The old saying goes, you are what you eat. But do you know what you're eating?
If you pick up a packaged food item at the grocery store, it's bound to have ingredients you can't even pronounce. But there's this thing called life, that makes it hard to eat healthy 24/7. After you read this, you may take a little extra time to think about what you're consuming. Yahoo! Health Contributor David Zinczenko (Eat This, Not That author) with Matt Goulding have some freaky food facts that will really give you something to chew on.
1. Nutritious food costs 10 times more than junk food.
University of Washington researchers calculated the cost discrepancy between healthy food and junk foods and found that 2,000 calories of junk food rings up at a measly $3.52 a day. Yahoo! Health says "Yet for 2,000 calories of nutritious grub, the researchers plunked down $36. To add insult to fiscal injury, out of every dollar you spend on food, only 19 cents goes toward the stuff you eat. The other 81 cents goes toward marketing, manufacturing, and packaging."
2. Fruits and Veggies are losing their nutrients.
The produce we eat today may contain significantly fewer nutrients than what our grandparents ate, according to the USDA. Researchers looked at 43 produce items and discovered drops in protein (6 percent), calcium (16 percent), iron (15 percent), riboflavin (38 percent), and vitamin C (20 percent). Yahoo! Health says "the only way to counter this is to eat more fruits and veggies."
3. Calorie counts on nutrition labels aren't accurate.
What?!? I spend all that time trying to decipher the calorie label and it's not even right? You even use your calculator app on your phone to figure out how many calories are in one serving compared to the entire bag of bar-b-q chips. Yahoo! Health found a Tufts University Researcher study that analyzed 269 food items from 42 national sit-down and fast-food restaurant chains. They found nearly 20% of samples had 100 or more calories than reported by restaurants.
4. Chicken has 266 percent more fat that 40 years ago.
It's what a lot of us eat for dinner. Chicken is quick and easy to make. Yahoo! Health says, "Today's chicken also has 33% less protein according to a study from the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition at London Metropolitan University. The problem is modern farming practices."
5. You're probably eating trans fat without knowing it.
We all remember the kick about not eating trans fats, but food companies have found away around this. "Slack FDA regulations allow food processors to claim zero trans fats even if the food contains 0.49 grams," reports Yahoo! Health.
To recap, eating at home can save you calories. But be sure to read your food labels correctly. And like mom always says, eat your fruits and veggies, just make sure you wash them first.
