Turn Your Food Around
This week on low carb and clean I wanted to dive deeper into a comment I made about being LOW FAT brainwashed. In The Food is Food Mentality post last week I mentioned skipping a Snickers bar for a Granola bar because I thought it was better for me. On this journey, there have been several food comparisons that enlightened that I wanted to share with you today
Before I knew what Ketogenic was I used to eat Nature Valley granola bars every day for breakfast. I would be starving within an hour. Eventually, I was eating two of these every day. I thought I was doing good skipping candy from the vending machine, when in fact I was actually eating candy. My mind was blown.
At first sight, it appears the granola bar is healthier, but a deeper dive into the nutrition label proves differently. If we even out the serving size to 1oz. each the granola bar has more calories, twice the sodium, and more carbohydrates. There is a bit less sugar, but all in all, these are both candy bars in my book.
| 1oz of Snickers Bar | 1oz of Nature Valley Granola Bar | |
| Calories | 140 | 160 |
| Fat | 7 | 6 |
| Sodium | 70 | 140 |
| Carbohydrates | 17.5 | 23 |
| Fiber | .5 | 1 |
| Sugar | 15 | 9 |
| Protein | 2 | 2 |
Another breakfast misconception at our house was picking Raisin Bran over Froot Loops. For years, we bought Raisin Bran over the “fun” stuff because we assumed it was better for us. Sure, there is a bit more fiber and protein in Raisin Bran from the few sugar-coated raisins, but overall neither one is a good choice.
| Raisin Bran | Froot Loops | |
| Calories | 190 | 110 |
| Fat | 1 | 1 |
| Sodium | 210 | 150 |
| Carbohydrates | 46 | 25 |
| Fiber | 7 | 3 |
| Sugar | 18 | 10 |
| Protein | 5 | 2 |
Coming up:
Follow along next week for nutrient dense choices that fill you up and fuel you up! We will take a closer look at better breakfast choices than granola bars and cereal like I was before I started this Low Carb Journey.
Resources:
In the meantime, these articles talk about navigating nutrition labels on the Ketogenic diet.
- https://blog.virtahealth.com/low-carb-guide-to-understanding-nutrition-labels/
- https://www.ketodomain.com/nutrition/read-nutrition-label-keto-diet/
Keto Food Pyramid courtesy of Essential Keto
