Let's face it. French fries are America's favourite side dish. And they continue to be widely popular despite soaring obesity rates -- few people order a side salad instead of fries. Perhaps it's that people believe they're not too high in calories. Perhaps it's that people think that potatoes count as a vegetable, even if they're deep fried. But whatever it is, they're not going out of style any time soon.

I for one never order fries -- I always go for the side salad. But I'm one of the few in my social circle. So I decided to look into the nutritional info on fries. Are they relatively low-cal compared to the burgers and pizza out there, or are they a diet disaster? What do you think?

The answer is 570 cal, 30 g of fat. Do you find this surprising? I do, especially considering that a Big Mac has less calories and fat than those fries -- 540 cal, and 29 g of fat to be exact. So, put these two together and you're looking at 1110 cal and 59 g of fat. Add a soda and you're looking at even more. Yikes!

Considering this, I suspect that if you're a frequent fry offender, you could make a big difference in your diet by simply dropping the fries. And if you're someone who can't live without them, take some advice from this post and bake them!