Gov. Tim Walz's 'Salad' Recipe Is Sugar Overload
If you're looking for a healthy, low-calorie salad with greens and veggies, Tim Walz's Midwest-style salad recipe may not be for you. In fact, you'd do well to stay away from it, or at least only put it out for special occasions, because it is, without a doubt, pure sugar overload.
The Minnesota governor's "Cookie Salad," which was shared by his and Kamala Harris' presidential campaign as part of their fundraising efforts, is just what you would expect. It's a blend of buttermilk, vanilla pudding, whipped cream, and mandarin orange slices, all topped with crumbled up Fudge Stripes cookies.
According to Bennett Rea, the creator of Cookin with Congress, the concoction is "a bit too sweet," which is putting it mildly. The amount of sugar in Tim Walz's cookie salad might shock you.
How much sugar is in Tim Walz's cookie salad
While the instructions don't say how many servings the recipe contains, Rea makes it clear that you could easily overeat it, no matter what you consider to be a single serving. "I ate too much of it, so it isn't gross," he said.
The full recipe calls for one box of Jell-O instant vanilla pudding, which contains 72 grams of added sugar all on its own. If you use the 8-ounce container of Cool Whip, that adds another 25 grams. A can of Dole mandarin oranges in light syrup gives us another 35 grams. Finally, we have a half-pack of Keebler Fudge Stripes cookies, which provides another 91 grams. Altogether, we're looking at a whopping 223 grams of added sugar.
How much sugar you should eat in a day
According to a 2022 study published in Frontiers in Immunology, eating too much sugar has been linked to a wide range of diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. They further explain that this association may be due to low-grade chronic inflammation triggered by the presence of high sugar in the body.
The World Health Organization (WHO) advises consuming less than 10% of your daily calories as free sugars. This includes sugars that are added to foods during processing or preparation, as well as the sugars that are naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates. They additionally suggest that it is even more beneficial for health to reduce your intake to less than 5%. The WHO notes that, for a 2,000-calorie diet, 5% equals about 25 grams of sugar per day (about 6 teaspoons).