Danielle โ the author and owner of this blog โ and I had a bad moment yesterday. The day before, I went to Wagamama, and ordered a bowl of Chicken Itame noodle soup. I like it, as itโs heavy on green veg and has a kick of curry to warm you up. I also ordered a side of Chilli Squid, which I shared.
Later that day,ย in-keeping with the portion control I use on a daily basis, I logged my mealย into MyFitnessPalย (if you donโt have this brilliant app, get it now). Chicken Itame cameย up as 850kcal.
Thinking there had been an input error on MyFitnessPal, I wentย on to the Wagamama site and discovered that indeed, myย meal was 850kcal, and with half a serving of Chilli Squid (half a serving isย 246kcal), Iโd consumed 1,096kcal in one meal. My 1,200kcal dailyย intake? Buggered.
I recalled my woes toย Danielle yesterday, and looking more-than-slightly panicked, she searched for her last Wagamamaย meal from Friday night (Firecracker Chicken). It came in at aย whoppingย 1,108kcal. Luckily, sheย didn’tย order a side.
The irony is that earlier that day, Iโd been waiting outside McDonalds, scrutinising the calorie
content of their meals. Scoffing, sniggering and wearing a smug smile on my face, I felt safe in the knowledge that I would never wolf down 890kcal in one sitting with a Big Tastyยฎ With Bacon, as I was clued up about nutrition. Clearly, as my Wagamama melt-down highlighted, I’m not as smart as I thought.
Food suppliers are one step ahead of all of us. I am well-rehearsed on the โsecretโ behind low-fat
foods (theyโre either not that low-fat, just lower in fat compared to their full-fat counterpart, or theyโre laden with sugar) and no added sugar foods (no added sugar doesn’t mean low in sugar, just read the nutrition information on a packet of Haribo to understand this). But yet we all fall victim to savvy marketing and slick advertising.
The government haveย cottoned on to this, and have released an advert through their Change4Life
campaign about โhidden nastiesโ. You can read more about it here. It aims to educate people on the hidden fats and sugars in popular foods. It talks about 17 cubes of sugar in soft drinks, and a wine-glass full of fat in pizza.
Letโs use the example ofย breakfast cereal. Frostiesยฎ are unhealthy, right? Yet a 30g portion of Honey
Cheeriosยฎ with 125ml semi-skimmed milk is 171kcal but 16.4g sugar: Thatโs aย mere 0.6g less than a bowl of Frostiesยฎ (172kcal, 17g sugar). Honey is theย fourth ingredient on the list (2.8%), sandwiched between sugar and Partiallyย Inverted Brown Sugar Syrup (AKA: More Sugar). Nestleยฎ has also branded the boxย with โWhole Grain Guaranteed!โ and โtasty goodnessโ, and has used colours that we associate with health and freshness (greens, yellows and oranges).
In addition, have you ever eaten just 30g of cereal? Have you weighed 30g of cereal and seen what it looks like in your big oleโ cereal bowl? Like a meal for miniature people. Weโre set up to fail; set up to overeat, over-consume and over-indulge.
So weโre starting aย backlash. Donโt let hidden nasties fool you. Get educated by looking atย nutrition information online before eating out, and donโt be afraid to ask forย nutrition information at the restaurant.
Most of them will happily supply it toย you, as theyโre scared youโre a mystery shopper and will give them a bad reviewย if they donโt adhere to your request. Use apps such as MyFitnessPal on yourย smart phone to get on-the-spot nutrition advice. And be very careful what you
order at Wagamamaโฆ
Written by Lex Rees
Chi-Chi says
a really informative post; though i must it makes that Big Mac a little (just a little, mind) more tempting!as for haribo sweets, i never thought about it like that!www.thatgoodgirlchi.blogspot.com
Elle Linton says
Haha! I know EXACTLY what you mean Chi-Chi! Tehehe!