One of the leading fast food chains, Kentucky Fried Chicken was started in 1930 by Harland Sanders in Corbin, Kentucky. Prior to opening his first store, Harland Sanders held a variety of jobs; including a farm hand, a streetcar conductor, an army private in Cuba, a blacksmith's helper, a rail yard fireman, an insurance salesman, a tire salesman, and a service station operator for Standard Oil. To say that Sanders dabbled in many employment fields would be a huge understatement.
However, when the depression hit in the 1930's, Sanders decided to open his first restaurant in the front room of a gas station, calling his restaurant "Sanders Court and Café". In 1936, the Kentucky Governor made Harland an honorary Kentucky Colonel in recognition of his contributions to the state's cuisine.
In 1939, after being listed in Duncan Hines' "Adventure in Good Eating", the Sanders Court and Café was destroyed by a fire. When the restaurant was rebuilt and reopened, the pressure cooker was first introduced. Soon after its introduction to the store, Colonel Sanders began using it to fry his chicken in order to give his customers fresh chicken much quicker, thus creating his all famous fried chicken.
In the 1950's, the Colonel began to actively franchise his chicken business by traveling and cooking his chicken for restaurant owners and employees in the surrounding towns. In 1952, the first KFC franchise was awarded to Pete Harman of Salt Lake City with his agreement to pay the Colonel a nickel for every chicken sold. Then in 1957, KFC first started to sell its chicken in the famous big buckets.
By 1960, the Colonel's hard work at promoting his chicken paid off with the gain of 190 KFC franchisees and 400 franchise stores in the U.S. and Canada. In just four years, KFC grew another 200 stores and opened their first international outlet in England. In this year, 1964, the Colonel also sold his interest in the U.S. Company for $2 million and then remained a public spokesperson for the company. In 1966 the KFC Corporation went public and in 1969 the corporation was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
In December of 1980, Colonel Harland Sanders died from lukemia.
In 2002, the Tricon Global Restaruants, Inc, who owned KFC changed its corporate name to YUM! Brands, Inc. In addition to KFC, the company also owns A&W, Long John Silvers, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell restaurants. In 2007, KFC introduces a new recipe for the Colonel's famous chicken that combines herbs, spices, and a new cooking oil to reduce the grams of trans fats to zero.
In 2008, KFC finally updated its logo to depict the Colonel Sanders with his signature string tie; however his classic white suit is replaces with a red apron. This was meant to symbolize the home-style culinary heritage of the brand and remind customers that KFC is always in the kitchen cooking delicious, high-quality, freshly prepared chicken by hand like the Colonel had done 50 years ago.
But before anybody runs to KFC to grab a bucket of this so called high-quality chicken, I think it is important to take a look at some of KFC's most popular items in order to get an idea of the true nutritional quality of the food.
In a whole bucket of chicken you can get at KFC, my favorite piece was always the drumstick. In one drumstick of chicken from KFC, you will be consuming 120 calories and 7 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of which are saturated. While there are 11 mg of Protein in a drumstick, there are also 45 mg of cholesterol and 310 mg of sodium. So a whole days worth of sodium in one piece of chicken.
An individual size portion of Popcorn Chicken contains about 400 calories and 26 grams of fat, 6 grams of which are saturated. The Popcorn Chicken does contain 15 mg of protein, but it also has 30 mg of cholesterol and 690 mg of sodium!!
One of my absolute favorite meals at KFC is their Chicken Pot Pie. In this meal, you will consume 790 calories and 45 grams of fat, 37 grams of which are saturated fats! That’s an incredibly high number of saturated fats. In addition to these numbers, the Chicken Pot Pie also contains 75 mg of cholesterol and the excessively high 1970 mg of sodium! I don't think I will be ordering this meal any time soon… What a shame :(
Another very popular meal is the Famous Mashed Potatoes and Gravy Bowl. This meal contains about 790 calories and 31 grams of fat, 8 grams of which are saturated fats. While it does have 29 mg of protein, the meal also has 45 mg of cholesterol and 2130 mg of sodium! That's even more than the Pot Pie and 7 times the amount you need in one day.
Finally, KFC is also well known for their yummy sides. My favorites were always the Mashed Potatoes with Gravy, the Macaroni and Cheese, the sweet kernel corn, and the Cornbread Muffin.
KFC's Mashed Potatoes and Gravy individual side size has 120 calories and 35 grams of fat, 4 of which are saturated. They are also one of the sides highest in sodium with a whopping 530 mg of sodium but they do not contain any cholesterol.
The Macaroni and Cheese individual side size has 160 calories and 70 grams of fat, 7 of which are saturated. It has 5 mg of cholesterol and one of the highest amounts of sodium in any KFC side: 720 mg of sodium.
KFC's Sweet Kernel Corn contains 100 calories and just 5 grams of fat. Amazingly, this side does not contain any cholesterol OR sodium! Definitely a great choice as a side.
Finally, my favorite kind of biscuit, the Cornbread Muffin has about 210 calories and 9 grams of fat, along with 35 mg of cholesterol and 240 mg of sodium.
So if you were to order a full blown meal at KFC of two pieces of chicken with a cornbread muffin and three sides, you could be consuming up to 830 calories and 133 grams of fat, in addition to 85 mg of cholesterol and a whopping 2110 mg of sodium!
While KFC food may seem like your average everyday homemade food, you definitely want to be extra careful when tempted to eat it because of the high levels of fat, cholesterol, and sodium. This food may not be so high-quality for our bodies after all.
Exercise: Today is a Yoga day! Spend an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes completing a rigorous yet relaxing yoga routine. If you can, try to attend a class where the instructor can help you come up with your routine or get a video to follow along to.
Eat: In honor of Valentine's Day, have a good piece of dark chocolate today! Not only is it super tasty, it is also good for you. Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is full of antioxidants which helps to protect against heart disease. Dark chocolate has about 8 times the amount of antioxidants as the number found in strawberries. These flavonoids (which is what acts as antioxidants in dark chocolate) also help to lower blood pressure. So indulge a little today with a delicious piece of dark chocolate for the holiday. And perhaps indulge a little bit every day as well :)
Relax: This morning was a little bit of a gloomy one outside before the sun came up. So to relax, I suggest having a hot cup of coffee or tea while sitting and reading a chapter or two of a book. I am continuing in reading Fast Food Nation this month while also reading through some books for pure enjoyment; such as "Catching Fire" from the Hunger Games series.
No comments:
Post a Comment