Is that spray butter or spray salad dressing really “fat free”? How about Bill Cosby’s pudding, is that fat free? Well here is the hidden truth about label laws and how you might be eating more fat than you think!
According to the food label laws a manufacturer can tell you the food contains zero fat when it actually does contain fat. Spay butters, spray salad dressings, butter, lunch meat, and cooking spray are products that are often over used by common dieters. The label law states that once a food product contains less than 1 gram of fat then you no longer have to list the exact measure of fat. With this in mind companies will make the serving size so small to use the law to their advantage and label it fat free.
Here is an easy example of how a product is still fat no matter how much you divide it down but once it is small enough then its label states it is fat free. When the product is labeled as fat free you should always investigate the label for hidden fat such as corn oils, palm oils, coconut oil, vegetable oil, or buttermilk.
Let’s look at Smart Balance Fat Free spray butter. Here is the nutrition label.
Serving Size: 5 spays
Servings per 1100 as a pan spray or 226 as a topping.
Calories 0
Total fat 0
Trans fat 0
Polyunsat Fat 0g
Monounsat 0g
Ingredients: Buttermilk is listed
So here is the real fat content of this product. After calculating this product the product actually contains is 8.10% fat.
Here is another product that is often mistaken as being really low fat. If we take 97% oven roasted turkey breast. The advertising states that the product is 97% fat free and contains 3% fat.
Here is the nutrition information. Per serving we have 12 calories. The equation to figure out your true fat is as follows.
.9 fat calories x 9 divided by the total calories which is 12. When this is calculated your total percentage of fat is 67% Fat!
When shopping and using the above formula make sure all foods are under 10% fat. Really investigate the label for hidden fats.
When choosing foods I recommend looking for foods that have ingredients you can pronounce! The less ingredients the better!!! Try to make it a goal to choose foods with 5 or less ingredients labeled!
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