The Aerie
I was doing pretty well right up until now. I was trying to keep away from the snacks but after 10 hours at work I was starting to jones for the sugarcarbs. So I bought a bag of "Grandma's Mini Cookie Bites," under the premise that I could eat only a portion of the bag and limit the damage to my system.
Then I made the mistake of reading the nutritional information.
Now, everyone knows about the trick of labelling a snack food with a deceptive little "serving size" label that pretends that the snack isn't as bad as you think. Well, I thought I could trust Grandma, but apparently the boys at Frito-Lay have sent her a note made of glued-on magazine letters that read "rE1aBeL thE 5naCk OR MuFfY gEts iT." Because Grandma's label says "Serving Size - 9 Cookies, Servings Per Container About 4"
Oookay, so everything in the bag is actually four times worse than the label would lead one to believe. I've linked to the label for Grandma's Vanilla cookies above, since the Chocolage & Peanut Butter bites are mysteriously absent from the website. Then I did a little math.
Rather than 36 cookies, my bag contained 32. That's over 10% less than advertised, but in this case that's probably just as well. Still, I wish I could bill my clients for 36 hours when I only worked 32. Based on those numbers, if you are careless and accidentally eat the entire bag in one sitting, you consume...
Calories: 535
Total Fat: 25g
Sat Fat: 5g
Sodium: 500mg
Carbs: 75g
Sugar: 43g
Comparing this to McDonald's (because it's handy) that's about as many calories and fat as a a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, as much salt as an entire salt packet, and as much sugar as a caramel sundae. That's a good portion of a meal at McDonald's (not that I eat there), all in what was supposed to be a tiny little snack...
By the time I was done counting, calculating, and Googling this nutrition info, I wasn't hungry anymore, and it was time to go home.
Probably just as well...