Nutrition Facts
Fat to Calories Ratio Per Serving Size
Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites
Dietary Fat in the Daily Diet & How Fat Influences the Numbers on our Weight Scales
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Fat is necessary in a healthy diet but too much fat can make us fat. Some fat calories are sneaky, too.
Although a food may contain a reasonable amount of calories, it's important to review the nutrition fact label to reveal hidden fat calories.
Many times, more than 3/4's of the calories of a food may be derived from fat.
Example: A typical homemade BLT contains about 350 calories but about 60% of those calories are derived from fat.
The Salt Factor
It's also loaded with sodium - and with these things in mind, a BLT isn't a very wise diet choice. It doesn't mean that a BLT can't be a part of a healthy diet.
What it does mean is that we must ask ourselves if we truly want all that fat in our bodies - in our arteries.
A solution to those foods that we love to eat, but are not so good for us, is to de-fat them a bit. The BLT can be trimmed in fat by thoroughly draining the bacon and blotting excess grease away with a paper towel. Turkey bacon would also make a healthier BLT.
Going Light by Reducing Fat
Light Mayo or fat free Mayo or salad dressing are another low calorie, low fat items that can healthy-up our BLT.
Our BLT example is a good example of why nutrition labels are so helpful and important to the dieter. While most products at the market contain labels, consumers continue to play a guessing game while dining out. Speaking of which, let's review the nutrition facts for a fast food BLT sandwich.
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It's a bit surprising to see that the grilled BLT contains more cholesterol than the crispy BLT while total lipid fat values are more in the crispy sandwich.
Nutrition & Calorie Comparison: McDonald's Crispy Chicken & Ranch BLT vs Grilled Version
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Vitamins, Minerals, Calories | Units |
CRISPY CHICKEN RANCH BLT 1 item 8.5 oz |
GRILLED CHICKEN RANCH BLT 1 item 8.5 oz |
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| Energy |
kcal
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586
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494
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| Protein |
g
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35.28
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40.41
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| Total lipid (fat) |
g
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22.92
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13.09
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| Ash |
g
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5.30
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5.74
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| Carbohydrate, by difference |
g
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59.83
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53.02
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| Fiber, total dietary |
g
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3.4
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3.4
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| Sugars, total |
g
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13.27
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12.58
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| Minerals | |||
| Calcium, Ca |
mg
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84
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92
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| Iron, Fe |
mg
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3.41
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3.58
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| Sodium, Na |
mg
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1529
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1612
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| Vitamins | |||
| Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid |
mg
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10.3
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11.9
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| Thiamin |
mg
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0.456
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0.453
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| Riboflavin |
mg
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0.396
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0.443
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| Niacin |
mg
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12.610
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14.948
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| Pantothenic acid |
mg
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2.314
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2.103
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| Vitamin A, IU |
IU
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734
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762
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| Lipids | |||
| Fatty acids, total saturated |
g
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4.730
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3.540
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| Fatty acids, total monounsaturated |
g
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9.055
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4.513
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| Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated |
g
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7.754
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4.061
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| Fatty acids, total trans |
g
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0.216
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0.174
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| Cholesterol |
mg
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72
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92
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The Sonic Restaurant BLT Toaster® Sandwich contains 490 calories - 280 of those calories from fat, 31 fat grams, 7 saturated fat grams, 0 Trans fat, 40 mg of cholesterol, 960 mg of sodium, 39 carbohydrate grams, 2 dietary fiber grams, 6 sugar grams, 14 protein grams, 8% Daily Value (DV) Vitamin A, 6% DV Vitamin C, 8% DV calcium, 6% DV iron, and it weighs 141 grams.
Foods With High Fat Content-to-Overall Calorie Ratio
Potted meats, cheese souffle', most cheese, whipping cream, cream, sour cream, butter (100% fat), peanut butter.
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