27 July 2017 Seattle, Washington
I'm getting a bit of a head start on my blog post for tomorrow, today. Um… I just confused myself.
Now that we've been back in the US and dealing with grocery stores and counting calories and all of this, I wanted to write about how full of shit the US food labeling system is. Seriously. Look, Europe isn't perfect with labels either, but they did pass a regulation a few years ago that made it mandatory to label food (which is kind of crazy if you think about it… this only became mandatory last year!). And the way they do it is really nice. The requirement includes listing out the nutritional information per 100 grams of the food. So it doesn't matter that a typical "serving" is 5 grams (although they can include that as well, but it's optional), they have to list out all the details for 100 grams of whatever it is. So, for example, you're in France, Italy, Scotland, wherever… and you want to get some cereal. And you're interested in whatever is the lowest calorie cereal, so you start picking up boxes and looking at the nutrition information. And it's all listed there for 100 grams of the cereal. So it's the definition of comparing 'apples to apples' because, even though you aren't going to eat (maybe) 100 grams each morning, at least you are able to see that the bran flakes have 349 calories, vs. the 550 in that granola (I'm making these figures up… I really have no idea if there is a cereal that has 550 calories per 100 grams… it's just for illustration purposes). It's really easy to tell which one has fewer calories. And it's like this for basically everything in the store. Theoretically you can compare apples and oranges and make an informed decision. Brilliant!!
Yesterday we went to Trader Joe's (love that place!) and we walked by the bread section… and I muttered to myself (maybe a bit louder than I realized) "never again, store bought bread… never again" and then a little roll type thing caught my eye, so I wandered over to have a look. It was a pretzel roll. I wish I took a picture with a banana for scale because it was probably shorter than most bananas, but slightly fatter. According to the package, it is 4.5 oz. And I turned it over to have a look at the calories: 160. And for a split second, I thought "not too bad" and then I saw "Serving size: 1/2 roll, Servings per package: 2." You've seen this before. How about those little bags of chips that they sell at sandwich shops and in the deli section of the store? Yeah, those all have 2-2.5 servings per bag. Are they fucking kidding? Who in the hell doesn't eat the whole bag? Alright, so there's that… single serving bags masquerading as multiple serving bags, so that the products seem less awful for you. Did you know that the serving size for a pickle is "1/3 of a pickle"? Nope? It's because they are high in sodium. Have you ever met a person who only eats 1/3 of a pickle? Me either. Personally I rarely even eat a bite of a pickle because I don't like then much.
Then there's cereal and a million other things that are measured in fucking "cups". Again, what the ever living fuck, FDA? I get it, "cups" and all the other "household measuring thingies" are common in the US. I get that, but holy shit, you guys, we should all have food scales. It's so much more accurate. (and if things really go south, we can all become drug dealers and won't have to buy a scale). The FDA does require the food manufacturer to put the grams on the package as well, but those are all over the place (for instance, we currently have two hot cereal packages from Bob's Red Mill. The serving size is 1/4 cup on both, but on one that is 46 grams and the other is 30 grams. Not at all useful, Bob's), so it's impossible to compare one product to the next because the servings sizes are all different. Argh. It drives me insane.
I started reading the actual rules yesterday and my head just about exploded. Not only is it complicated, but there are so many exceptions to everything. For example, ingredient/serving size. So they have minimums that have to be counted, but since it's by serving size, TicTacs are SUGAR FREE, according to the rules. You know what's in a tictac? Sugar, that's what. Total and complete bullshit.
Anyway, I found this article that sums up the differences between the US and EU requirements. Apparently the US is suppose to be updating the requirements to deal with this serving size bullshit, but I have no idea if or when that will become a thing. Especially now. Since we have a moron as president.
Alright, I'm off to bed now. Just wanted to get a head start on my post tomorrow, since apparently I have something to rant about.
Today, with feeling
We got up early today to go running before the death ray… you get the idea. I hate running in the sunshine. Or the heat. Today I woke up to glorious clouds and fog! Ahhh… sublime. I also woke up a bit crabby because I had trouble sleeping last night (hips were achy and I couldn't get comfortable and also couldn't remember where I put the ibuprofen.) I had serious doubts about my ability to run today. But the good news is that WE RAN FOUR MILES AGAIN!!! Yeeaaaaahhhhh. Unfortunately I'm still a wee bit crabby, but better than earlier. And the run was good. We are improving all around.
Food and Activity
Breakfast
I changed things up today to save time. Fruit (melon, kiwi, and banana) with yogurt and bran flakes. Oh and coffee with milk. Calories: 419 (fruit is surprisingly caloric).
Lunch
My buns, toasted with chicken tenders and a spicy slaw topping. Calories: 473
Dinner
Trader Joe's Chicken Potstickers with soy, ginger, garlic, spicy pepper dipping sauce, broccoli, and mushrooms. Calories: 471
nack
We met our friends at the local pub, so I had a few pints. Calories: 720 (beer is the devil!!)
otal calories: 2083
Activity
Ran 4 miles! Again. W00t!!