Always looking to be informative, I was wondering what - in easy to understand words - the labels on food meant. What are the good ones and which are the bad ones? I’ve researched for an hour or two and I’m pleased to provide you with the 2-Sox Food Label De-Coder:
Kcal -Calories. For adult men the guideline is 2550. For chicks it’s 1940. For 4-year-old little Superstars called Sam it’s 1715.
Protein - Is used by the body to repair itself, and help growth. More is good.
Carbohydrates - These are what the body converts into energy. These are also good.
Carbohydrates (of which sugars) - These are the sugars in your food, both those that occur naturally, plus added sugar. Natural sugars are less likely to cause dental problems as they are contained within the structure of the food, but added sugars are not good news.
Fat - We need fat to provide fatty acids that the body uses, but too much fat is not good at all, oh no.
Fat (of which saturates) - This kind of fat can raise cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease. If possible we need to replace these with other fats, or better still reduce the amount of fat completely. Bad.
Fibre - Helps prevent constipation, piles and bowel problems. The more the better!
Sodium - This indicates the salt content of your food. As a rough guide, multiply the sodium figure by 2.5 to find the salt content per 100g (multiply it up though for any amounts of food over 100g!). Adults should limit their salt intake to 6g per day or less. For children it’s different, Sam (4 years old) ought to have no more than 3g. Be careful.
Price - Less is better right? To a certain extent. Dirt cheap price probably equals more bad stuff (fats, salt) and less of the good bits (fibre, protein, good carbs). I may look into this further, to provide facts to (hopefully) back up my sweeping generalisation.
Soooooo. Nine different things to think about when you next go to buy your kippers/jam/crumpets. But I’m ahead of you…..when I last cooked Sam’s favourite chicken curry, I substituted chicken breasts with Quorn Fillets. Sam absolutely loves it, and it’s a guaranteed “scoff” every time. But how do real chicken fillets compare with the Quorn version, in my food numbers game?
Calories (per 100g) - Quorn Fillets 90, Chicken fillets 116. Point to Quorn.
Protein - Quorn 12.6g, Chicken 21.8g. Point to Chicken.
Carbohydrates - Quorn 5.9g, Chicken 0.0g. Point to Quorn.
Carbohydrates of which saturates - Quorn 1.8g, Chicken 0.0g. Point to Chicken.
Fat - Quorn 1.8g, Chicken 3.2g. Point to Quorn.
Fat of which saturates - Quorn 0.5g, Chicken 1.1g. Point to Quorn.
Fibre - Quorn 4.7g, Chicken 0.0g. Point to Quorn.
Sodium - Quorn 0.4g, Chicken 0.1g. Point to Chicken.
Price - Quorn £0.54 per 100g, Chicken £0.68 per 100g. Point to Quorn.
Based on the completely subjective 2-Sox Food Guide, Quorn Fillets are a better bet than real Chicken Fillets.
Quorn 6 Chicken 3.
Go Quorn!
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