A little rant

Yesterday we went to a friend's housewarming party. The event was byo meat and I convinced Kevin to take wings because they are super low-calorie and filling (grilled, not fried!). Also, as a preemptive strike, I cut up veggies to take to distract me from the other goodies that usually make an appearance at potluck events. I even packed a little 100-calorie sweet thing to satisfy me if there were cookies.

But when we got there, there were no snacks anywhere and my veggie tray was annihilated. Then, two hours later someone shows up with the Usual Suspects in snacks. My plate gone and my boredom setting in, I was doomed. I also found myself addicted to the pita chips they had in a bowl next to a bag of tortilla chips.

It seemed like I was making the right choice, right? Baked pita chips instead of tortilla chip, right? WRONG.

Just before leaving the party last night I found the bag of pita chips and took a moment to read the label. One ounce was 130 calories. An ounce of tortilla chips is 140. I know it still seems to be the better choice, but when I looked at the fiber I knew I'd been duped. Tortilla chips have two grams of fiber, compared to the one gram in the pita chips!

I am so angry at the people who tout items like pita chips as the healthy option and charge so much for them! They make their money on people's ignorance. While I didn't buy the pita chips, I did buy into their image. And I should have known better.

I know that a six-inch pita is about 200 calories, while a 6-inch flour tortilla is about 110 calories. I jsut figured the baked vs. fried made the difference. I feel duped and almost angry enough to write a nasty letter.

This illustrates the importance of reading the label.

I first learned this lesson when I was planning Thanksgiving last year. I stared at the Splenda brown sugar and it's exorbitant cost. When I compared it to regular brown sugar and saw little to no difference, I bought the regular for a buck and felt very proud. They can't fool me! Clearly, they can, but it's only because I let my guard down. Anytime I see a law fat option for something I compare the calories to the original version. Fat doesn't make you gain weight - sure, it's not good for you, but it's not the culprit we think it is. You gain weight by consuming more calories than you burn.

Sure, it's easy to instinctively buy the low-fat version of something, but don't do it without comparing to the original You may just be paying extra for extra calories!

While I'm rantinge, I'd like to add a gripe about 100 calorie packs. Sure, they are good for portion control, but they have officially gotten out of hand.

I saw an ad in one of my magazines for 100 calorie cheese blocks. It seems like a great way to give yourself cheese for a snack and watch your portion, right? WRONG! Did you know that the old stand-by of string cheese is only 80 calories??? So, essentially, for those who don't read labels they are buying into the idea of lower calorie cheese portions when they are actually getting more calories!