You Can't Trust Nutrition Labels!

Are you in panic from the title of this post? Are you nervously questioning every packaged food in your house?

Don't panic! I'm going to explain why you can't trust nutrition labels and why it's not that vital!

I was intrigued by this matter when Lauren First (@_fitness_1st_) opened my eyes to the real nutrition facts of a snack that I had been downing like nothing! The snack was New Pop popcorn - I even raved about it on my blog here: Product Review: New Pop Skinless Popcorn.

From @_fitness_1st_ instagram
Don't get me wrong, the popcorn is still delicious and addictive in my opinion, however, the nutrition facts were way off, and as a result, I feel a little less respect and trust in the company.

Apart from labels that are completely incorrect, a label with 20% error is still considered compliant by the FDA standards.
"the label is considered to be out of compliance if the nutrient content of a composite of the product is greater than 20% above the value declared on the label. For example, if a laboratory analysis found 8 g of total fat/serving in a product that stated that it contained 6 g of total fat/serving, the ratio between the laboratory value and the label value would be (8 / 6) x 100 = 133%, and the product label would be considered to be out of compliance.
Reasonable excesses of class I and II nutrients above labeled amounts and reasonable deficiencies of the Third Group nutrients are usually considered acceptable by the agency within good manufacturing practices."
-excerpt from FDA.gov

So, you really cannot put your trust fully in nutrition labels, and that's only reasonable as it would be impossible to be 100% accurate for each batch of a product, not to mention products that are out of compliance!

However, I ate bags upon bags of New Pop - you know what happened to me? Nothing. I maintained my weight, energy, and state of health, all while unknowingly eating these extra calories and carbohydrates from the New Pop. Listen to your body, don't fret over nutrition labels. Some may be higher than stated, some may be lower. Consider too, whole foods. Perhaps one apple is sweeter than another. Could it have more sugar?

My main point of this post is not to scare you, rather to show you that hitting your macros or calorie target, etc. is not essential and really not that serious. Enjoy your food. Enjoy your life. If you like, enjoy some new pop!

What are your thoughts on this? Let me know!

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 26, 2018 at 8:21 AM

    Love this post! I get too addicted to the number aspect of macros and calories. It helps to remember that numbers aren’t everything!

    ReplyDelete

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