Eat Out Eat Well

reduced fat

If It’s Low In Fat Does It Mean It’s Low in Calories?

By 1 Comment

Does Low Fat = Low Calorie?

No, No, and No!


What Does Low Fat and Low Calorie Mean?

Here’s the FDA definitions:

  • Low Fat – 3 grams fat or less per serving
  • Reduced or Less Fat — at least 25% less fat per serving than the “regular” full-fat food
  • Fat Free – Less than 0.5 gram of fat per serving
  • Low Calorie – Less than 40 calories per serving
  • Calorie Free – Less than 5 calories per serving
  • Light — At least 50% less fat or 1/3 fewer calories per serving than the “regular” full-fat version

Check The Serving Size, The Fat Grams, And the Calories

Remember to check the serving size listed on the Nutrition Facts panel of your food. If the food comes without a label there are tons of online resources to check portion sizes and the nutrition facts. Here’s a muffin example:  the  package label on a box of muffins lists the fat content – for one muffin – as 20 grams.  If the fat content per muffin is reduced to 15 grams per muffin, the muffin can be called reduced fat but it is still has five times more fat (in grams) than the 3g per serving that fits the guidelines for low fat.

When The Fat Comes Out – What Goes In?

Mostly sugar. In a lot of low fat and fat free foods, sugar, flour, and other full calorie ingredients, replace the fat.  Consequently, there’s very little, if any, reduction in calories.

Check these out:


Peanut Butter, 2 tablespoons:

  • Regular: 190 calories, 16g fat
  • Reduced fat: 190 calories, 12g fat

Wheat Thins (16 crackers):

  • Regular:  150 calories, 6g fat
  • Low Fat Wheat Thins:  130 calories; 4g fat

Oreos (3 cookies):

  • Original:  160 calories, 7g fat
  • Low Fat Oreos: 150 calories, 4.5g fat

Fig Newtons (2 cookies):

  • Regular:  110, 2g fat
  • Fat free:  100 calories, 0g fat

Granola (1/2 cup):

  • Regular:  210 calories, 6g fat
  • Low fat granola:  160 calories, 2.2g fat

Tortilla Chips (1 oz.):

  • Regular:   141 calories, 7.3g fat
  • Light tortilla chips:  132 calories, 4.3g fat

SocialDieter Tip:

Just because a product says it’s low fat or fat free don’t go hog wild and eat it with no concern.  There often isn’t much of a caloric difference between a low or fat free version of a food and the regular version because the fat that’s taken out is usually replaced with some full calorie combination of sugar and starch.

What The Heck Is The Difference Between Low Fat And Reduced Fat . . . and light, lean, and extra lean?

By 1 Comment

The Signs Are Everywhere

How much time do you spend in the supermarket aisle confused by the labels on mayo — or yogurt — or milk?  Reduced fat, low fat, light, fat free, low in calories.  You need a spread sheet to sort out the calories and the nutritional stats.

The same thing is true on menus, in deli cases, and the little labels perched next to the choices in salad bars.  Are the calories in the low calorie tuna salad less than the calories in the reduced calorie?  Can you even believe those calligraphied labels behind the glass cases?

Check The List Of Ingredients

Most 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.

Fatty 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

Salty Labels

  • Reduced sodium means at least 75% less sodium
  • Low sodium means 140 milligrams of sodium or less per serving
  • Very low sodium means 35 milligrams of sodium or less per serving
  • Sodium free (salt free) means there is less than 5 milligrams of sodium per serving

Sweet Labels

  • Sugar free means there is less than 0.5 gram of sugar per serving
  • No sugar added means there’s no table sugar added but there may be other forms of sugar like dextrose, fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, or corn syrup

The Low down On Low, Light (Lite), Lean, and Reduced

  • A label that screams reduced calorie means there’s at least 25% fewer calories per serving than in the regular product
  • Low calorie 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 version
  • Light (calories) means 1/3 fewer calories than the regular version
  • Lean means less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol in a 100 gram serving of meat, poultry or seafood
  • Extra lean means less than 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol in a 100 gram serving of meat, poultry or seafood

SocialDieter Tip:

Confused by the ins and outs of labeling?  Why shouldn’t you be – it’s downright confusing.  Try to be as savvy as possible. For instance, take the reduced fat label, which means a product contains at least 25% less fat than the original version. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the reduced fat version is low fat. For instance, you buy what is labeled as a reduced fat muffin. If the fat content in the original full fat muffin is 30g, and the fat has been reduced to 15g, which, with a 50% reduction allows it to say it is reduced fat, the reduced fat muffin still has a fat content five times higher than the 3g of fat per serving that officially qualifies as low 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 will also give valuable information. Remember, these regulations are for packaged food, not prepared food like you find in salad bars and deli cases. Those foods may be labeled, but you are putting your trust in the preparer of the food to be approximately accurate (and truthful).  In New York City and other municipalities, fast and chain food outlets of a certain size must give caloric breakdowns.  The new Health Care Reform Act will require this nationwide for restaurants with more than 20 outlets.