Food - wolf in sheeps clothing??

robbie the roadie

Since shedding a few pounds and generally becoming a bit healthier due to getting back into cycling I have now started to take a bit more of an active interest in those nutritional info numbers on the packaging when getting my lunch or shopping for tea. I generally go for something healthier but am not extremist in this but generally try and be good.

Tonight my girlfriend has said she fancies some soup and bread for tea so I popped to Asda at lunch. I bought a lentil and bacon one and got some bread. I accept that lentil and bacon isn't a particularly healthy soup but is 'chunky' rather than 'creamy'. Whilst examining the label I was mortified, ok surprised, to discover that half of this soup contained 750 calories! Now when coupled with some bread and perhaps a yoghurt I suspect were looking at 1100 ish calories for what on the face of it looks like a healthy tea.

Compare this to say the Tesco ready meal curry we sometimes get which you would think should obviously be very unhealthy. Despite my girlfriends best efforts to show that I had misread the label in the end she had to admit I had got it right. The curry contained 280 ish calories per portion and the salt, fats etc were all quite acceptable to (about the same as this soup). Even combined with a whole naan bread (no rice) and a few samosas we reckon that would come to 800 ish calories.

Although I won't be losing any sleep over this it does make you think and shows it's always good to read the labels!!

PS bought the soup anyway

cee

Is there not something around now/recently that was talking about how the nutritional info on the side of foods was highly inaccurate??

I agree though....some things look like they are gonna be nice and healthy, then when you look at the side, they are full of stealth crap.....

heavymental

I think breakfast cereals are one of the worst things for this. Healthy sounding/marketed things like Fruit and Fibre contain a hell of a lot of salt. I avoid buying bread at all now after realising how much salt a single slice had. I go for rye bread now which is an aquired taste but much better for you.

Stick to homemade soups aswell. Takes no time to prepare and a pan will last a couple of days. Don't even need a recipe. A pint of stock and a load of veg will make a decent enough broth. Get a hand blender and you're away. Essential for winter eating I think.

il_principe

Especially low fat food - which tends to be full of sugar in an effort to regain lost flavour. You'll be far better off just cooking for yourself mate, that way you can control what goes in...

robbie the roadie

jashburnham wrote:

You'll be far better off just cooking for yourself mate, that way you can control what goes in...

Genrally do and very rarely buy something ready made, hence why I was looking at the label of the soup.

spen666

robbie the roadie wrote:

... I was mortified, ok surprised, to discover that half of this soup contained 750 calories! Now when coupled with some bread and perhaps a yoghurt I suspect were looking at 1100 ish calories for what on the face of it looks like a healthy tea. ...:

Sure you've not misread the KJ figure for the calories one?

robbie the roadie

spen666 wrote:

[quote="robbie the roadieSure you've not misread the KJ figure for the calories one?

Yup.

nwallace

My favourite example is Morrissons Low Salt Baked Beans, i woudl hate to see how much salt is in their normal beans but the salt levels is quite a bit higher than normal Heinz Baked Beans.

Sadly it isn't false advertising as it is lower than their normal ones. The other favourite is lowering energy levels and hiking up salt.

popette

I love the title of this thread . I'm surprised about the soup - I sometimes buy fresh soup from Tesco and even if I ate the entire tub it would only be about 350 cals.
As others have said, making your own food is best. I try to make most of ours but having a sneaky takeaway tonight. 8)

AntLockyer

My salad I had for lunch was 515 calories

robbie the roadie

On closer inspection I must now put my tail in between my legs and admit to reading the label wrongly :oops: . It was 750 calories for the whole tub, however this still made it more unhealthy than curry!

georgee

one of those shop bought chunky flapjacks contains the same fat/sugar as two mars bars, always shocked me!

A pint of guinness has the same no/ of calories as a pint of orange juice!

TheGreatGatsby

tip for soup lovers

Waitrose Carrot and coriander - 90cals per half a tub

Covent Garden soup Co Minestrone -108 cals per half caron and it has pasta in it.

Alternatively do what I do and either skip the meal or have an orange!

Gats

robbie the roadie

TheGreatGatsby wrote:

Alternatively do what I do and either skip the meal or have an orange!

Gats

I'm not sure many on here would adsvise skipping meals.

georgee

I think thats along the lines of a supermodel diet,

mianly made up of dust, slimfast, a handfull of diet pills then all brought straight back up with your finger down you throat.

As for me I am debating the worthiness of a bacon sarnie right now...

TheGreatGatsby

have you every tired to make yourself sick after a meal?? Its well dificult...

anyway..

basically you shouldnt worry about the food you put in as long as its generally healthy and your cals in is less than your cals out - providing you are into losing weight for some reason.

I think it sall too easy to get completely bamboozled by nutrition and manufacturers numbers on food.

Thats why I tend to eat 4 pieces of fruit - banana for brekky, kiwi mid morning, apple for lunch and an orange to get home on - and a decent evening meal and fruit salad with nuts and yogurt. Nice whole foods and home cooked no tampering from nasty supermarkets.

Its the way forward.

Gats