Dear DOCTOR Owen:

I always read labels closely and count calories accurately, but just cannot lose the last 20 pounds to reach my goal. I eat out at least once a day due to my job. Even then, most menus now have “light” low-calorie choices. Some even list the calories. What else can I do?

Label Mabel

Dear “Mabel”:

You first need to know about the rules and regulations governing labels. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that:

· Nutrition and calorie information be listed on all foods.

· Food labels break down the food being sold into grams of fat, protein, and carbohydrate.

· Percentage of fat by calorie is listed. Each serving amount must contain total calories/
serving and fat calories.

The FDA will penalize a food company that cheats you out of food. A company can oversupply the amount of food by 20%, however, and not be penalized. If the stated amount of food is understated, God help that company. The penalties are severe for cheating consumers out of food. And imagine the lawyers lining up a class action “cheating me out of food” suit! The new media would pick up the cheapskate story and voilá—the company would be out of business in no time.

How many companies do you think the FDA has investigated for giving you too much food? Zero would be too many. You had just as soon add 20% to all the food you eat, if you calculate by labels. An acquaintance with a popular food company told me that they routinely add 3 ounces of food to an item listed as 1.5 ounces. They do this because they fear litigation and bad press. Restaurant customers also receive more food than they expect. Food is cheap, but lawyers and the press are not.

In the Advanced Curricula class at my clinic, patients analyzed a popular fast food restaurant menu that listed food items by calorie and grams. Since we diet and health counselors teach our class participants to analyze food by sight and weight, they are able to estimate calories closely.

All food is composed of carbohydrates at 4 calories/gram, protein at 4 calories/gram, and fat at 9 calories/gram (what I call the 4/4/9 calorie scheme). Foods are divided into general calorie categories: For example, heavy meats such as beef and fried meats have 125 calories/ounce; seafood has 25 calories/ounce.

The classroom analysis revealed that a popular burger contained more than 1200 calories; the company menu, on the other hand, stated that the burger had 550 calories. But by its own listing of grams/burger, and using the 4/4/9 calorie scheme, it was revealed that the number of calories were indeed nearer the 1200 that we had calculated. The discrepancy was more than 100% inaccurate, and the menu itself proved that the number of calories listed were conservative (that’s what I’ll call it) compared to the number of grams listed. Most of the people in the class were shocked to learn that they had already surpassed their basic calorie needs for the day by simply eating breakfast at the fast food joint. With lunch added, they had had more than 3000 calories and they hadn’t even eaten supper yet.

Most of the American public eats like this daily because they severely underestimate food calories. The labels and menus they trust have built-in, government-guaranteed inaccuracies. Government requirements for labeling are now better than previously. However, I doubt that most people really understand calorie labels. Lesson number one is to remember the 4/4/9 method and to use the grams listed on the labels—not the calories stated.

This is why the clinic teaches patients to perform, and to trust, their own calorie calculations. Even as unskilled laypersons, our patients’ calculations were more accurate than the numbers of calories listed by the company.

Let’s face it: Any company in the business of making money would not list its burgers at 1200–1700 calories. All the marketing money in the world could not sell a burger with so many calories!

Look at labels to estimate the amount of fat in a product. The percent fat is closer to the real caloric value. If a product is near 50% fat, you can trust that it is loaded with calories. If a product is heavy and not loaded with water, assume that the weight is from fat. Weigh the product in your hand. Most people can estimate ounces very accurately. Multiply the number of ounces times 100, and you’ll be close. Like heavy meats, most fat items are 125 calories/ounce. But what you need to make an instant decision as to whether to consume a food in front of your face is worth it, not worth it data.

Remember: You have to walk at least a mile to burn off 100 calories. Got it? This is not rocket science. Trust your calories like your own money. The more you take care of it yourself, the better your chance of maintaining success.