It makes me angry when I unknowingly consume a ridiculously unhealthy food. Rage might be an inappropriate response. But I take it out on myself -- not a food manufacturer, restaurant manager or clerk at a grocery story -- so I assume it's OK.
This doesn't happen often. I'm usually hyper aware. I've learned to doubt menus and packaged foods, and to basically assume that most of what's available to me outside of my home has its flaws.
The latest culprit: fat-free salad dressing. I like to pack my own lunch. If I pack a salad, I bring my own dressing. Lately, I've been grabbing lunch from a salad bar at a grocery store. I probably surveyed the dressing options years ago. I know which are lower in fat and calories.
I've been alternating between two -- fat-free raspberry vinaigrette and reduced-fat ranch. The vinaigrette has 80 calories. While eating my lunch a few days ago, I happened to glance at the rest of the nutrition label.
There's 16 grams of sugar, 21 carbohydrates and 19 percent of my daily sodium intake in just a couple of tablespoons. It didn't even taste salty. I wondered where such nutrients came from in something that looked so unsubstantial.
Chances are, if a product does not include fat, it includes other elements that might be equally unhealthy. In this case, the problem was excessive sodium, sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.
I don't know why I didn't notice it before, but I probably just overlooked the rest of the label while rushing to get lunch on my break. It's good for me to have revelations like this because it reminds me to always be aware of what I put into my body and to not assume something is good for me just because it's "fat-free."
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