When Labels Lie

    Yes, some of the products you buy will knowingly mislead you through faulty advertising and deceptive labeling. Take Skinny Cow frozen desserts. They're currently defending themselves against a lawsuit filed by Weight Watchers. The suit alleges that the makers of Skinny Cow not only used the trade mark Weight Watchers point system without permission, but that they calculated the point totals incorrectly. Ooops? Not really. Ooops implies that something was done accidentally. I doubt tens-of-thousands of Skinny Cow desserts were produced, packaged & shipped without realizing they were in violation of trademark & other proprietary rights. They were just hoping they wouldn't get caught. Ooops.
    Do you remember late in the 90's when Tasti D-lite exploded on the scene like a supreme pusher-man for dessert junkies? High in satisfaction, low in calories. Guilt free indulgence. Of course it wasn't long before they got busted for falsely advertising their 4oz. servings as having only 40 calories. In reality, a 4oz. serving of Tasti D-lite was over 200 calories! In addition, the portions being dished out at the stores were far bigger than the advertised portions. Add that all up and you've got a major calorie surplus and a company that ultimately lost the right to advertise as "low calorie" in 2005.
    So what's a consumer to do? Well, you need to remain ever vigilant and mildly skeptical(not cynical). The surest way to avoid being duped is to buy foods that don't have labels. You know, whole foods. Now I'm not going to fly off on some sanctimonious rant about "whole foods or no foods at all", but let's assume you're a hybrid consumer of whole and packaged foods, like most people are. Well, you need to find brands that you enjoy and trust. If over a period of time, the whole grain crackers you've been buying continue to meet your flavor standards, and you continue to feel good after eating them, chances are they're a good match for you. It's a simple, common sense standard you can apply to any whole or packaged food.
    The point is that "indulgence" and "guilt free" rarely exist in the same sentence. So if you're going to indulge, do it with your eyes wide open. It's okay if your dessert is high in calories or if it contains butter. Your challenge is to manage how much you consume. So don't hand over your common sense to a manufacturer, however trustworthy or wholesome they may seem, whose first priority is to sell as many units of their product as they possibly can. We've all got an auto-pilot switch in our heads which we periodically(or far too often, as is the case for some) switch on when we just don't want to pay attention to calories, fat, sodium or serving sizes. That's normal, but understand that accountability starts with ourselves, not with a label.  

 -B