A Little Insight on Food Labels and Weights

adarbyem

So, this weekend I decided to have some chili for dinner. Nalley's Thick chili to be precise. The label said that a single can had "about 2" servings with a serving size of 1 cup (255g). Each serving was labelled as having 280 calories per serving. So, since I knew I was going to eat the whole can, I accounted for a 560 calorie food.

Here is where the weighing your food habit really helps. I poured the entire can into an awaiting bowl on my tared food scale. The final weight, 340g! Perhaps this particular can had more beans in it, or more of something less dense, but this can went from 560 calories to 373 calories, 34g of protein to 22g of protein.

Sure, there is going to be some variation since the label didn't match completely, I just used a percentage of weight to the serving size, but it just goes to show, ALWAYS weigh your food. This will keep you from eating too many calories, and in my case, keep you from short changing yourself.

Just food for thought!

Editme12

Well when it says "about xyz" servings in the package, you never know whether it's more or less, it's just to give you an idea. So I usually look at the package weight printed on the label to see where the estimation is. Granted I don't know why that can wouldn't say "about 1.5" since that is closer.