How To Properly Decipher Deceptive Food LabelsWritten by Dr. Robert Osgoodby
With today's health conscious consumer, food manufacturers are well aware that a primary concern of public is health and eating healthy foods. Since marketing plays a huge role in product sales, marketing tactics paint a blurry picture designed to entice you, not educate you.In an effort to provide public with what they want, food manufacturers use unclear marketing statements like "Reduced Fat" and "98% Fat Free." Beware of products boasting these types of claims. Just because a product label claims "reduced fat" or "light" doesn't mean it's healthy, or low in fat. There are several marketing descriptions companies use to coax you to purchase a lower fat version of a product. The best way to protect yourself and not fall prey to misleading marketing tactics is to learn how to properly read product labels and interpret common marketing catch phrases. * Low Calorie - Fewer than 40 calories per serving. * Low Fat - 3 grams of fat or less per serving. * Low Cholesterol - 20 milligrams of cholesterol or less per serving, and 2 grams or less of saturated fat per serving. * Low Sodium - 140 milligrams or less per serving. * Very Low Sodium - 35 milligrams or less per serving. * Lean - Less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per serving. * Extra Lean - Less than 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 95 milligrams of cholesterol per serving. * Fat Free - Less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving * Light - Half fat of regular version * Reduced Fat - 25% less fat than regular version Whenever you are reading a label, important things to take into consideration for weight management are: 1. The number of calories per serving 2. The number of servings per container 3. Calories from fat 4. Calories per gram - For instance, whole milk has 9 fat calories per gram, 4 carbohydrate calories per gram, and 4 protein calories per gram.
| | Misconceptions About Dietary FatsWritten by Dr. Robert Osgoodby
For decades, media has been preaching how fats are associated with obesity, cancer, arteriosclerosis, and heart disease. Back in late 1980's, U.S. Surgeon General recommended that Americans decrease their consumption of dietary fats. Marketing savvy food manufacturers immediately started coming out with everything from fat free ice cream to fat free cheese. In place of fat, more carbohydrates were added.With all of "fat free" marketing, general public believed that since something was "fat free", they could eat larger portions. Over next ten years, Americans became fatter than ever! Obesity skyrocketed from 12% of population to over 20% of population in just 10 years. Today, research has found that 50% of Americans are overweight and approximately 23% are obese. With help of food industry, public has developed a "fat phobia" and importance of including healthy fats in our diets has been neglected. If your goal is to build a stronger, leaner, more muscular body, dietary fats are necessary to maintain and improve your health, and play an essential role in reaching your fitness goals. There are two types of fats, saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are considered healthy fats, they are usually liquid at room temperature. Although there are many sources of unsaturated fat, two great sources of healthy unsaturated fat can be found in cold water fish like salmon, trout and halibut, and flax seed oil.
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