Have you ever heard someone justify eating certain candy by saying it's low fat...and the candy in question is 100% sugar?
Asked by
Val123 (
12734
)
April 16th, 2010
Like, licorice stix or caramel, etc. I don’t get the reasoning at all. There are as many calories in a tablespoon of sugar as there are in a tablespoon of fat. Both pack on the pounds equally.
And before you do the Fluther specialty of jumping to all kinds of assumptions about why a person would feel they need to justify why they’re eating something, let me forestall that now. I would never, ever, ever presume to question something that someone is eating, ever. It is flat none of my business and I really don’t care. However, it’s been my experience that people who are excessively heavy tend to do it all by themselves. Like, if they have a whole bag of candy and they offer you a piece (which I almost always accept because I like candy too!) they’ll say, “I like this because it’s low fat.” I don’t understand the justification….
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10 Answers
Rationalizations are fat and calorie free. It’s the food that has the calories. Look at the label.
Absolutely. When I saw some commercial about certain ‘less-sugar’ candies.
@worriedguy Well..no calories would be good…if you can live on water and lettuce.
@Doctor_D Exactly! The same thing with when commercials advertise their candy to be “low fat,” when it’s 100% sugar.
You have a problem with that? Yay – Twizzlers!
pixi stix! (sp?) and I always get a kick out of it because it’s always adults. :D
just so you know, some people do the same thing with diet food. they see low fat/low cal and proceed to eat x3-x4 the amount of the regular food then wonder why their diet isn’t working.
A lot of it is probably that people don’t like being “told” what to eat, so they look for exceptions that fit the core rule, even when it contradicts their actual goals.
They just don’t understand nutrition.now give me your chocolate and I will dispose of it properly ;)
I don’t think it is fair to say sugar and fat equally pack on the pounds. They may not understand nutrition, but neither do you.
Your body stores fat and breaks it down slowly whereas it breaks down sugars quickly. That’s why distance runners “carbo-load” before a race or eat energy bars mid race. Your body can tear through the sugars and carbs quickly to use the energy stored in them now rather than later whereas fat is more of a long-term energy storage mechanism. If you eat a pile of lard in the middle of a race, you’ll probably end up crawling behind a bush and taking a nap.
I love that the Swedish Fish packaging says “Fat Free”. It makes me feel better inside. lol
Sure, and I wondered why they thought it interested me.
@lilikoi I may not be a nutrition expert, but I stay away from stuff that has empty, fattening calories. That just takes common sense.
@thriftymaid That’s a good point too! Yeah….why do I care what kind of stuff is in their junk food? If I eat a thing of pudding I don’t make a point of saying, “I only eat these once in a great while!” Why would I even consider announcing that?
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