Every summer in Minnesota, people travel near and far to snack, sample and taste their way through the Minnesota State Fair. There are other attractions of course, but for many people the food options play a central role in any trip to the fairgrounds.
Interested in snagging a deep fried pickle or a bucket of chocolate chip cookies? Absolutely! A bag of those delicious mini-doughnuts and a Pronto Pup or two? Why not! You're walking all those calories off, right?
Well....probably not.
Unless you happen to be walking a long way. As in miles. Many of them.
Last week, the Health Talk team set out to find out -- once and for all -- just how many cheese curds, turkey legs and other fair favorites could be walked off during a normal day at the fair.
In the name of friendly competition, a challenge was presented: two members of our staff, Matt and Laurel, had to randomly draw three fair foods out of a hat -- er, French fry cup -- strap on a pedometer and walk the fair trying to burn off the calories they took in. At the end of the day, we'd check the pedometers, chat with a School of Public Health obesity expert, crunch some numbers and find out who won.
Were they able to successfully burn off the calories they took in? Or did they leave the Fair way above their recommended daily calorie intake and way under the number of steps needed to "walk it all off."
Press play on the video above to find out.
Now, the good news is that one day of dietary derailment isn't going to spell doom for many State Fair-goers. But this video will help illustrate just how much you'd have to walk if your normal daily calorie counts ever approached Fair-like levels.

Video produced by: Jack McTigue, Miranda Taylor, Justin Paquette

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