FDA may update serving size on labels

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | (0) Comments

Ice Cream

One of the things I constantly remind people about in their quest to lose weight is “serving size”. If you look at the label on any packaged food, the serving size will be listed, such as “2 cookies” or “about 14 crackers”. The problem is that virtually no one in America eats 1 serving of anything. Even bread lists 1 serving as 1 slice. But no one makes a sandwich with 1 slice of bread and most people would naturally assume that 1 serving is 2 slices.  If I were to make an educated guess from watching people eat, I would estimate that most people eat at least 2 servings of everything- maybe 3. That would be great if it were vegetables and fruit, but it is usually junk food or high carb, high fat stuff like ice cream. So, this really is a good idea. Knowledge is a good thing and helping people to understand just how much they really eat is important.

But here is the application- if you want to surprise yourself, measure out you food for a few days and calculate the actual calories. Just carry a small notebook with you and write down everything you eat right down to the ketchup you put on your fries (which you should skip). Pretty much every restaurant chain lists nutrition info on their website. You will probably be surprised to find out that you eat about twice as many calories as you think. That is why you can’t lose weight! From MSNBC-

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“If people don’t understand the serving, whatever number they get for fat or calories is misleading,” said William K. Hubbard, a former F.D.A. official who consulted with the agency last year.

Consider the humble chip: most potato or corn chip bags today show a one-ounce serving size, containing a tolerable 150 calories, or thereabouts. But only the most disciplined snacker will stop at an ounce. For some brands, like Tostitos Hint of Lime, that can be just six chips.

In the real world, many people might eat two or three times that, or more. Munch half a bag of Tostitos while watching the Super Bowl and you could take in about half the 2,000 calories an average person needs in a day.