What's all this about nutrition and food labels?

I’ve been pondering the food labeling conundrum recently and the proposed band aids suggested to right the wrong. I agree the food labels are a whisper of information printed a bit too small with portions contrived to make the food fall within the healthy realm.

You can’t base all of your food choices on those descriptions but when a pouch of Lloyd’s Pork BBQ in an 18oz. (510 g) tub tells you a serving size is 1/4C (56g) @ 80 calories there should be a tingle-ling in your little grey cells. Who is only going to eat 1/4 C of Q? You’re telling me there are 4 ½ servings including sauce in that tub?

Once you start double dipping the nutritional facts get skewed as well, 360mg of sodium (our new culinary hate word) bumps up to 720mg a sizable chunk of the old daily intake (1500mg or less for women, 2300mg or less for men).

To eat this glop responsibly is to measure out your portion and walk away. It’s tough and not satisfying. The easy thing to do (and that’s what these glop tubs are all about in the meat department) is to eat the whole damn thing, forget the salad (too messy) and pay the piper. Oops! High blood pressure? A niggle of diabetes? How did that happen? Not even good genes can fight this easy food onslaught.

Back to labeling- I do think it’s cheeky to sell a bag of chips near the premade sandwiches and state it serves 1 ½ people. Where are the nutritionists who are trained in the knowledge of what our body needs on a daily basis? They are the ones who should be setting the portion sizes not the various powers that be.

Quite honestly I’m a bit concerned that the food industry is going to make the portion sizes more in line with how we really eat the stuff. I don’t think we need to be told that a portion size Pork Q is now 3/4C or the same size has turned into a single serving. Eek!

Eating processed food is not a good gig for the Bod. With that said we know we will continue to do it. Think first, put it at the top of the pyramid with fats, sweets, and splurges not at the bottom with the grains, veggies, and fruit.

Oh, and watch those labels!