The dirty little secret behind those “zero calorie” foods

I’ve been writing about misleading food labels for years. Just last week I told you how junk foods like Fruity Pebbles are disguising themselves as health foods by plastering claims like “gluten-free” on their packaging. But there’s another claim some packaged foods are making that’s worse than misleading–it’s downright dangerous.

I’m talking about those “zero calorie” foods that often become a dieter’s best friend.

Well, let me tell you–with “friends” like this, you don’t need enemies!

The fact is, there’s NO SUCH THING as a zero-calorie food. All foods have calories. But thanks to some canyon-sized loopholes in food labeling laws, a manufacturer is allowed to claim that their product has zero calories if it contains less than five calories per serving.

Five calories may not sound like much, but it adds up. And don’t forget that it’s per serving. Distorting serving sizes to suit their own purposes is common practice among food manufacturers.

And, to make matters worse, these kinds of foods have been stripped of any nutritional value they may have once had (which probably wasn’t much to begin with). So you can eat five servings at a time and still not be satisfied. Chances are, you’ll actually be hungrier than before, leading you to eat even more. It’s a vicious cycle that ends in obesity and, eventually, diabetes and other serious diseases.

Don’t waste your time–or your health–on these so-called “foods.”

Remember, you don’t need labels to tell you what’s healthy! The most nutritious and most satisfying foods you can eat don’t even have labels. Stick with those and you’ll be thinner, healthier, and happier (not hungrier!).