Eat Out Eat Well

What’s The Difference Between Low Fat, Reduced Fat, Light, Lean, And Extra Lean?

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How much time do you spend in the supermarket aisle confused by the labels on mayo — or cookies — or just about every other item in the packaged bread aisle?  What do reduced fat, low fat, light, fat free, or low in calories actually mean?

You practically have to walk around with a cheat sheet — or whip out your cell phone to use an app — to figure out if something actually lives up to the fatty or lean promise on the product’s label.

Checking Labels Will Give You A Clue

Packaged food labels list ingredients in descending order by weight, not amount. The first ingredient listed has the greatest amount by weight — the last ingredient is the one with the least amount by weight. That’s why preservatives are usually at the end of the ingredients list.  A ton of chemicals are not necessary to increase shelf life so a little bit will do it — but fat, sugar, and grains have more heft and usually are closer to the beginning of the ingredients list.

Fat Labels

Labels have to include the total amount of fat, saturated fat and unsaturated fat.  This carves the way for the low, reduced, and fat free categories.

  • Low fat means 3 grams of fat or less per serving (or per 100 grams of food)
  • Reduced fat means the food product contains 50% (or less) of the fat found in the regular version
  • Less fat means 25% or less fat than the comparison food
  • Fat free means the product has less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving, with no added fat or oil

The Low down On Low, Light (Lite), Lean, And Reduced Calories And Fat

  • Reduced calorie (calories, not fat – see above) on the label means there’s at least 25% fewer calories per serving than in the regular (full calorie) version of the product
  • Low calorie (calories, not fat – see above) means 40 calories or less per serving and less than 0.4 calories per gram of food
  • Light (fat) means 50% or less of the fat than in the regular, full calorie, version
  • Light (calories) means 1/3 fewer calories than the regular, full calorie, version
  • Lean (meat, poultry or seafood) means less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol in a 100 gram serving
  • Extra lean (meat, poultry or seafood) means less than 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol in a 100 gram serving

Confused???

Are you confused by the labeling rules?  You’re not alone.  You really need to read labels and look for the amount of fat grams, not just assume that a product labeled reduced fat is indeed low in fat.

For instance, a product labeled reduced fat just means that it contains at least 50% or less fat than the original full fat version of the same product. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a low-fat product.

Here’s an example:  Look at a box of cookies or a container of ice cream labeled reduced fat.  If the fat content in the original full fat product is 20g and the fat has been reduced to 10g — a 50% reduction – the manufacturer is allowed to call the product reduced fat even though its fat content is still a little over 3 times higher than the 3 grams of fat per serving that officially qualifies as low fat.  Premium ice cream can really snooker you with this labeling simply because the full fat version may have so much fat that the reduced fat version – even with 50% less fat – still contains a significant amount of fat.

The trick is to look carefully at the calorie count and fat breakdown on the nutrition label and note the numbers for each.  A check of the ingredients label can also give you valuable information about the type of fat in the product.

Remember, these regulations apply to labeled packaged food products, not prepared food like you find in salad bars or for takeout.

A Lot Of People At The Dinner Table: You Might Eat 96% More

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Planning on eating with seven friends? You might eat 96% more! No joke. We tend to eat more and for a longer period of time when we’re with other people compared to when we eat alone.

Why?  Perhaps it’s because we mindlessly nibble while someone else talks. Or maybe it stems from the good manners learned in fifth grade about eating what’s put in front of you. Or perhaps we’re just having fun and enjoying great food. We do tend to stay at the table longer when we’re with others and the longer we stay at the table, the more we eat.

Losing Track

Friends and family can absolutely influence how much we eat. Sometimes we can get so involved in conversation that any monitoring of what pops into our mouths completely disappears.  Think about it — have you ever looked down at your plate and wondered where all the cookies went or how you managed to work your way through the mile high dish of pasta or the four pieces of pizza?  How many tastes did you take of everyone else’s meal and dessert?  Those tastes aren’t like invisible ink — the calories in them count, too.

Who Sets the Pace?

We tend to mimic our table companions. They eat fast, we eat fast.  They eat a lot, we eat a lot.  Ever wonder why some families or couples are either all overweight or all slim?  As Brian Wansink, PhD says in his book, Mindless Eating, “birds of a feather eat together.”

How Much More Do We Eat When We Eat With Others?

Wansink reports on a study that shows how strong the tendency is to increase how much we eat when we eat with others.

Compared to eating alone we average:

  • 35% more when eating with one other person
  • 75% more with four people at the table
  • 96% more with a group of seven or more

A Different Eating Pattern When We’re With Others

The pattern of eating more when we’re in larger groups is common in adults. One reason is something called “social facilitation,”  or the actions created by the stimuli that stem from the sight and sound of other people doing the same that that you’re doing. When you eat in groups social facilitation can help override the your brain’s normal signals of satiety.

Things To Think About

  • Who are eating with – and why?  If you just want to have a good time and don’t care about how much you eat, go ahead and eat with a big group.  The likelihood is that you won’t pay much attention to what or how much you eat.
  • If you want to be careful about what and how much you eat, think about eating lunch with your salad friends rather than the pepperoni pizza group.
  • You tend to adjust your eating pace to that of your companions.  Try sitting next to the slow eaters rather than the gobblers if you’re trying to control how much goes into your mouth.

What To Do When Your Mouth’s On Fire From Red Hot Chili Peppers

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Recently, I was in a restaurant that specializes in chili – hot, hotter, and hottest.  Four large thirtyish guys were sitting at the table next to mine. One guy ordered, “hottest,” with a swagger.

Shortly after this big, burly guy dug into his chili – with gusto, I might add, he was sitting glassy eyed, rivulets of sweat dripping off of his bald head, practically unable to speak.  The waitress, obviously having seen this reaction before, came running over with a glass of milk with orders to, “Drink up.”

Have you ever had this reaction to very spicy food — maybe even from a dish from your own kitchen when you got a little too zealous with the chili powder? Or perhaps, like this guy, from being a little too macho and ordering “hottest” after assuring everyone that you love really hot and spicy food.  Perhaps when you accidentally grabbed the wings known as red hots at a recent party.

What Causes The Burn?

Capsaicin is mostly responsible for the “heat” in chili peppers.  To stop the mouth flames you need to neutralize the burning heat from the capsaicin that binds to your taste buds. Capsaicin is soluble in both alcohol and fat so full fat dairy and alcohol are possible solutions.

What To Do To Tame The Flame

What do you do as your mouth is sending a five-alarm signal, your face is on fire, and you are sweating enough to water every plant in the room?  Here are some solutions that are easy – even when you’re in a restaurant or at someone else’s home.

  • The most common flame relievers are full fat dairy, acid, and sugar – although some people also swear by nut and seed butters  (peanut, almond, tahini).  They may all have some degree of effectiveness.
  • Ice and water will feel pretty good, but only temporarily. The burning pain will come roaring back. Because capsaicin is soluble in alcohol and fat, sometimes beer is suggested as a solution. The alcohol helps neutralize the capsaicin molecules.  But beer is about 95% water and won’t really neutralize the capsaicin clinging to your tongue.
  • High fat dairy products like milk, cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and ice cream coat your mouth and can break the bonds capsaicin forms with the nerve endings – and, since they’re cold, they feel pretty good, too. Now you have an explanation for why spicy Mexican food is often served with sour cream.
  • Sugars bind to pain receptors more readily than capsaicin so sweet things might work, too.   Sugar, fruit, honey, molasses, even carrots have all been used.  Highly sweetened non-carbonated drinks may work.  Try some sweet tea.   Hoisin may work for Asian dishes or Lassi (sweet and dairy combination) if you are in an Indian restaurant.
  • Acid can cut through the heat so use vinegar, lemon or lime juice, or anything acidic that doesn’t mess with the taste.  Gives beer with lime new meaning, too, doesn’t it?

Thinking About Chowing Down At A Barbecue This Weekend?

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Memorial Day Weekend – the “unofficial” start of summer weekends. Hometown parades with floats and kids in baseball uniforms.  Veterans handing out flags.  The lazy, hazy days of summer with lots of soda and popcorn and beer.  Also lots of barbecue and desserts – and lots of seemingly never ending caloric temptation — and bathing suits to get into!

Celebration and Remembrance

Just a bit of a reminder.  It’s wonderful to celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer.  But, there’s a reason for all of the parades and flags. In the states, Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who died in our nation’s service.  First observed on May 30th, 1868 when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery, in 1971 Congress extended it into a three-day holiday weekend.

Parades, Picnics, And Barbecues

Memorial Day is a day of national ceremonies and small town parades, but also of barbecues and picnics. For many of us Memorial Day also signals the start of a whole different set of thoughts:  how to avoid the glut of cheeseburgers and hot dogs; the mayonnaise laden potato and macaroni salad; the plates full of brownies and cookies; the dripping ice cream cones (sprinkles are mandatory); the freshly baked blueberry and peach pies; and the beer, wine, soda, and lemonade to wash everything down.

Gotta Have A Plan To Handle The Food . . .

Or you might never take off the bathing suit cover-up.  So, as you remember the people who gave service to their country, please honor yourself by choosing to eat what’s best for you.  Holidays and celebrations present food challenges.  A one-day splurge is a blip that doesn’t account for much.  A one-day splurge that opens the floodgate to mindless eating all summer long is something else.

General Tips For Mindful Eating All Summer Long

  • Before you grab some tasty morsel, ask yourself if you’re really hungry.  Odds are, with a tempting display of food in front of you, you may not be hungry but you just want to eat what’s in front of you for reasons not dictated by your stomach.
  • A good question to ask yourself is:  do I really need to stand in front of the picnic table, kitchen table, or barbecue?  The further away from the food you are the less likely you are to eat it.
  • If you know that the barbecued ribs, the blueberry pie, or your cousin’s potato salad is your downfall, either build it into your food for the day or steer clear.  For most of us swearing that you’ll only take a taste is a promise doomed to fail.
  • If you’re asked to bring something to a party, picnic, or barbecue, bring food you can eat with abandon – fruit, salad with dressing on the side, berries and angel food cake for dessert (no fat in angel food cake).  That way you know you’ll always have some “go to” food.
  • Don’t show up absolutely starving.  How can you resist when your blood sugar is in the basement and your stomach is singing a chorus?
  • Really eyeball the food choices so you know what’s available.  Then make a calculated decision about what you are going to eat.
  • Take the food you have decided to eat, sit down, enjoy it without guilt, and be done with it.  No going back for seconds.
  • If you’re full, stop eating and clear your plate right away.  If it hangs around in front of you, inevitably you’ll keep picking at it.
  • Give yourself permission to eat – and enjoy — the special dessert or a burger or ribs.  If you don’t, you’ll probably be miserable and there’s some chance that you’ll get home and gobble down everything in sight – because you made yourself miserable by not eating the good stuff in the first place!  Eat what you want and enjoy it (no seconds and no first portions that are the equivalent of firsts, seconds and thirds built into one).
  • If hanging around the food gets to be too much, go for a walk, a swim, or engage someone in an animated conversation.    It’s pretty hard to shove food into you mouth when you’re talking away.