When you go grocery shopping, you shouldn’t need to be a detective to find low calorie healthy foods. But all too often that is precisely what it takes to locate the best products.

Food manufacturers are savvy marketers. They’ve learned how to get your attention for food products with clever packaging. From pictures to the use of emotion-laden words and health claims, they can resort to strategies that are often misleading. You think you are purchasing one thing but really you are getting something else, something not as low calorie or nutritious as you thought.

Your best strategy to keep this from happening is to read BOTH the ingredient and nutrition labels before making a purchase. Yes, this takes time. The benefits of doing this, however, are tremendous. Today I will share a few tips that will help you know when to take a closer look so you don’t have to examine every package. In my next post I will follow up with a few more tips.

Weight Loss Success: Are You Buying the Best Products? Part Two

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1. People like pictures.

Photographs of tasty looking food help sell products. Wholesome food such as fruits and vegetables on the packaging may suggest that a particular food is a good source of those items. The reality may be quite different. The actual product may have just a tiny amount. Do pay close attention to frozen entrees, soups, and other heat and serve products.

Check the ingredient label. Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight with the ingredient weighing the most listed first (water is included only if it is added to a product).

2. Be aware of what different claims actually mean.

If you were purchasing a food product labeled as being 95% percent fat free, it might seem like only 5% of the calories come from fat. However, the fat free percentage refers to weight not calories. So the product is actually 5% fat by weight.

Here’s an example. Don’t worry if you find it hard to follow, you’re not alone. Being aware that the fat free percentage may not be what it seems to be is what matters most.

Let’s say the product in question is a luncheon meat. Each serving is 2 ounces by weight (about 56 grams) and has 70 calories. If each serving is 5% fat by weight, one serving would have approximately 3 grams of fat. (5% of 56 grams is a little less than 3 grams.)

A gram of fat contains 9 calories. Therefore, each serving has a total of 27 calories of fat (3 grams fat per serving x 9). This means that 39% of the total calories come from fat not 5 (27 divided by 56)!

Whew! Who wants to do all these complicated calculations? Not me! The solution is to check the nutrition label when you see this kind of claim. Look for the grams of fat per serving.

NOTE: The fat percentage listed on the nutrition label (Nutrition Facts) has a different meaning from the fat percentage claim made on a package cover. The Nutrition Facts fat percentage refers to daily intake of calories (based on an average 2000 calorie diet) but not to the percentage of fat calories in the product. Confusing? I think so. That’s why you’ll want to look at the grams of fat per serving instead. (See 1200 Calorie Diet: Protein, Carbohydrate, Fat, and Fiber Needs to determine how many grams of fat you need on a low calorie diet.)

3. The term low fat is misleading.

You would be much better served by looking for products that say low calorie instead. Low fat products are not necessarily low calorie. Sometimes the food manufacturer will replace fat with sugar or other ingredients to keep the food tasty.

In addition, a number of research studies have shown that people typically eat more of a food when it is labeled low fat. Many people will eat as much as 50% more when the product actually has a calorie reduction of only 30% or less than the original product.

I’ve shared three important tips to keep in mind when grocery shopping. In my next post I will share three more along with a list of government-regulated terms found on packaged food products and what they mean. A little bit of knowledge can go a long way in guiding your decisions about the products you buy. The best products will help, not hinder, your efforts to succeed with weight loss or maintenance and achieve better health.

Eating healthy and keeping an eye on your calorie intake matters!

Weight Loss Success: Are You Buying the Best Products? Part Two

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a new 1200 Calorie Sample Menu. Many younger women do not get enough iron in their every day diet. Obtaining enough iron on a low calorie diet is especially difficult. However, this menu will provide you with plenty of iron.

If you are over 51 or otherwise don’t need a lot of iron, you can easily adjust the total iron by changing a few of the menu choices. I’ve provided you with the iron count so that you can substitute other foods.

The cereal I selected for this menu has 8.1 mg of iron for a 3/4 cup serving. There are other cold cereals with significantly more iron but I intentionally stayed away from those because the day’s menu includes other iron-rich foods. Your body will absorb more of the iron if smaller amounts are consumed throughout the day.

Also, eating iron-rich foods along with a good dietary source of Vitamin C will aid the absorption of iron. For breakfast that source of Vitamin C is the orange juice. For lunch it is the tomato slices. And for supper it is the broccoli.

In addition to iron, this menu offers plenty of fiber. The recommended dietary fiber count for women between the ages of 19 and 51 is 25 g of fiber. For women over the age of 51 the recommended amount is 21 grams of fiber.

Sample Menu for 1200 Calories #14

Breakfast

3/4 cup Crunchy Corn Bran cereal (Quaker - 90 calories, 8.1 mg iron, 5 g)

4 oz. Skim Milk

4 oz. Orange Juice (56 calories)

1 Egg - Hard-boiled

Snack

6 oz. Yogurt - Creamy Raspberry Light n’ Fit (100 calories)

Lunch

6 Tbsp Hummus - 100 calories, (1.4 mg iron)

4 Slices Tomato

6 leaves Red Leaf Lettuce - (1.2 mg iron)

2 Slices Flax & Fiber Bread (Arnold, 160 calories, 5.4 mg iron)

water, unsweetened tea or coffee

Snack

1 medium apple with skin

1 cubic inch Low Fat Mozzarella (55 calories)

Supper

3 oz. Chicken Breast Roasted - (.9 mg iron)

1 small baked potato (138 calories, 1.6 mg iron)

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1/2 cup Broccoli steamed

2 tsp. Light Butter with Canola Oil (Land O’ Lakes, 33 calories)

water, unsweetened tea or coffee

(Always remember to drink plenty of water throughout the day.)

Total Calories = 1216

Total Fiber = 32.5 g

Fat = 19%

Carbs = 58%

Protein = 24%

Calcium = 1101 mg (Women between 19 and 50 years need approximately 1,000 mg a day, 51+ need 1,200 + mg a day)

Iron = 21.1 mg (Women 19 to 50 years need 18 mg of iron, 51+ need 8 mg)

1500 Calorie Diet Menu

Modify the 1200 Calorie Diet Menu to fit your needs. Other than coming up a little short on calcium for women over 51, this is a healthy well-balanced menu. You can increase the total calories to 1500 by choosing larger portion sizes for any of the foods in the menu. Or you can add additional foods.

Till next time, remember to watch your calorie intake and stay healthy!