As stated in my previous post I don't know that I've ever actually seen a real fruitcake. Maybe on TV and I've heard plenty of jokes about them. So since a picture is worth a thousand words here are visual explanations.





All Photos have Creative Commons Licenses Thanks to:

Marshall Astor (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeontheedge/2297520083/)
Suzi Jane (http://www.flickr.com/photos/suzijane/3129202554/)
Sylvar (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvar/287344203/)

I am somewhat obsessed with fruitcakes. I have never been given one as a gift. I think I have only eaten it a few times and I really liked it. This could be because my grandma's recipe involves using gum drops instead of fruit and then she would dunk the entire cake in chocolate. I never could figure out if it was healthier than actual cookies or if I should be looking for health insurance leads before consuming it. So obviously, I didn't understand why everyone was always complaining about fruitcake.

Apparently they have the opposite problem in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Every year in January there is a fruitcake toss for charity. You're required to bring a canned item for a food drive. One event uses pneumatic devices such as a catapult to toss fruit cake. There is another competition if you can hit a target with your fruitcake. There are different weight divisions as well, both two and four pounds.

I recently read that the average holiday weight gain every year is seven pounds. I thought for sure that this couldn't be true because by this reasoning I'm 27 years old. Just by going by my added holiday weight I should weight 189 pounds. Gladly I don't. By the time I'm looking for the best wrinkle treatments I want to weigh close to the same as I do now and I won't pumpkin pie get in my way.

So I went on a search for the truth and found a lot of people quoting the random number 7 or 5-10 pounds. This 2007 article in the NY times says that the average holiday weight gain is really only one pound on average. However, if you are already overweight you are more likely to gain five pounds during the holidays. So if you average it out, you really might not be the one gaining weight on the holidays.