Tuesday's Treat

One thing I really like to see on a food label is a short list of ingredients.  If you are selling me cheese, why are there three paragraphs of ingredients?  The same goes for chocolate chips or juices or anything that claims, "This is good for you!"  It isn't good if it is full of fake or harmful ingredients (although I don't think chocolate chips claim that). 

I am certainly not an expert on what exactly every single ingredient is, but I know some of the bad ones.  And when the list is short and sweet, like in Triscuits Thin Crisps, I like that a lot!  The ingredients are whole wheat, soybean/palm oil and salt.  I can eat about 15 of them for 130 calories.

In addition to this little cracker I like to add a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss or Light Mozzarella, Sun-dried Tomato and Basil.  One wedge is 35 calories and just enough for my 15 thin crisps.  The ingredient list for these is short as well, and I have yet to discover anything harmful in them.

I am usually VERY cautious about choosing a "lite" or "fat free" version of a food because most of the time that means they have substituted something bad with something worse.  If you compare the labels between a regular potato chip and a "lite" version of the same chip, you will see that fat may go down, but carbohydrates go up, along with sodium content and/or sugar.  I have also found a longer list of unknown ingredients in the lighter or fat free versions.  Sometimes, like with many cheeses, they have simply used skim milk instead of whole milk, but I like to read the labels just in case to see what they did to change the fat or calorie content.

I think in many cases the best choice is to buy the regular item and stick to the serving size.  It may be hard at first to put those 9 potato chips in your lunch bag, but after a few days I think you will find that one serving is sufficient. 

So there is your Tuesday Treat for today.  Enjoy!