3 Dieting Scams to Watch Out For!
Posted on 04. Apr, 2009 by admin in Diet Scams
Monique Abrams asked:
Ever find yourself eating the foods you are told to eat but continue to gain weight? There is a reason for this and it’s very sad to believe. Here’s the truth: many of the foods we are told to eat are really not that great for you. Let me explain.
When you go to the grocery store, do you see several edible products that advertise 50% fat free, 20% fewer calories, no calorie food, etc? These little advertisements, more often than not, are NOT telling you the whole truth!
The FDA allows certain laws to pass that allow merchants the rights to bend the truth. Can you believe that? Maybe, you don’t believe me, but let us give this a little thought. So, the FDA allows merchants a little leeway to advertise products with the intentions of telling us we will lose weight or lose fat when we consume their goods, so we buy their product (and they know we will because who doesn’t want to look good), they can jack up the prices, and we will pay more taxes and that money goes to whom? Here’s another point of view: The weight loss and fat loss phase comes rushing through the market and all those junk food companies have no healthy food to sell! What will happen to the market when they all go out of business?
Don’t be a victim of this!
The person who is in real danger is you!
Here are 3 lies that DO NOT lead to weight loss or fat loss but could actually lead to weight gain:
#1 They Say “Now With 50% Less Fat”…..
This one’s another way to manipulate the “fat free” rules.
It began in the 1970’s, when there was tons of fattening graham crackers, cookies, etc. The low fat craze began, and companies were worried about losing money.
So let’s say a graham cracker had a total weight of 100 grams, and 50 of them were from fat. 50% worth of fat doesn’t sound good to a diet conscious customer, so here’s what companies did (and still do)…
They would literally ADD 200 more grams of sugar to the product.
So now it had 200 grams of total weight, and 50 were from fat.
This way, they could claim “Now With 50% Less Fat!”
It’s disgusting, really.
#2 They Say It’s FAT FREE, but it’s Not The Whole Truth!
A lot of products claim to be 99% (or any %) fat free… when in actuality, they’re not at ALL.
If you ever look at a nutritional label for one of these products, you might see that there’s a certain amount of calories… and that a huge number of them are from FAT.
So How Do They Get Away With It?
According to the FDA, a company can claim to be X% fat free based off the VOLUME of a food. So, if there’s 75 grams worth of fat… but the total package is 2500 grams of WEIGHT… they’re allowed to say its 97% fat free, even when it’s NOT!
Let’s say a company has a popular cookie that sells well. Problem is, it’s full of fat. As you know, people to love to buy their “low fat” products… and companies want more cash. So, what they do is simply ADD water to their recipe, pump up the total weight, and claim that it’s “x% fat free”. So let’s say a recipe calls for 2 cups of oil. The company will simply add another 2 cups of water to the mix, and presto - they can advertise that it has half the fat!
You’re literally eating the same exact amount of fat as the full-fat products. Just on a product with a prettier label.
Among others, this technique is used to sell 2% milk as 98% fat free.
Crazy, isn’t it? Remember… that’s just number ONE!
Okay… now we’re on to #3, the one that shocked me the most…
#3 Anything Can Be Calorie FREE
Any time there’s a serving size that has 5 or less calories, the FDA allows a company to say that its “fat free”.
The imitation butter… the diet soda… sugar free candies… sugar free gum… none if it is 0 calorie.
At all.
To be fair, the diet soda and sugar free gum are still pretty low calorie… but other things, like the imitation butter, are FULL of pure fat and calories.
(And FYI… the same rule applies to “sugar free”. Anything can be called ’sugar free’ as long as the serving size is less than .5 grams of sugar per serving.)
The biggest secret to weight loss and fat loss is to become educated about diet food and working out.
Stop wasting money on products that aren’t intended to make you healthier!