Nutrition 101: Read the Label!

Well the end of December I decided to get serious about losing weight. I have lost 20 lbs so far! Yippee!! In doing this I have begun tracking what I eat. At first I was tracking calories, carbs, fat, protein and fiber. I have recently added calcium. I soon discovered that I was consistently low on both fiber and protein (and now calcium). So I went in search of foods high in both of these. I switched to a cereal that, according to the front of the box, was high in both. This brings us to the above title. Here it is two months later and I am craving a bowl of raisin bran. So I (finally) compare the labels. The difference shocked me.

Raisin Bran

High Fiber High Protein

The biggest shock being that most of the differences were in favor of the raisin bran! The only favorable thing towards the high fiber high protein cereal is that it was higher in protein - by one gram! The raisin bran was lower in calories and fat (quite a bit lower in fat 1g compared to 5g!); higher in fiber by nearly double. I can't believe I waited this long to compare the two! Lesson learned - don't take a brand or box cover at face value - always read the label.