Ever get confused by all the labels on the food? Less fat, reduced fat, 25% less fat, less sugar, etc.
So are those really healthy food? Can you really eat more of those without gaining weight?
Here’s some info on the labels from LifeClinic:
- No fat or fat free: Contains less than 1/2 gram of fat per serving
- Lower or reduced fat: Contains at least 25 percent less per serving than the reference food. (An example might be reduced fat cream cheese, which would have at least 25 percent less fat than original cream cheese.)
- Low fat: Contains less than 3 grams of fat per serving
- Lite: Contains 1/3 the calories or 1/2 the fat per serving of the original version or a similar product
- No calories or calorie free: Contains less than 5 calories per serving
- Low calories: Contains 1/3 the calories of the original version or a similar product
- Sugar free: Contains less than 1/2 gram of sugar per serving
- Reduced sugar: at least 25% less sugar per serving than the reference food
- No preservatives: Contains no preservatives (chemical or natural)
- No preservatives added: Contains no added chemicals to preserve the product. Some of these products may contain natural preservatives
- Low sodium: contains less than 140 mgs of sodium per serving
- No salt or salt free: Contains less than 5 mgs of sodium per serving
- High fiber: 5 g or more per serving (Foods making high-fiber claims must meet the definition for low fat, or the level of total fat must appear next to the high-fiber claim)
- Good source of fiber: 2.5 g to 4.9 g. per serving
- More or added fiber: Contains at least 2.5 g more per serving than the reference food
A lot of those labels are relative to similar products or the original product. In fact, for dieters, the low fat labels are dangerous. In an experiment from the FoodNetwork’s Food Detective, when people see the “low fat” label, they tended to eat more than what was labeled as original.
When confused, come back for the food label definition. 
Did you find youself too busy to eat? Running around the clock going to meetings and not able to stop in the middle of doing something? It’s just too easy to get some fast food and get the hunger over with or maybe just forget about the hunger? News to you, not eating definitely NOT a way to lose weight. On the other hand, not eating may make you gain weight. Human bodies are smart, we know when it’s time to adapt and survive. When you don’t eat, your body will get alarmed and slow down the metabolism. Storing more fat just in case food isn’t going to be available for a while. Also, skipping meals make you feel even more hungry later on and you will be more likely to eat more for dinner. When you energy level is low, junk foods suddenly become more attractive to you too.
With all these in mind, if you don’t have time for lunch, what can you do?
Here’s a good tip for the emergency. Keep some meal replacement bars in your office desk. Here are some good tasty ones and I’m sure you will want to eat them for lunch just because they taste great!
Nutribar isn’t commonly available in US drug stores. It has 260 Cal per bar, 65g per bar. GoLean is similar to Nutribar but a bit bigger in size and is more available in the states. It has 290 Cal per bar, which is 78g. There are a lot of different flavours and they all taste really good, just like normal chocolate bars. Tastes such as Mocha Almond, Deep Brownie Delight, Cookies N’ Cream, Peanut Butter and Chocolate, etc. (Aren’t they all sound so yummy?) SlimFast is a more popular brand for diet food. The replacement bars taste equally good but the size is a bit smaller than the other two brands, only 56g. It has only 220 Cal per bar. It may not make you feel as full as the other ones. Having the meal replacement bar with a glass of water can keep your hunger away for about four hours. This is a good way to keep your day go smoother while dealing with all your excitment (or stress?) at work.
Go ahead and try them out. Have them around to keep your energy level up. Having chocolate as part of your diet plan, this can be your first step to get beach ready this summer.
