Do you know the answer? How healthy is your health food? I was in a long queue in the pharmacy, and it just happened to flow down the aisle in which the weight loss products were displayed. I knew there were a lot of options, but I was amazed to see the number and variety of different items. If one were so inclined, it would be possible to buy one's meals for the entire week from those few feet of 'weight loss' products.
Being a curious creature, I picked up a box of 'healthy' snack bars and checked the ingredients list. There are three things I look for before anything else - calories, fat and sugar. If those are reasonable, I continue my checklist - sodium, protein, fibre. Today, I didn't even get past the first three.
There were 404 calories (per 100 grams) in these particular bars! That is almost a meal's worth of calories for someone wanting to lose weight, but these were not sold as a 'meal replacement' item. So, there you have more than 400 calories in addition to regular meals in just one bar.
The fat content was about 15 grams, which is also too high. More than 10 grams (10%) of fat is too high, in my book, if you want to lose weight. Of even more concern was that there was 33 grams of sugar in each bar! THIRTY THREE PERCENT sugar!
Taking a look at the calorie breakdown for these bars, 72% of the calories come from fat and carbohydrates. If you are not also burning this energy as fuel for your body, either by exercise or other means, your body will store it. Remember, too, these are the figures for just one 'weight loss' bar.
I really don't understand why these products are sold as weight loss aids, because the ingredients list alone clearly suggests otherwise.
Here's a comparison that might make it a little more clear.
"Weight loss" bar (per 100 grams)
Calories - 404
Fat - 15 grams
Sugar - 33 grams
Mars Bar - chocolate bar (per 100 grams)
Calories - 474
Fat - 17.9 grams
Sugar - 58.5 grams
The only major difference between the two from the above is the sugar content (and the total carb/protein amounts in each). That should scare you a little. Or a lot.
BE AWARE of what you're putting into your mouth.
READ the labels on the food you eat.
DON'T just assume that a product is good, simply because fancy packaging, marketing and advertisements tell you it's so.
DO eat more fresh food and less processed food - you won't have to analyse complicated ingredients labels and you will know exactly what you're putting into your mouth.
