Major nutrition offenses

So, everyone, I recommend keeping watch on the calories, as always, because there are some major calories out there!

Example:

Authentic Texas Pecan Fudge Cake: sounds healthy, right?  :)  Anyway, nutrition label for 1 slice (which is about 1/6 cake):

460 calories (290 from fat)

That 290 should warn you about a lot of fat, and here it comes:

32 grams fat

Yeah, a lot, but it's not too bad, because

5 grams saturated, 0 grams trans

That 5 is still 25% of your daily saturated fat intake, but all the rest of the fat is still poly and monounsaturated fats.  HOWEVER, the cake still has 49% of your daily fat intake.

0 milligrams cholesterol

That's good, at least.

90 milligrams sodium

That, too.

38 grams carbs

Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUN!

3 grams fiber

uh-oh... this must mean a lot of sugar.

27 grams of sugar

6 grams of protein

It has a decent amount of some good nutrients (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, protein), but this is swamped out by the really bad ones.

Oh, and did I mention?  It has a 12-line ingredients list with HFCS.

Authentic, right?  (Not!)

Keep your eye out for these kinds of things!  Try to make some things at home, such as whipped cream (you can certainly find recipes online, and it will probably have less sugar.  It's easier to make than you think, and so is frosting.) and frosting.  (This was just mentioned, and the store-bought has loads of trans fats, especially Pillsbury.)  Other things: bread (surprisingly easy if you have a bread machine, and still easy if you don't), cake (okay, these are a little hard to make.  If you want, make cupcakes.  My sister makes vegan ones without margarine all the time.), and so on and so forth.

So, time for...

Mystery Food Theatre!

(description: every week, I choose a food, give the nutrition information, and type in a hint about it.  You're supposed to guess what it is by commenting on the post.  To keep other people from accidentally seeing your answer, this week, I'll have everyone type their guesses after shifting each letter one letter forward in the alphabet, where z turns into a.)

Last week, someone (that someone is edejean) got close, but no one guessed right.  The answer:

Peanuts!  (Kroger's, lightly salted)

So, this week, we have something that takes about a day to make.  In 1 tbsp, there are 100 grams fat (45 from fat), 5 grams fat (1 saturated), 180 milligrams sodium, 12 grams carbs, 7 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fiber, and 1 gram of protein.  I've had this myself, and it's spicy.  However, it contains chocolate.  Odd, huh?

So, leave your guess in code, remember.  That's it for now!