Family Fitness Thursdays 6/5/2008

We were having the most fascinating conversation around the lunch table today.

We were eating some yummy romaine lettuce, with grated carrot, some green onions, a few thinly sliced basil leaves, a handful of a few other fresh herbs (like parsley, chives, rosemary leaves, and nasturtium flowers), and some grilled chicken breasts. While we were eating, we of course had a few bottles of salad dressing on the table (it would be easier if everyone liked the same thing...but alas...).

I've always been a label reader when it comes to foods, and today the label on a bottle of Caesar dressing (which I bought by accident...meaning to grab something in a bottle that looks nearly identical by the same company while rushing through my shopping last week) caught my eye, and I said out loud, "WHAT? 700 mg of SODIUM and 5 mg of cholesterol?!?"

This resulted in a discussion around the lunch table about sodium, good fats, bad fats, avoiding trans fats, and reading labels.

Now, everyone was reading their salad dressing labels, and seeing who had the best sodium per serving, followed by whose dressing was the best as far as sugars, calories, fats, trans fats (what a shocker--the Caesar was the only one with trans fats too...no more of that for me!), and so on.

That caused my son to notice what a serving actually is versus what we were all pouring on our salad. I think that is the biggest weight-related issue Americans have ("what is a portion, really?"). Hint: a portion isn't whatever fills your plate. A portion isn't as much dressing it takes to thoroughly coat your salad either. As I found myself explaining to the kids (and to myself on more than one occasion), a portion is not what you eat in one sitting, but rather a specific measurement that you should be eating.

That brought up the question, Who puts only 2 TBS of dressing on their salad? Do people actually measure?

Hmmmm. Maybe I should. I wonder how much sodium and cholesterol I did actually ingest today while eating my "healthy" salad?

Stumble It!