Insomnia Cookies -- I can't believe the Caloric Claims

jamesfit99

According to this website (and others) Insomnia Cookie's "Triple Chocolate" has only 136 calories and 45mg of Sodium.

Sounded too good to be true but I decided to try one at my local Insomnia Cookie Store. Turned out the "Triple Chocolate" is one of their "Jumbo" sizes, which made the caloric and sodium claim even harder to believe. But in the interest of science, I went ahead and bought one anyway! And ate it!

All I can say is that after eating a single Triple Chocolate (considered 1 serving) I am *extremely* doubtful of the caloric and probably the sodium claim. To be clear, the numbers did not come directly from Insomnia cookies but from nutritional sites like this.

-- James

jamesfit99

Well, sometimes you gotta trust your instincts (or taste buds) and not the bar code reader

Turns out Insomnia's Triple Chocolate doesn't have only 136 calories and 45mg of Sodium as per the bar code reading in the Myfitnesspal software.

Actually values for a single cookie are 250 calories and 150 mg of Sodium per serving. And since a single Triple Chocolate cookie is considered TWO servings, that comes out to 500 calories and 300 mg/sodium, which is pretty close to what I guessed after eating one!

The preceding info supplied by the nice and responsive folks at Insomnia Cookies who emailed me a PDF with their nutritional info.

The only thing I can think of is that the barcode values were PER OUNCE, even though the software stated PER COOKIE and these particular cookies are 4.5 ounces each. Using that formula, the discrepancies become a lot less.

Another reason to double check labels against the bar code readings, especially with foods you eat a lot, and especially when things appear too good to be true. And in cases like this where there are no labels, a little research can often clear up the facts.

-- James