The other day, Jon worked late, so when he got home and found that I had already eaten, he quickly started preparing his favourite standby meal -- two packages of Instant ramen noodles with extra hot sauce. We always have instant noodles in our house, though I haven't eaten them since High School, when they were a staple of my diet. 'Do you think these are bad for me?' he asked? Yes, I replied. He wanted to know why and I started rattling off words like MSG and empty calories. Then I had a look at the back of the package and even though I know they're bad for you, I was a bit shocked.

How many calories are in a package of Nong Shim Ramen Noodles?

A) 270
B) 440
C) 540
D) 720The answer is C) 540. That's in one package, which is fairly small and completely unsatisfying. And Jon, who eats two in every sitting, is packing on 1080 calories ... yuck. Furthermore, the label is decieving -- it says there is 270 calories, but if you read the fine print, that's the calories in half a package. What's worse? In one package, there is 2240 mg of sodium, 82 g of carbs, and 18 g of fat.

Want an alternative? Take some extra time and make your own homemade noodle soup.