It's about time!

I'm really pleased to see this change coming to the Nutrition Label. The reality is that the current labels are deceitful. For example, a 20 oz bottle of soda is 2 servings, but the label only tells you how much is in 1 serving. The majority of people aren't going to drink half the bottle today and half tomorrow. If you buy a 20 oz soda you're most likely going to drink the whole thing in most cases. Therefore, the label should reflect the entire bottle.

Seeing the double up on calories, carbohydrates, fat, cholesterol, and sodium might make people think twice. You may think "this soday is only 160 calories," because you don't think to double that up. But if you see it's actually 320 for a bottle of soda... that's a big number!

Super-Sized Servings? FDA Proposes Major Food-Label Revamp - NBC News

This is probably great for some people but I really do only drink about half a pop per day if its in one of those larger bottles---I like to get the tiny ones though or even half cans even thought they cost more. As far as pints of ice cream totally depends on the brand---ben and jerry's phish food I really will do a 1/2 cup serving but if its the frozen yogurt I'll eat the whole thing because its less filling. At the same time the current labels say how many servings per container so its not too hard to figure out by doubling or quadrupling the calories.

Plus I can safely say I rarely pay attention to calories---last night I got a chicken ranch wrap from McD's because I thought it would be healthier than a big mac and even though the calories were like 580 for the wrap and 550 for the big mac I still felt the wrap was a better option somehow...oh and a strawberry and cream pie since I was so good in not getting a big mac---so another 310 so I ate 890 calories in an attempt to be more diet-savy smart huh? Plus somehow they gave me a 2nd pie which I was going to save but you know well 1200 total just so I wouldn't get a 550 big mac...perhaps I will get the 2 big mac special tonight its only 1100 for $5 right now...

Well, pop and ice cream are just examples they used. There are tons of foods that are small but actually are 2 servings and loaded with calories.

Those little packets of mini muffins that come with 2 muffins? The muffin fits in the palm of your hand, but that packet of 2 is actually 2 servings. Actually, most "prewrapped" pastery fits into this, some of them "half" the item is actually a serving size (who cuts their danish in half? Only people purposefully trying to lose weight.)

A brick of Ramen. (Yuck, no one likes Ramen but it's a staple food for many poor people and college students.) Did you know only half the brick is the serving? I don't know anyone who makes half the brick and saves the rest for later.... (plus the packet of seasoning is not resealable.)

Or how about a can of soup? Maybe you get a can of Lite Progresso soup. Or maybe a can of Healthy Choice chicken with rice. Mmmm. Good healthy option. Uhm, well that can of soup is actually 2 servings. And a can of soup is not that filling, so everyone I know eats a whole can.

They do list the serving size, but the truth is that people don't pay attention. Also there are people who struggle with math. And then the people in denial, of course. There are a lot of reasons why listing the calories for eating an entire package is helpful.

As for the McDonald's thing with the wrap, this is a common deceitful tactic by restaurants. "Healthy" appearing options actually are not. Make sure you're getting the grilled chicken and not the crispy chicken. And sometimes things that seem unhealthy are better. I've seen tons places where getting a burger is the healthier option than getting the salad/ turkey / chicken dish.

Yeah I'll admit I got the crispy chicken---I had just had a salad with sauteed chicken for lunch so I wanted something different---I think next time I'll just get the snack size wrap if I'm getting one. The problem was I was pretty starving because I had a salad for lunch and bowl of carrot soup as a snack instead of my usual junk food---pants are getting tight and I don't want to buy more...I was also trying to eat less sugar but I had never had a strawberry pie before so there's that and I just signed up for this program of healthy snacks to eat instead but my pack hasn't arrived yet. Also it was really cold last night and cold and hungry promote comfort eating so that didn't help. Once I realized what I did I thought I could just cut it in half and save one of the pies for tonight but you know they were just in the fridge so they got eaten.

As far as the serving size yeah I remember this about muffins doubling in size and stuff along with bagels etc so you're just supposed to eat half instead but it seems unlikely. Ramen well I tend to use that as just one element of a more complex soup with say mushrooms and bok choi so for me its actually 1/4 a pack for one serving or even 1/5 if I stretch it. I guess I don't think there is a one size fits all version of this. When I actually tried monitoring calories etc I was using an app on my phone so it just does all the calculations for you...now not everybody has a smart phone so I know that's not fair. I guess for me there is no ideal solution because the whole thing is so hard to regulate anyway. In order to lose weight you have to be hungry which sucks. The only time I really lost weight was during college and grad school where I had no money lots of exercise and little time to learn to cook so basically the food was not great and I was only eating enough not to starve not because it tasted good. Since moving here I learned how to cook pretty darn well which translated into a 15 pound gain at baseline---which was stable for years until the meds added another ten which I would really like to get rid of...sigh....

It's very hard, which is why I've always said the nutrition facts needs to list the calories of the package vs. the serving size. Especially in our country where "more is more" for a lot of people. And, being aware of what you're actually eating helps a lot. It's a shock to most people when they discover small packages of things are not one serving. Soda is an easy example because people can visualize it. So, most people find it shocking to learn that 20 oz of soda is 2-3 servings and not one. Working with dietitians for six years I see people struggling every day, and learning things.

You'd be shocked and laughed to hear what people think about healthy food. I've gotten to the point that any time someone says to me "But I already eat healthy," I just smile an nod. It is hard, and anything that makes it easier for people I am a full supporter.

Some funny things I've heard over the years:
"You should only drink whole milk because they put more sugar into the fat-free kind" (Actually, you're thinking of fat free cookies, not milk....)

"Carrots are full of protein." (Uhm.... what?)

"My new diet doesn't allow me to eat carrots, peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, green beans, califlour, fruit, or any type of lettuce for the first month. And I have to take these vitamins." (Maybe eat those veggies and forget the vitamins?)

"The healthiest type of potatoes is mashed potatoes, they don't have any carbs." (So... you squish the carbs out when you mash them???)

Faerie, I don't think that's funny. I think it's tragic that people are so ignorant about what they put in their bodies.

Me I'm all to aware of it but my husband still over eats so we have such a weird issue in my house where my son weighs as much as I do because he can only eat a little more than I do. I also do dumb things like getting double cut pizza. Because 6 double cut "slices"seem so much more than 3 regular slices. I actually hate that they are putting that on labels everywhere because it makes it so much harder for me and I don't feel my son should be seeing calories that he intakes. I've got to the point that I take everything out of it's packaging or rip the lables off soly for him and myself to avoid it. We're all efficiencies minded. You can have a can of corn or a 13 chips both "bad" for you but one has a lot more. I've actually got getting all the recommended nutrition down to under 300 calls. So as we think about the over eating problem we need to think about the other repercussions this can cause with our children.

Well, childrend should not be made aware of calories at all. If parents are more aware of what they are eating it will help them offer their kids better choices. It's the same idea you shouldn't talk about dieting or being fat in front of your kids very much. Giving kids the ideas that food is bad or wrong isn't healthy for kids. I think it's good you take away the food labels at home, MM. You are the mom and should be making the decisions of what foods come into the house. That's what parents are supposed to do.

One of my educators was raised by a mom with an eatind disorder and became a dietitian to learn to have a better relationship with food herself. She eats really healthy food and thinks fast food etc. is disgusting. This is fine, because otherwise she's an excellent cook and has a good relationship with food. But, her daughter is over obsessed with healthy. And her grandson is probably going to have the eating disorder, because of his mom's chaotic beliefs about food due to being over educated too young about healthy food. He has panic attacks about food being healthy / not healthy. He's only 7 and every couple of weeks his mom has him on some new healthy food kick.

So yeah, it can go bad in both directions.

and RRex, I didn't mean to offend anyone. It's just this is the stuff the media teaches people and this is why you should consult a registered dietitian rather than following blindly after the newest craze when you're trying to get healthy.

Faerie, you didn't offend me. I'm just stunned by people's ignorance. We live in the 21st century, eyeballs-deep in information, and there are people who don't know what a protein is.

Actually, although we are surrounded by information, we are also surrounded by mis-information. Half of the stuff people say to us is what they hear on the evening news or other t.v. programs and the internet. We are bombarded with horrible information 24/7.

We do "food labs" where I work. We have people do things like "pour yourself your usual serving of cereal." Then we have them measure it out in cups. 95% of people pour more than 1 serving, but a majority pour 3-5 servings. When they see what an actual serving looks like, most of them remark "you'd starve to death eating that." We do this with a lot of things like chips, pasta, rice, etc.

We also show people the deception that comes with plate size, putting the same amount of food on 2 plates (one big and one small,) to show them how big plates make you serve yourself more because your mind wants to fill the space visually. And the majority of our patients are "baby boomers" so most of them were trained to clean your plate.

I could benefit from this kind of thing. I fill the bowl several times.

You are not alone. I no longer eat cereal (not because I don't like it but because milk is expensive so I let my kids drink the milk and have the cereal.) But it's true, cereal tastes good but isn't very filling.

I've been doing weight watchers (I'm doing the old program bc those are the books I have and I can't afford all the new ones) Anyway I've lost 11 lbs so far. I don't feel like I'm starving bc I eat a lot of veggies when I'm hungry and those don't have any points. My problem is exercise. I need to get moving.

I've always known that for instance a 20 oz soda is several servings. They only list what one serving is. I thought every one knew that. I couldn't believe it though that now that I'm mindful about it all I was having like 3 servings of cereal. Now that I measure it out one serving is tiny. I quit eating cereal too bc it's just not worth the calories.

Here are some of the things I mean about being deceitful (not all of them are about food.)

23 Outrageous Marketing Lies You See Every Day | Cracked.com