Always Read the BACK of the Label

When we hired our health coach, Cari Kamp, her lessons took a little while to sink in.

She told our assisted living caregivers (with my endorsement) that we were going Keto for our meals. Some residents would receive a carnivore meal, and some might receive some extra types of food based on the family’s wishes.

After a few visits where she threw out lots of processed foods, seed oils and sugar, the caregivers and cooks started to understand.

Then I came over to one of my homes a little after lunch and smelled the sweet smell of chocolate chip cookies.

Boy in my youth I loved that smell. My mother made the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in the world!

But that’s definitely not what I wanted to serve my assisted living residents.

I asked the caregivers what’s going on?

“Yes we’re making cookies. But they’re Keto!”

They proudly showed me the package of the dough. Sure enough - it said “Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies” across the front.

The nutrition label on the back told a different story.

Cari the health coach and I explained to them that just because it says Keto (or Keto “Friendly”) on the front of the package, doesn’t mean it is something good to eat.

I asked the Google AI about regulations for food manufacturers labeling something as Keto:

“There are no specific federal regulations governing the use of the term "keto" or "ketogenic" on food labels. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not mandate a specific definition or standard for these terms, according to Registrar Corp and Refinery29. This means that companies can use these labels on their products, but they are essentially self-regulating.” 

With all the interest in the keto diet these days, do you think companies might have an incentive to label their food keto? Even if it’s not?

Looking at the nutrition label on the back (which is regulated) tells a different story.

Those 2 grams of ‘net carbs’ listed on the front are not the whole story.

Net carbs are total carbs minus grams of fiber and grams of sugar alcohol.

The reason for net carbs is that fiber and sugar alcohol are not digestible and won’t raise your glycemic response.

However, does it make sense to eat stuff that is not digestible? A lot of good people I follow are not fans of fiber. Long-term it does more damage to gut health than helps you.

While sugar alcohols seem to be better than sugar, they still give you a crutch for your sweet cravings. Substances like erythritol have been linked to cardiovascular issues.

Sugar alcohols may be a decent intermediate step in helping you kick your sugar cravings. Maybe not great to rely on long term.

For these reasons I am a fan of counting total carbs instead of net carbs.

Another way the food companies deceive is the serving size. Those cookie’s serving size is 1/10 the package or 25g. If you Google the weight of a regular chocolate cookie, it’s 40-60 grams. Larger commercially-sold chocolate chip cookies can weigh around 100 grams. So let’s be conservative and say a regular cookie is twice what they are claiming on the package (50g). That means you can double the carbs on the nutrition label.

In other words, one cookie exceeds what a good Keto diet should have in terms of carbs for a whole day.

It’s tough to get into ketosis with ‘keto friendly’ food. And ketosis is where lots of the magic happens.