Label Reading Advice Needed

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-03-2006
Label Reading Advice Needed
11
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 9:58am
I am a little confused about reading labels.

Here is an example:

Regular Skippy creamy peanut butter: Per 2 T serving - 190 cals, Total Carbs 7g, Fiber 2g, Sugars 3g.

Natural creamy peanut butter: Per 2 T serving - 190 cals, Total Carbs 7g, Fiber 3g, Sugars 1g.

Here are my questions:

What is the formula for 'net effective carbs'? Is it Total Carbs less fiber less sugar??

Is the Skippy really that much worse than the natural peanut butter?

Any clarification here would be appreciated. Thanks!!

Karen

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2003
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 10:47am
It's total carbs-fiber-sugar alchol=net carbs...

Net carbs are the digestible carbs. Fiber isn't digested and sugar alcohols slowly enter the blook stream and do not affect blood sugar (well, it's a minimal effect)

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-12-2003
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 1:29pm
What I look for on peanut butter labels is hydrogenated fats.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-03-2006
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 3:34pm
Does a label (on anything) actually say hydrogenated fat, or transfatty acids, et al.? Aren't the "bad" fats usually disguised as something we may not recognize? Also, specific to my peanut butter question, neither the skippy or natural varieties say hydrogenated or any other kind of fat?
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Avatar for imthebigsister
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 3:53pm
Look for "partially hydrogenated vegetable oils", coconut oil, and palm oil especially. There's a movement afoot to get amount of trans-fatty acids in food; don't know where it stands.

You made me look at the jar of PB in my desk; just a local store brand - it says "fully hydrogenated vegetable oil" and in parentheses right after it "rapeseed, cottonseed, and soybean". Any chemists out there know what that means? My afternoon snack (apple with PB) depends on an answer....

Donna

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2003
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 4:34pm
Hi everyone,

Just got out all my peanut butter jars. The skippy jar definitely says "Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (rapeseed, cottonseed and soybean). Both Smucker's Natural and Trader Joe's brand just says "Dry roasted peanuts, salt".

On page 49 the Doctor says "The drawbacks to commercially processed peanut butter are that bad fats - saturated ones - are sometimes added, and so is sugar. It's best to stick to all-natural peanut butter."

Also, just found on page 32 - "To avoid saturated fts in the diet, a special type of polyunsaturated fat became populat: the trans fats. They are the partially hydrogenated oils found in so many commercial products, including cakes, cookies, and margarines. Unfortunately, they are as dangerous, or more dangerous, than saturated fats. They increase the bad cholesterol levels and are associated with heart attacks and strokes."

Just my two cents.

Cathy

       

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-02-2003
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 4:35pm
Do you have a place to get fresh peanut butter or nut butter? WHole foods, publix, etc. they may have it. It is a little more expensive, but you watch them make it right there. Just a few nuts all crushed and made yummy! I don't know must about the partially hydrogenated oils though... dang... guess I'll add that to my list of research topics!

Ria

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Avatar for imthebigsister
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 4:49pm
I think I'm dumping the PB I have and going to find some fresh. Just did a quick google search on "fully hydrogenated vegetable oil". Didn't like what I read. Sounds like it's worse than "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" as far as sat fat and trans fats are concerned.

Oy! This healthy eating stuff is HARD!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 5:03pm

Coconut oil is actually very healthy and has gotten a bad rap. According to Felicia Drury Klement, author of The Acid Alkaline Balance Diet, adjunct professor at City College in NYC, and an alternative health consultant, "Trans fats, which come about when hydrogenation alters the molecular structure of fatty acid into trans fat configuration, and rancid fats should clearly be avoided. But as far as other fats and oils are concerned, it's not so easy to label them either good or bad. For example, if you take vitamin E supplements when you eat polyunsaturated vegetable oils, they lose most of their toxicity. Another example of a very healthy oil that under certain conditions can become toxic

       ~~Rhonda~~


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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-03-2003
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 7:20pm
Partially hydrogenated means that the fat is suppose to be liquid at room temperature, but by "partially hydrogenating" it makes it solid. I know it is much worse for you when put through this process, thus the reason Dr. A doesn't want his patients having it. I don't know the details of the process, but that's what I know about it. Don't really know if I helped at all, but I thought I would put in my two cents.

Thanks,

Carmen

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 10-21-2003 - 9:34pm
I still eat peanut butter, but a couple of years ago I also started eating SoyNut Butter by a company called I. M. Healthy. It has 1.5 grams of saturated fat, which is supposed to be 30% less than peanut butter, and has no cholesterol. It's still pretty fattening with 170 calories and 12 g total carbs. It also has 2 g dietary fiber, 2 g sugars from honey and Sucanat, and 7 g protein. It tastes a little different, but isn't bad.

       ~~Rhonda~~


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