Are you skeptical about nutrition labels?

DapperKay
DapperKay Posts: 140 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Particularly of concern is the number of calories mentioned, especially with "not-so-reputable" food companies.

I say this because counting calories requires a process of heating food using a bomb calorimeter. I always feel that with some companies they just estimate their values, I mean who is really keeping tabs?

Am I alone on this?

Replies

  • Coopaloopsmom
    Coopaloopsmom Posts: 31
    What type of "not-so-reputable" companies are you talking about? Mom and Pop type treats?

    But to answer your question, no. I don't worry about that at all. If I'm trying my hardest to lose weight and count calories I can't take on something else to fret about or else I would make myself crazy.
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
    yeh, they're always lurking in the cupboard, watching, waiting.

    the unseen threat. they can float on the wind, fold seven times and their edges cut like paper.
  • RoyBeck
    RoyBeck Posts: 947 Member
    Yes I thought this recently. For example a sandwich from a supermarket I recently bought was 310 calories. The bread would've been somewhere between 160-210 and the chicken, salad etc inside 200-ish I thought? Anyway, suppose we can't worry too much just have to trust them.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    I don't worry. I do notice that American food companies tend to round. When I buy Japanese products whatever I'm eating will be labeled as having 257 calories.
  • DapperKay
    DapperKay Posts: 140 Member
    What type of "not-so-reputable" companies are you talking about? Mom and Pop type treats?

    You know what I'm talking about, you got to the frozen food isle, pick up a few chicken fillets form a brand that you don't quite recognize and then look at the back, you see a suspicious looking 100g nutritional value with one or two micronutrients and that's it. You wonder how and where they got this figure from!

    Its not just these. Recently I was at the ready made meal isle. I found this lovely steak pie at 300 kcals, it had SO much meat, literarly exploding with meat and gravy. It just seemed that regardless of the cut of meat, this was never going to be true. This was at Marks & Spencer, which those from the UK will know IS actually VERY reputable! :)
  • spoiledpuppies
    spoiledpuppies Posts: 675 Member
    I'm only skeptical of serving sizes. Usually, if I weigh something out, I get slightly less than if I had just used a measuring cup/spoon. So I do weigh most everything.
  • STC1188
    STC1188 Posts: 101 Member
    Yes; but you only have on life to live. Can't sweat the small stuff. I would only freak out if the discrepancy was extremely (EXTREMELY) obvious. In that case, I would avoid it.
  • endoftheside
    endoftheside Posts: 568 Member
    I think this is part of the reason why some people swear by eating "clean" to break a plateau. I'm sure someone will post the video where someone actually tested a few foods and they were way off on the nutrition info.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Yeah but it's not like we can do anything about it. They can be up to 30% off. I guess it's another reason why eating processed food can slow down your weight loss... and why I like having lower goals than I should. But it's all an estimate anyway.

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