Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Gail Hernandez [Click to enlarge]

A typical box of candy given from one sweetheart to another often contains the same amount of calories the average person consumes in five days.

"Just about everyone likes candy during Valentine's, but most people still are not aware of just how much exercise it takes to burn off just a few pieces of chocolate," said Danny Ballard, a professor in health and kinesiology and associate department head at Texas A&M.

"Most small pieces of chocolate - those about one ounce or so - contain about 150 calories each. It's not uncommon for a box of candy to contain 10,000 calories or more."

Freshman biomedical engineering major Tommy Penshorn said that candy, though fattening, is a necessary part of life and not inherently evil.

"A balanced diet does consist of a small proportion of sugar, but it is a small percentage of the nutrients the body needs," Penshorn said. "As long as you keep a balanced diet and consistent exercise, eating some candy is not bad in and of itself."

The problem, as freshman kinesiology major Kacie Lee Smith sees it, is that people of all ages never eat just a little.

"The problem is that you can never eat just one," Smith said. "One bite-sized Snickers always turns into five or 10 bite-sized snickers, then you have a real problem."

Throughout the year, two holidays consistently are held accountable for the largest candy consumption: Halloween and Valentine's Day. With Valentine's Day over, many people may be feeling guilty for the amount of candy they consumed over the weekend.

"Now in reality, whatever you put in your mouth has calories in it and if you take in more calories than you burn, you will gain weight," Ballard said. "But don't feel guilty [about the amount of candy you ate this weekend], get back on a nutritious diet and certainly get in your daily physical activities."

Sophomore communication major Melissa McDonald said though many students probably did eat more candy than they should, it is not something to torture oneself over.

"We all like to enjoy ourselves on the holidays and it just so happens that with this holiday [Valentine's Day], as well as Halloween, much of that enjoyment comes from the delicious candies." McDonald said. "My plan is the same as it was a few months ago, I'm going to focus on not eating many sweets for a while and spend more time at the Rec working out to get rid of those extra calories."

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