It really gets my goat when food labels are difficult to read. Sometimes the print is just too small to read. Occasionally, a funny font is used that makes it hard to read. I've actually put products back on the shelf if I can't read the label as I want to know exactly what I'm buying! As a diabetic, my health really depends on it. I don't want to spend money on a condiment and take out my handy dandy magnifying glass at home only to discover they loaded it up with sugar! I'm also always on the look out for hydrogenated oils, i.e. trans fat, and then also canola oil (which always contains trans fat).
Please remember that trans fat causes diabetes! To learn more, check out my article on what causes diabetes.
Food labels include the "Nutrition Facts" label and the list of ingredients. Even before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was in a habit of reading food labels in the store. However, now I pay much closer attention. I'm trying to eat a low carb high protein diet. Therefore, I always check the number of grams of carbohydrates (available carbs) and protein per serving. I'm also on the look out for products that add unnecessary sugar or sugary syrups - the "bad carbs."
I recently bought a jar of Kettle Foods almond butter. The print was so small I was squinting to try to read it in the store and I had to get the magnifying glass out when I got home. For a company that prides itself on healthy ingredients, you'd think they'd be darn proud of their ingredients and nutritional information, especially on their nut butters, and they'd want to make the print easy to see. This got me thinking about whether or not there were any standards on food labels. I mean what is the use of requiring companies to place a food label on their products if you can't read them?
It turns out that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does offer guidance to companies on food labels. Some of it is mandatory and some of it is just strongly recommended. Here's an exact quote from their website:
"There are no specific size requirements for the nutrition label. However, the "Nutrition Facts" heading must be in a type size larger than all other print size in the nutrition label (21 CFR 101.9(d)(2)2). Minimum type sizes of 6 point and 8 point are required for the other information in the nutrition label (21 CFR 101.9(d)(1)(iii)3), and there are minimum spacing requirements between lines of text (21 CFR 101.9(d)(1)(ii)(C)4)."
They do not require a certain font but they do make strong recommendations and most companies use some form of Helvetica. They do require that it be legible and that's where the rub comes from for me. This is too wishy washy and there a a few companies out there that use really difficult to read fonts, probably due to an over-zealous graphic designer.
There also seems to be exceptions for small packaging. However, I believe even here that companies could improve in this area. For example, if Kettle Foods turned their Nutrition Facts 90 degrees, which is allowed by the FDA, they would have plenty of space to increase the font size.
I think it is important for the FDA hear directly from consumers regarding food labels. The easiest way to do this is to go to their website and email them a comment or call them toll-free. If you want to be really effective, you may want to call them first and follow-up with an email.
By the way, I don't mean to pick on Kettle Foods only. This just happens to be a recent experience but the same thing is true with many other products. I happen to admire Kettle Foods' sustainability practices. Their manufacturing plant in Salem Oregon sports a 600 panel solar rooftop that generates approximately 125,000 Kilowatt Hours of electricity directly from the sun which is pretty darn cool. I also love their tasty chips which are healthier than other chips with no artificial preservatives and natural organic ingredients - but of course almost pure carb so as a diabetic I won't be able to indulge very often.
Please remember that it is possible to reverse diabetes completely if you have all of the right information like you find in this comprehensive diabetes reversal guide.
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I highly recommend you check this out and cure diabetes like I did. Maxine
Not sure if you are able to read this, Maxine. I replied to another post but it has not yet cleared the confirmation.
ReplyDeleteIf you give me an e-mail address I can send you my standard packet of information which I give to everyone who is interested in low-carb, including those with diabetes. It is an amazing stack of info and I am sure you will find it useful.
Dave
Dave, I tried to post your first comment but there was an error message generated. Thank you for contacting me and I do want to get your packet but I have a hard and fast rule never to post my email to the internet. I've gotten spam blasted every time I do. If you have an email you can post, I'll email you back.
ReplyDeleteIf it is chips you need (sometimes, only a crunchy/salty will do), you can try baking them out of almond meal. I haven't tried it myself, but reports are that they taste great, and almost no carbs.
ReplyDeleteYou can also try Carbquick:
http://www26.netrition.com/tova_carbquik_page.html
Amazing. They have found a process to turn ordinary wheat flour into mostly fiber. ~2 net carbs per biscuit. A little pricy, though.
If it were me, I would recommend no more than 30g of carbs per day for a few months; make them come from vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, lettuce, asparagus, tomatoes, etc. By that time, your diabetes should be totally under control, and you can begin ramping back up to ~50g or so per day. I wouldn't go much past 60g, but the good news is that is a huge amount of carbs if you aren't eating starch or sugars.
As for food labels, I have never had a problem with them. I DO think that they should be required to list fructose in grams, and that they should not be able to hide trans fats which are less than .5g per serving. All they do then is cut down on the serving size, but you still eat the normal amount.
Dave
Chips out of almond flour... what an interesting idea. I love salsa and guacamole and would like to find a low carb crunchy other than veggies to go with it. Haven't checked the carbs yet in in jicama... okay, just did, looks promising since so much of the carb is fiber.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what broccoli would do if you sliced the stalks thin and put them into a food dehydrator. Might make for an interesting veggie chip.
ReplyDeleteSome others have suggested Kale leaves dried out in the oven. They are supposed to turn crunchy and delicious, although I have a hard time imagining that they would become strong enough to withstand the dipping process into guacamole.
One thing you will notice is that, once you drop your carbs low enough, you won't feel the need to snack as often. Your body will be able to freely pull from its fat reserves when it needs energy, so your need to continually "top off the tank" will be greatly reduced. When you do, you will want to take in protein, since it not only gets used as is for rebuilding tissues but it also gets turned into glucose for those cells which can't function without it.
Good protein snacks:
Nuts
Jerky
Cheese
Hard-boiled eggs
Cold cuts
Dave
I use guacamole as a meal!! not a snack :-) I may send a note to Kettle Foods (and maybe others) and suggest some of these ideas for "alternative" low-carb chips for diabetics (or anyone wanting to reduce their carb intake). Seems to me it would be quite profitable for them. I do know Trader Joes sells lower carb corn chips but they're not as low as some of the ideas you've suggested.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite nuts are:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.buythecase.net/product/25084/blue_diamond_bold_salt_n_vinegar_almonds/?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=shopping&utm_term=Blue%20Diamond%20Bold%20Salt%20%27n%20Vinegar%20Almonds
Guac is tasty stuff, but not particularly high in protein. You should try to stick to ~10/60/30% carb/fat/protein, although personally for accelerated weight loss I prefer 5/60/35%. Fitday is a big help in figuring it out.
You didn't say you were seeking weight loss, so as long as you keep the carbs low and stay around those percentage ratios you can simply eat as much as you like. Put butter on your steak. It is one of life's most exquisite and sublime pleasures.
Smash pork rinds into crumbs and add parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning, and use it in place of bread crumbs for breading and frying meats including pork chops and fish. You can even find flavored pork rinds like barbeque or salt & vinegar. Use an egg wash and fry in olive oil.
Add coconut milk and oil to your diet. Put the milk in your coffee/tea with some heavy cream and truvia. The MCTs in the coconut oil are burned preferentially for energy, not storage.
I made a low-carb cheesecake which was simply to die for, but the sugar substitute (Swerve) is a bit expensive; about $6 per cake. Ouch.
Dave