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March 18, 2010
Confusing Popcorn Labels
Compared to other foods, microwave popcorn bags have some of the most confusing labels. There is no standard serving size, and there are a variety of bag sizes and weights.
All food labels base the calories, fat, carbohydrate, etc. on what they have called one serving. For a popcorn example, a serving size is three tablespoons or five cups popped, or one-third of the bag. 110 calories is for any of these measures; the whole bag contains 330 calories. The other nutrients on the label, if you wanted to know those numbers, would need to be multiplied by three as well if you eat the whole bag’s contents.
Posted by Lisa at March 18, 2010 8:11 AM
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Comments
Popcorn...sounds yummy! Interesting point about calories and food labels. I find when you listen to hunger and fullness cues, calories don't matter so much. Shifting to internal measures of what and how much to eat is a refreshing change from all the external messages. What do you think?
Posted by: Jennifer Pereira, RD at March 21, 2010 7:45 PM
I agree! I do think food labels are important, especially when making decisions at the grocery store. But once you get the food home and your house is stocked with healthy choices, focusing more on hunger and satiety is key!
Posted by: Lisa at April 2, 2010 3:11 PM