Label Comparison

Is it just me or do you find yourself misled by the labels put on 'processed' food.

Let's take for instance the Kashi Go Lean cereal vs the Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal. When I have seen these two cereals in the store I have seen that they both have a lot of fiber (9 & 10 grams) and a lot of protein (12 grams). Plus they say GO LEAN on them and Kashi seems to be a name I could trust. They each have the words naturally sweetened on the label and the clusters has a picture of the cereal with blueberries on it. So if I went out to buy cereal I think I would pick up the Crunch just because it was more appealing with the pretty picture of the blueberries. Oh but did I mention that there are no blueberries in them but that you could have the blueberries in them if you wanted. Why do I feel a little bit decieved?

So at first glance I figured these would have about the same amount of calories. I mean they both say Lean on them and they both say 'stay fuller longer' so really except that one is a crunch and one is not I figured they would be pretty equal in calories.

Upon further inspection I noticed that in fact there was a large difference in the calorie count. The Kashi Go Lean Crunch has 240 calories in the cup that is 2.3oz (65 grams) and the Kashi Go Lean has 130 calories while in the same size of cup there is 1.6oz (45 grams) of cereal weight in the cup. I dumped each of these single serving cups into one of my regular bowls to get a visual of the quantity and it sure looks like they have the same amount in each cup.

Looks like it is a pretty healthy serving of cereal.

Is it really just me or do you also think this is a little bit decieving?

That is just one more reason we need to watch the labels of anything we are eating because what the company wants us to believe and what is the truth about a product may be very different.

I could be eating Kashi Go Lean Crunch, thinking I am eating something healthy for me but really I could be eating the same size container of Frosted Flakes with less calories than the Kashi Go Lean Crunch. Ok so the quality of ingredients is different but calorie for calorie I would stick with the Kashi Go Lean IF I was going to be eating cereal.

Be sure to check the labels for the calorie count to make sure you have not been misled by the pretty pictures and fiber and protein count.

Helen's Health Tip: Read the labels and be sure you are eating what you are being led to believe you are eating. Watch the calorie count and other misleading information.

To nourishing yourself,

Helen