Saturday, February 6, 2010

I Am Excited To Go To Hummusland Even Though Hummus Is Making Me Fat

I don't remember if I've mentioned one of my recent conundrums, that being my inexplicable weight gain. As in the past few months I have steadily been heavier each time I step on the scale.

I thought maybe the greatly reduced amount of swimming time was the culprit. And less other type exercise, due to the weather restrictions imposed by this bad Texas winter we are currently having.

I'm not an over eater. I'm a bit of a health food nut, sort of. Have been that way for decades. I rarely eat in restaurants. I don't like candy. I don't even eat dinner, at night I just have a healthy snack.

So, what is causing the weight gain? I'm almost 100% certain it's not all added muscle. I have not had clothes fitting tighter. I can easily get into my skinny jeans that I could not easily get into before I moved to Texas. I just realized, those are old jeans.

Anyway, this morning I was trying to think of anything I've done different the past few months. I realized I've consumed massive quantities of hummus. But that's pretty much a health food, garbanzos, roasted red peppers, garlic, lemon, tahini, onion, other good stuff.

This morning I Googled to find out the caloric count for hummus. Over 400 calories a cup? It is easy to eat 2 cups of the stuff. That is not sufficient calories to explain the weight gain. My research continues.

In the meantime, Googling hummus brought up something really bizarre.

After Lebanon won the Guinness World Record for the largest plate of hummus, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism announced plans to win the record back by building a massive hummus themed resort and spa in an area called Shebaa Farms in a disputed 12 mile strip of land on the border of Israel and Lebanon.

Hummusland will have a huge Lagoon filled with hummus, in which Hummusland visitors will be able to swim, ride canoes and take in the rejuvenating powers of the anti-oxidizing pulverized garbanzos.

The Hummusland Lagoon will also have a wave pool, a creek, waterfalls and a shark reef. All filled with hummus.

Are sharks going to be happy swimming in hummus? I can't help but wonder.

The director of the Hummusland project, Amos Cohen, says, “The total volume of hummus that is pumped through the park each day will exceed a million cubic meters. This will make the Lebanese 2,506 kilogram dish seem like a joke. Our kiddie pool alone will have twenty times that much hummus in it.”

Cohen says there are plans to add other Israeli dishes, like zaatar, couscous, shawarma and falafel, to the park's attractions. Falafel Mountain is currently under development. This will be a roller coaster which tunnels inside a giant Falafel, as big as a football stadium.

I don't know about these Israelis. Hummusland sounds like something nutty I'd read here about some kooky Texas plan, like Bearfire Resort.

I forgot to mention, that is an artist's rendering of an overview of Hummusland at the top.

2 comments:

Steve A said...

Hmm. 400 calories at one sitting sounds like over a pound a week gained. At that rate, imagine what Durango will look like in a year.

At least the Bearfire scheme would have subtracted calories...

Durango said...

Steve A---
I think you have prescribed the solution for my runaway weight gain. Increase the number of calories burned rather than eaten.