember that moderation is key and reign it in. Your body will thank you.