| When I first embarked on my choice to lose weight, in concert with that I resolved to maintain an extra careful eye on the nutritional quality of my intake. I was already carefully selecting healthy (raw) produce but I was also consuming what I will loosely term here, unnecessary extra produce (kcal), in one form or another.
Nutrition will always remain outside the remit of this website as no one at this end is competent to moderate on that subject. The NHS message appears to me deliberately simple and clear on that subject. What you do is your business. I clarify this point for a reason.
During a visit to a supermarket chemist for a routine blood test (a healthy one), I was presented with a glossy A5 leaflet produced by a product manufacturer. Those leaflets on the counter, claiming to offer useful advice when they actually did no such thing in that context.
I set about analysing that leaflet. I realised I had over time become more than competent to do so. The leaflet had the title Fat Swaps. My analysis in response to that leaflet now follows and I emphasise, I am focused on the kcal (Calories).
After reaching my target weight I continued to maintain meticulous records of all my intake (everything containing kcal) over an 18 month period (essential for my own research purposes). No exceptions whatsoever. Added to a more sophisticated spreadsheet application I created. With related data, I was able to exploit the power of the spreadsheet to generate a host of statistics routinely and automatically, taking only seconds to update each day.
Suffice to say, my average kcal per 100g of intake over the 18 month period was confirmed at 106 kcal per 100g (excluding added water). Nothing on the fat swaps leaflet (allegedly good or bad), is less than 140 kcal per 100g. The majority far far more.
A quick check confirmed the average for what are largely rich processed foods, will be not less than 250 kcal per 100g. Anyone can make a quick check on that independently by accessing supermarket online data, as I unfortunately had to do.
Where the leaflet seriously failed (deliberately), there is no mention of kcal on the leaflet. No mention of the ‘as part of a balanced diet’ mantra. The NHS does. In short, I regard the leaflet as blatant self-aggrandising marketing waffle which has no place on the counter of what should be an impartial chemist.
In my view, any produce intended for consumption, should include kcal per 100g data as-sold, wherever and however the produce is presented to potential consumers. The message we again take home from this is, as always, check the numbers yourself or avoid the products concerned. Trust no one but yourself, certainly never trust commerce.
This is the kind of reckless subliminal brainwashing that is driving up the rapidly increasing weight of the nation to dangerous record levels; always check the numbers. |
