Have you ever wondered how accurate the nutrition labels on food packaging is? There is no question that some are more accurate than others, I want to discuss this in more detail today.

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The FDA allows a significant amount of latitude to food companies with their labeling, to the tune of 20% in either direction. This means there is a lot of scope for a food to be more calorific than you'd hoped for.

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This is going to be more of an issue for pre-made food rather than natural single ingredient foods such as meat, fish, eggs, potatoes, rice for the simple reason we have consumed them in the same form for a very long time. However, processed, manufactured foods have many more variables/additives.

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Not only this, some food will have a limited ACTIVE nutritional profile, especially when discussing protein because of the heat exposure amongst other conditions processed foods are exposed to.

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Does this mean tracking food is a waste of time? No, it doesn't - it just means that:

1) Tracking your nutrition becomes a case of keeping things relative - by using some figures to create a starting point, and then tracking fastidiously from there, you are always aware of where your diet is. This means when you make a change, it is relative to what you were previously consuming. 

2) Sticking to single ingredient foods means you are far less likely to consume food which has an inaccurate calorie reading on the label. 

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Hopefully, this has stimulated some thought on your food choices today! 

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Kris Gethin 

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