Lolly: Understanding the Nutrition Label

There's an old adage that says a picture is worth a thousand words, and I could easily take a thousand words to explain how much this picture irritates me! It recently has been shared and circulated by several of my Facebook friends and it keeps showing up on my reel. I finally decided it's time to clear things ups!

I don't know who did this demonstration or where this picture began its circulation but we need to set some things straight. Later on I also include some important keys in reading the nutrition label as well as which sauce I would pick.

Back to the viral picture, let's start with the obvious...

SUGAR. I know the point here is to show how much sugar is added in "processed" food, they just did a really bad job. To understand why, we need to understand a little bit about the nutrition label.

Total Carbohydrates(CHO) on a label covers ALL carbohydrates--simple, complex, starches, fiber, naturally in the food, or added. It may not always equal the breakdown on a label (total sugars, dietary fiber, added sugars, etc). This is normally due to starches added for thickening or stabilizing, they are carbohydrates but not sugars so they still contribute to calories. The important thing is that CHO are not all the same and can be beneficial.

When it comes to counting or measuring carbs it's good to know 1 CHO serving = 15 grams and those 15 grams broken down into measurements would be 15 grams = 3.58 tsps so that's just a tad over 1 tablespoon.

Let's get back to the picture (I did not focus on the yogurt because the spaghetti sauce proves my point).

FIRST MISTAKE This demonstration was done with table sugar (100% sucrose). Now that we have had a little lesson on Total Carbohydrates, we know that not all carbs on the label are equivalent to table sugar, nor are they all bad. This is a poor representation of how much actual sugar is in the spaghetti sauces.

SECOND MISTAKE If you look at the chart below you will see the content of Total Carbohydrates - 7g, 13g, 13g, and 13g. (I looked up the nutrition labels of each of these bottles to get this information.) If this person was showing how much total CHO was in each jar of sauce then the last 3 glasses would all be the same. Look at the picture...they are not the same.

THIRD MISTAKE If you refer to the chart again and assume that the sugar in the shot glasses was based on added sugars, then let's check. Added sugars section - 0g, 0g, 1g, 4g. Hmmm??? The first two glasses shouldn't have any sugar in them and 1g would be less than 1 tsp, and the 4g would be just over 1 tsp (I know I measured and weighed myself.) Not a match.

So where could these measurements come from? The most logical idea goes back to the nutrition label. A very important part of SERVING SIZE. The examples I pointed out are based on 1 serving which is equal to 1/2 cup for each of these sauces. Each jar contains 5 servings. Let's do the math:

Rao Spaghetti Sauce: (7g x 5 servings) 35g of Total Carbs; 0g Added Sugar... I think I can stop there. You can see for yourself that things aren't matching up. 35g would be about 2.5 tablespoons which clearly is not the measurement in the first glass OR it should be ZERO sugar (added sugars) and it clearly isn't empty.

This picture is FALSE.

Now that we've cleared that up and I've gotten that off my chest, let me clarify. I do not think added sugars are good for us. Actually the opposite and I would recommend trying to keep that portion of our diet low (under 50g) and to look for how much is in your food. More importantly, carbs are not the enemy and are pretty essential to our survival when you eat a mix of carbohydrates. Yet MOST IMPORTANT, there is a lot more to a nutrition label that needs to be considered when looking at your food. Don't just look at carbohydrates but read it all.

1. Look at the ingredients. It doesn't matter if it's more than five ingredients but the order does make a difference. It gives an idea of how much of that ingredient is in the product. If tomatoe is the first ingredient it is the main ingredient. The ingredients are listed in descending order of their quantity in the product.

2. Look at all the macronutrients (CHO, FAT, PRO). They are all important.

3. Vitamins and minerals can be a game changer for some foods, good and bad. Sodium is in everything! We know it's not good for us in excess. Potassium is on every nutrition label because we don't eat enough of it daily. Potassium does the opposite of sodium and prevents some of the side effects of excess sodium. The key, we may need little of these nutrients but they can be important. Go read about Pellegra or Vit A deficiencies in underdeveloped countries.

Back to the chart:

"Rao" offers low carbs and no added sugar but it also has low fiber and low calcium. It has a good amount of potassium and low sodium. The breaker, it has very high fat. If I had two servings (only 1 cup) of just sauce it would be 16g of fat!

The other three are very similar, except the "Ragu Simply" version has no added sugar but still 3 g of fiber, high potassium, and low fat. With only 13g, it's still a low-carb serving. However, the sodium is very high.

Which would I pick???

The challenge of high fat and high sodium is a tough decision. It would also depend on my goals, but for an overall lifestyle change fat has calories which means it can create weight that has to be worked off. Sodium can be managed through intake and doesn't have calories. If it tasted good (that's important too), then I would pick the "Ragu Simply".

In the end, we can't believe everything we see anymore. And though the picture was trying to bring awareness (trying to give some benefit-of-the-doubt), it also presented incorrect information along with creating unnecessary guilt. Not all of us are great cooks. Sometimes we need a fast meal. Food deserts are real where fresh veggies are hard to come by with jarred/canned food is the only option. Also, almost 90% of the population in America doesn't consume enough fruits and veggies daily. This is a great way to get some veggies in the diet and for many the only vegetable they get. It's all about perspective.

I have included pictures of all the sauces' nutritional labels that were used in the circulating fear-mongering picture to read for yourself.

Rao's Homemade Sauce