Get Rid of Your Love Handles with Math

Not a month goes by that Barnes & Noble doesn’t get a shiny new diet book on its shelves. With everyone from independent documentaries to Dr. Phil telling us how to eat, and the government’s complicated new food pyramid, it’s no wonder many people are lost in a sea of restrictive diets and un-researched rumors.
Luckily there is still one place where you can find completely accurate, totally correct, and easily comparable information.

That’s right, it’s on the box.

If the idea of comparing nutritional facts baffles you, take a look at how one woman does it.

Julie’s standing in the cereal aisle at the store with two kids running around her. One wants Lucky Charms, the other wants Fruit Loops. Her husband tells her to pick up Fiber One, but she likes Special K. What’s a girl to do?

While the kids set down rules for a race to the dairy section and back, Julie grabs two boxes off the shelf and sets them up in her cart with all the facts facing her. Julie’s not a nutritionist, she’s never read any diet books, and she has no idea how antioxidants work. But she’s paid enough attention over the years to tell her what she needs to know:

1) Calories are meant to give us energy. We need them to keep going, but we should only have as many as we are likely to use.

2) Fat on the label becomes fat on the thighs. Still, there’s good fats and bad fats and an otherwise good food shouldn’t be rejected just because it’s a bit fatty.

3) Even Saturated Fat has benefits, but it shouldn’t be in everything you eat.

4) Carbs are like calories: take only what you need.

5) Fiber fills you up. The more you eat the less hungry you’ll be.

6) You’re never going to have too little sugar in your diet.

7) Protein is always a plus.

So she looks at the labels and sees that her husband’s Fiber One has only 60 calories, while her beloved Special K has 110. But Julie’s not easily fooled, and sees that the Fiber One serving size is half that of the Special K, meaning that all the values of Fiber One need to be doubled for her to accurately compare them. Now things become a bit more clear. What used to be very different calorie counts are now equal, and what used to be identical carbs are now 25 to 50 in favor of buying Special K. Of course now that it’s doubled the Fiber One has more fiber and protein that ever, and lately she’s been snacking at work because she’s still hungry after breakfast. Those extra carbs and calories will be worth it if it means no more midday muffins. She puts the Special K back on the shelf.

Now for the kids’ cereal? Maybe next week. That was plenty of math for one day.

Of course, next time Julie is in the cereal aisle there will be one less decision to make, and fewer muffins to buy. The time after that she’ll have chosen something for the kids, and after that made a few smart decisions surrounding boxed Macaroni & Cheese.

And that’s the smart way to do it. It’s okay if you go to the store this week and only make one informed choice, because it’s one more than you had before.

For those of you who can’t stomach the thought of standing in the middle of a grocery aisle staring at tiny print and doing dreaded mental math, there’s a great site I stumbled upon today called acaloriecounter.com. The primary function of this site is to allow you to instantly search and pull up anything from the USDA Food Nutrition Database, and even adjust the serving size to make it easier to compare. Even better is that you’ll find info not available in the store, like nutritional facts for an average apple.

You should also check out the articles on acaloriecounter.com. You’ll find super helpful, easily sortable charts on everything from fast food to candy, without ever getting out of your chair.

Of course, getting out of the chair once in a while might help you lose weight, too.

FCC Disclosure: This blog is produced by JBNI, the producer of over 33+ Curiously Effective Naturaceuticals like “Cirrin” that are Fast Acting and Feature Zero Side Effects.

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/nutrition-articles.php