Know the Stats on Your Favorite Stadium Food

When it comes time to grab food at the ballpark, sports fans aren't searching out soy on the concession stand draft board. At most athletic events, folks want to chow down on high-calorie home runs like hot dogs, peanuts and nachos.

But if your beer belly looks like it's on the verge of making it to the major leagues, you might want to consider knowing exactly what kind of wallop each of your favorite ballpark eats are packing.

We recently came across a comparison of stadium foods by nutrition writer Charles Stuart Platkin, author of "The Diet Detective's Count Down." So if you're the type with a noggin for storing stats, here's a few numbers that might actually come in handy.

Check out our stadium food breakdown after the jump.

Hot Dog vs. Sausage: On average, about 16,000 hot dogs are sold per game. A regular wiener clocks in at about 290 calories, while a foot-long takes that number near 600. On the other side of the processed meat coin, a sausage with peppers is going to run you 430 calories. Either way, you're eating ingredients you probably don't want to know about.


Soda vs. Beer: This makes for an easy choice. Twenty ounces of soda is 230 calories, while the same size beer is a mere 10 calories more. We say buy the beer. In fact, buy a few and let the players know how you really feel about them.



Nachos vs. Peanuts: This may be tough to read, but those tasty nachos we all know and love are an out-of-control 1,500 calories with only a four-ounce glob of fluorescent orange cheese. Meanwhile, peanuts aren't much better with a 12-ounce bag hitting the 1,260 mark. Unless you're shooting for the Cecil Fielder look, we recommend scouting for better prospects.

For more on stadium food, check out the Diet Detective.