Read Any Good Labels lately?

Have you ever read a label on a mayonnaise jar? I mean have you read beyond the front label claiming to be ‘light”, “fat-free’, or ‘real’ mayonnaise? The ingredient list is long and complicated, and full of ingredients most people will not recognize. The labels made me cringe with bad memories of high school chemistry. The fat-free labels are almost humorous. One of the listed ingredients is egg yolks, with an asterisk of course. Refer to the key for the asterisk and a claim is made. It reads something to the effect that the yolks are not a significant source of fat or cholesterol. Hmm? How do they do that? Everyone knows the yolk of an egg is where the fat is found. Interesting find on a fat-free label. True, most of the light and fat-free mayonnaise have fewer calories than regular mayonnaise. Light mayonnaise has about 30 calories per tablespoon and fat-free has about 10 calories per tablespoon. Real mayonnaise has many, many, more calories than that! A tablespoon of good quality vegetable oil has about 120 calories per tablespoon and a cup of real mayonnaise has about 12 – 16 tablespoons of vegetable oil in it. Yikes! Now the decision is yours. Do you want fewer calories and strange ingredients or do you want more calories and a few, real, ingredients? What is real mayonnaise anyway?  (Make Your Own Mayonnaise!) Oil, egg yolks, lemon juice, a bit of salt, and Dijon mustard. That’s it! My choice is to eat it sparingly, and eat real mayonnaise. The next time you are wandering the aisle in your grocery store that shelves salad dressing, check out the labels on mayonnaise. Be as ingredient conscious as you are calorie conscious. Your body will thank you for it in the long run!