Southwest Florida's Health and Wellness Magazine Health and Wellness Articles
By Sharon Chatham Sullivan, Clinic director, New Beginnings hCG Clinics Fort Myers and Bonita Springs –
It’s a Dangerous World for those who want to be healthy and keep their weight under control. Carbs are bad, fats are bad, fast food is really bad, high fructose corn syrup is bad. What is left…Tofu? Lettuce? Do we have TMI…that stands for Too Much Information? More likely we have TMMI… Too Much MisInformation. That would be the labels on food, at least for now. The Food and Drug Administration has been under pressure for years to force food makers to include more realistic serving-size information on their labels. The agency regulates the serving sizes that can be listed on packages by providing food makers with a guideline that a serving should be the amount of specific food that a person would “customarily consume” in a single sitting. These reference amounts are really quite small because they’re based on eating behavior studies that were made in the 1970’s, when Americans ate less food and portions had not been supersized.
Now, in an effort to highlight the problems with some labels, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, has singled out what it says are some of the worst offenders.
Beware of Zero Calorie, Zero Fat Labels
There are a number of foods I could use as an illustration from their research, but I want to give you two that people who are dieting are frequently misinformed about. One item in particular, PAM, boasts zero calories and zero fat on the label of its original canola cooking spray. But that information refers to a spray lasting just a quarter of a second. It is very difficult to spray for that short of a time and there is not enough oil to release foods during cooking. 6 seconds, a more typical use, is actually 50 calories with 6 grams of fat.
Coffee creamers are another overlooked source of fat and calories. These are highly processed and I feel are best avoided. Coffee-mate, a popular flavoring, lists nutritional information based on a single teaspoon, even though many people are likely to dump far more than that into their morning coffee. A look at the label of Fat Free Original Coffee-mate lists 10 calories and zero fat, when a two-tablespoon serving (a more likely serving size) would add 60 calories and 1.6 grams of saturated fat. That’s almost identical to two tablespoons of ordinary half and half: about 40 calories and two grams of saturated fat.
New Beginnings Education and
Weight Loss Program
New Beginnings discusses these issues with people while they are reducing their weight to a healthy level. The protocol we use, the New Beginnings hCG protocol, is based on the weight loss program researched many years ago by Dr. Simeon. People on this diet eat simple, plain food. During the initial phase, we recommend 500-600 calories per day. hCG in low doses accelerates the use of stored fat for energy so hunger does not develop.
We do not recommend any prepared or packaged foods and we alert people to the outrageous dangers lurking in the Industrial Restaurant business as well as the aisles of the local grocer. The calorie content of meals served in chain restaurants can be mind-blowing at times. There seems to be a contest to see who can add the most calories, fat and sodium. If you’d like a list of some of New Beginnings Hall of Shame for restaurant items, please email me at novacoachsharon@yahoo.com and put “Hall of Shame” in the subject line.
Helping You Get Your Weight In Line
If you want to get your weight in line, give New Beginnings a call. We have offices in Fort Myers (239-288-6581) or Bonita Springs (239-676-5374). See our ad in this publication.
