If you didn't know already, I'm no longer a slave of frequent meals and my breakfast usually takes place in the early pm's. Read this article if you want to understand why or check out this previous post to get the background of my story. As I will mention below, the purpose with this post is to give a comprehendible example of two meals that might seem very similar to the untrained eye, but in reality is very different when it comes to nutritional contents.
Loosing weight is the number one goal for countless people, obesity being a global epidemic and the food industry is unarguably responsible for a big part of the blame.
Working as a fitness professional, being a health enthusiast and with experience from competing in fitness and bodybuilding I often get questions like “is this healthy”, “what should I be eating” and “what do you think about X and O”, etc, etc. I have no problem answering questions like this and many times it's my job and duty to do so. But, to the great despair of the questioner, there's seldom a short, direct answer to be found to undefined, general questions like above. Just like most other things (e.g. choice of exercises, methods or workouts, etc) there are always exceptions, everything integrates and can variate and depend on a number of different cofactors and situations for the individual that always needs to be considered. But if there's any advice I can give when it comes to nutrition and eating healthy, that's a universal truism (=according to my believes, always applies and works in all cases) it's the importance of MAKING SMART FOOD CHOICES.
It's no secret that the food industry is only looking for ways to increase revenue, often by deceiving, misleading statements and selling arguments (sadly, they couldn't care less about the actual wellbeing of the customers - you and me).
Below I have gathered some of the products that I one day found in the kitchen (that I use to share with three other blokes) from my time at Gustavus Adolphus College. The examples, I call them the "HEALTHY" and the SMART breakfast, are my interpretations of what smart food choices (note; not necessarily ideal food choices) can look like and how easy it can be to be fooled, thinking that you're feeding your body what it needs when in fact you're pretty much doing the complete opposite.
A “HEALTHY" BREAKFAST vs. a SMART BREAKFAST
Numbers and info for the two examples below are taken using serving sizes on the packages. Both breakfast examples consist of follwing:
- YOGURT
- CEREAL
- A SANDWICH/CRISP BREAD WITH TOPPING
- A DRINK
“How can I not loose weight, this morning I had 99 % fat-free yogurt, (that 1% can't matter, can it?), raisin bran (and it tasted a lot better than it looked), a sandwich (even though it was white it was made with whole grain and 0 g trans-fats) and low-fat cottage cheese (instead of my regular pop-tart that I normally eat on-the-go), and yes, to get my dose of vitamin C, I also had a glass of pineapple juice (natural, 100% fruit blend)?"
Right of the bat, what's described above might sound (and look) like a decent breakfast but as you'll soon discover, with some further digging, you'll see that reality is different and why this person is not losing any weight is a no-brainer. Let's take a closer look a the nutritional content of the "HEALTHY" breakfast...
Yoplait 99% Fat-Free Yogurt:
(1 serving - 1 cup)
kcal: 200
Fat:1.5g
Protein:7g
Carbohydrates:39g (32 g sugars)
(Sodium: 340 mg)
with...
Kellog's Raisin Bran:
(50 g)
kcal: 161
Fat:1.5g
Protein:4.5g
Carbohydrates:38g (16 g sugars – 6g fiber)
(Sodium: 300 mg)
and...
Sara Lee Soft & Smooth, made with whole grain white:
(1 slice – 28 g)
kcal: 70
Fat:1g
Protein:3g
Carbohydrates:14g (2 g sugars – 0.5 g fiber)
(Sodium: 105 mg)
with...
Cub Foods low fat cottage cheese:
(1/4 cup)
kcal: 50
Fat:1.5g
Protein: 7 g
Carbohyrates: 2.5g (2 g sugars)
(Sodium: 235 mg)
to go with...
Simply Orange, with pineapple, 100 % juice blend:
(1 serving – 1 cup)
kcal: 110
Fat:0g
Protein:2g
Carbohydrates:27g (24 g sugars)
(Sodium: 0 mg)
Total kcal and macronutrients content for the "HEALTHY" BREAKFAST:
Kcal: 625 kcal
Fat: 5.5 g
Protein: 23,5 g
Carbohydrates: 120.5 g
sugar: 76 g
fiber: 6,5 g
Sodium: 980 mg
Now, compare the “healthy breakfast” above to the “smart breakfast” below and you'll hopefully get the picture and the message which I'm trying to send here.
Danon Light & fit Yogurt:
(1 serving - 1 cup)
kcal: 110
Fat:0g
Protein:7g
Carbohydrates:21g (15 g sugars)
(Sodium: 100 mg)
with...
Kashi Go Lean:
(50 g)
kcal: 140
Fat:1g
Protein:13g
Carbohydrates:30g (6 g sugars – 10g fiber)
(Sodium: 85 mg)
and...
WASA crispbread, “Hearty”:
(1 slice – 14 g)
kcal: 45
Fat:0g
Protein:1g
Carbohydrates:11g (0 g sugars – 2 g fiber)
(Sodium: 70 mg)
with...
Geisha Jack Mackerel:
(1/4 cup)
kcal: 70
Fat: 2 g
Protein: 14 g
Carbohydrates: 0g
(Sodium: 152 mg)
to go with...
Instant non-fat dry milk
(1 serving - 1 cup)
kcal: 80
Fat:0g
Protein:8g
Carbohydrates:12g (12 g sugars)
(Sodium: 5 mg)
Total kcal and macronutrients content for the SMART BREAKFAST:
Kcal: 495 kcal
Fat: 3 g
Protein: 43 g
Carbs: 74 g
sugar: 33 g
fiber: 12 g
Sodium: 412 mg
Again, please note that the breakfast examples above are not ideal food choices, but I think they give a fair picture of how small changes can generate big results.
SUMMARY:
The "HEALTHY" BREAKFAST
Kcal: 625 kcal
Fat: 5.5 g
Protein: 23,5 g
Carbohydrates: 120.5 g
sugar: 76 g
fiber: 6,5 g
Sodium: 980 mg
The SMART BREAKFAST
Kcal: 495 kcal
Fat: 3 g
Protein: 43 g
Carbs: 74 g
sugar: 33 g
fiber: 12 g
Sodium: 412 mg
Not taking quality of calories and nutrients into account, the “Healthy breakfast”-example had 20% more calories total, almost double the amount of fat, about half the amount of protein, over double the amount of sugar with only half the amount of fibers and a staggering 980 mg of sodium (vs. 412 mg sodium), in comparison to the “Smart breakfast”-example. To get a perspective of what some of these numbers mean, 76 grams of sugar equals to OVER 6 TABLESPOONS OF SUGAR and 980 mg of sodium is close to 2/3 of the recommended amount not to be exceeded per day (1500 mg)
CONCLUSION:
Eating healthy is about making smart food choices. I'm sure for some readers, this “discovery” is nothing new but you'd be amazed of how many people you'd think would know better (e.g. professors in nutrition), either don't reflect or simply have no clue what they are putting into their bodies or feeding others with.
Knowing what to buy at the grocery store (both literally and metaphorically) is key no matter if your intentions are to loose or maintain weight, avoid sickness and disease and maximize your potential to perform and function in the game of life. I hope this post got your attention to increase awareness to read nutrition labels on foods, if it wasn't a habit already.
Any questions on the topic? Feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment!
/The Diet-guru ;-)
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