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Nutrition Facts - Fat to Calories Ratio Per Serving Size

Dietary Fat in the Daily Diet & How Fat Influences the Numbers on our Weight Scales

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.  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. 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.

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.

McDonalds Premium Crispy Chicken & Ranch BLT SandwichUnits 1 item 8.5 oz
-------
240 grams
Energy
kcal
586
Protein
g
35.28
Total lipid (fat)
g
22.92
Ash
g
5.30
Carbohydrate, by difference
g
59.83
Fiber, total dietary
g
3.4
Sugars, total
g
13.27
Minerals
Calcium, Ca
mg
84
Iron, Fe
mg
3.41
Sodium, Na
mg
1529
Vitamins
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid
mg
10.3
Thiamin
mg
0.456
Riboflavin
mg
0.396
Niacin
mg
12.610
Pantothenic acid
mg
2.314
Vitamin A, IU
IU
734
Lipids
Fatty acids, total saturated
g
4.730
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated
g
9.055
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated
g
7.754
Fatty acids, total trans
g
0.216
Cholesterol
mg
72
McDonalds Premium Grilled Chicken & Ranch BLT Sandwich Units 1 item 8.5 oz
-------
242 grams
Energy
kcal
494
Protein
g
40.41
Total lipid (fat)
g
13.09
Ash
g
5.74
Carbohydrate, by difference
g
53.02
Fiber, total dietary
g
3.4
Sugars, total
g
12.58
Minerals
Calcium, Ca
mg
92
Iron, Fe
mg
3.58
Sodium, Na
mg
1612
Vitamins
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid
mg
11.9
Thiamin
mg
0.453
Riboflavin
mg
0.443
Niacin
mg
14.948
Pantothenic acid
mg
2.103
Vitamin A, IU
IU
762
Lipids
Fatty acids, total saturated
g
3.540
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated
g
4.513
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated
g
4.061
Fatty acids, total trans
g
0.174
Cholesterol
mg
92

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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