The Choice Is Yours

The choice is between Newman's Own Lighten Up Italian Dressing and Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing. Go for the zesty, right?

"You have to read the label," said Kathy MacNeill, a diabetes educator in Highlands County for 12 years.

Okay. Turn around the bottles. Here's where the real information is. Newman's: 60 calories per 2 tablespoons, 6 grams of fat, 260 mg of sodium. Kraft: 110 calories, 11 grams of fat, 530 mg of sodium.

Whoa! Twice the calories, twice the fat, twice the sodium?

Making the right choices at the supermarket isn't about brands. It's not even about dieting or eating less, says MacNeill, a registered nurse and the associate director of the Diabetes Master Clinician Program for the Heartland Rural Health Network in Avon Park.

It's as simple as choosing one product over another, which may taste just as good, but has fewer calories, less fat, sodium, cholesterol and carbohydrates.

Another example: you're at the movies. Nestle's Buncha Crunch or Reese's Pieces? A 2.2-ounce bag of Nestle's Crunch has 180 calories, 8 grams of fat and 20 sugars. A 1.6-ounce bag of Reese's has 220 calories, 11 grams of fat and 23 sugars.

"Smart weight loss isn't about starving yourself, or eating only grapefruit or tofu, or running everything through a juicer," writes David Zinczenko, author of "Eat This, Not That." His three books point out thousands of choices in restaurants and supermarkets.

Some choices aren't obvious: a beefy Quarter Pounder or a Premium Grilled Chicken Club?

At McDonald's, the Quarter Pounder (without cheese) has 410 calories, 19 grams of fat, and 730 grams of sodium. The club sports 570 calories, 21 grams of fat, and 1,720 grams of sodium.

So the winner is the Quarter Pounder? Yep. Pair it with a side salad and an iced tea for a reasonable meal, Zinczenko's book advises.

Follow The Stars

At Sweetbay Supermarket, manager Donnie Strickland points out the Guiding Star program.

"The more stars, the better it is," he said. Three stars indicate one item has more vitamins, minerals, fiber or whole grains than another, and less fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugars. No stars mean an item doesn't meet the nutritional criteria. Bottled water, dried spice, coffee and tea, baby food and oil aren't rated.

How about pretzels? Compare Honey Wheat Braided Twists with Classic Style Braided Twists, both from Rold Gold. Both have 110 calories and one gram of fat, but eight honey wheat pretzels have only 230 mg of sodium, versus 410 from the classic style.

Baked Lays are even better but, says MacNeill, holding up a bag, her caveat is that eating a lot of the Olestra fat-substitute can send you to the bathroom.

The worst of the chips? Cheetos: 180 calories, 10 grams of fat, 370 mg of sodium.

And here's a name that sounds great: Ruffles Natural Sea Salted Reduced Fat Potato Chips. But the nutrition label proves each serving has 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 160 mg of sodium.

Why Choose?

Choices are for everyone who wants to stay healthy, but they're crucial to dieters, diabetics, people with high blood pressure, immune disorders, bad kidneys...

Diabetics, for instance, should lay off orange juice, MacNeill said.

"Orange juice has fiber, but it's very tough on blood sugar," she said. In fact, the only reason for a diabetic to drink OJ is to raise blood sugar when it's fallen to dangerous levels, she said.

"You're better off eating an orange," she said. Or an apple, which is also high in fiber (4 grams in a medium apple). The highest fiber is in raspberries, blackberries and mangos.

Compare an apple with cherries and grapes, which each have 0.6 grams of carbohydrates and 2.4 calories. An apple has 10.5 grams of carbs and 44 calories, according to weightlossforall.com. That means each medium apple equals 18 cherries, grapes or strawberries. Take your pick.

The worst snack drink, by the way, is AriZona Kiwi Strawberry. A 23.5 ounce can has 353 calories and 82 grams of sugars.

"It claims to be blended juice, but only 5 percent of this can is any sort of real-fruit derivative. The remaining 95 percent is a blend of water and high-fructcose corn syrup," says Zinczenko's book.

Again, brand names don't matter: V8 Fusion Light Peach Mango: 50 calories in 8 ounces, 10 sugars; V8 Splash Peach Mango: 80 calories, 18 sugars.

Snack Choices

You're standing at the vending machine. Your choices are a 2-ounce Snickers or a 1 5/8 ounce bag of peanuts. Seem obvious?

"Actually," MacNeill says, "the peanuts have 260 calories. The Snickers has 280." So, the Snickers tastes better, and there's only 20 more calories? Eat up.

No. Don't stop reading the label yet. The peanuts have 190 grams of sodium; the Snickers only 140. The peanuts have 22 grams of fat; the Snickers only 14.

But here's the rest of the story: the peanuts have 3.5 grams of saturated fat; the Snickers has 5. And here's the clincher, for MacNeill: peanuts have only eight grams of carbs, the Snickers an astonishing 35.

In a 2,000 calorie diet, an average person should take in 250 carbs, according to AboutHealth.com. That means one Snickers equals half of an entire meal.

It's Not What You Think

Nothing wrong with whole grains, right? How about a Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tart?

Read the label: there are five grams of fiber in two pastries, but also 400 calories and 14 grams of fat. Oh, and 28 grams of sugar. That's enough to fill a Snickers bar.

Instead, have one Sun-Maid Raisin English Muffin with Cinnamon. It only has 2 grams of fiber, but 170 calories, 0.5 grams of fat, and 13 grams of sugar.

Speaking of whole grains, what's the difference in white and brown rice? About 30 calories per cup, and two grams of fiber.

Compare Uncle Ben's Fast & Natural Whole Grain Instant Brown Rice with Minute White Rice. Uncle Ben's has 170 calories per cup, and two grams of fiber, Minute Rice has 200 calories and zero fiber.

Again, brand names mean nothing: Rice-A-Roni Whole Grain Chicken & Herb Classico weighs in at 260 calories per cup, 8 grams of fat, and 4 grams of fiber.

Rice-A-Roni chicken flavored white rice has 310 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 2 grams of fiber.

Cook with whole wheat flour? King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour has 3 grams of fiber; Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour has less than 1 gram of fiber.

Don't be fooled by words like wheat. Compare Martin's Potato Rolls with Arnold Select Wheat Hot Dog Rolls: both have 130 calories, but Martin's has 4 grams of fiber; Arnold only 2.

Even More Astonishing

What's the best cereal? Kashi Vive Toasted Graham & Vanilla, with 136 calories, 2 grams of fat, 8 sugars and 9.5 grams of fiber per 44 gram serving.

Compare that with the uber-healthy sounding Kellogg's Smart Start Original Antioxidants: 190 calories, 0.5 grams of fat, 14 sugars and 3 grams of fiber.

Even beer! Yes, Beck's Premier Light has 64 calories in a 12-ounce bottle; Michelob Honey Lager has 178 calories. (Three beers equals one complete meal.) In the same sized bottle. Beck's has 4 carbs; a Mic has 19.2 carbs.

The choice is yours.