My wife is a dietitian and a very good, healthy cook. Today she was cooking some Brussels sprouts (which I, evidently incorrectly, have been calling "brussel sprouts") and it brought up a great lesson in how hard it is to try to eat healthily in America. Rather, I just finished 26th grade and my wife went to school for this and has literally done this for a living for nearly a decade, and yet we can't figure out what we're eating.
We have a 1-pound bag of Brussels sprouts:
According to the label, the serving size is 4 sprouts, or 84g, which contains 40 calories. There are 5 servings per container, which should be 20 sprouts in the bag for a total of 200 calories.
The label (photo) is identical to the official USDA label (image above).
My wife counted how many sprouts came in the bag, and we have 40, not the 20 the label says we should have (4 sprouts per serving x 5 servings). Which, on the one hand, is great, because, hey, who doesn't want free Brussels sprouts?
So does our bag just have really small sprouts? Or do we have a 400-calorie bag of Brussels sprouts?
This looks like <4 servings, probably closer to 3 with the (inedible) stems cut off
So how do we figure out the nutrition content? Do we have 10 servings of Brussels sprouts and there are 400 calories? Or, do use our measuring cup and we have 160 calories?
My point here isn't that I want bigger sprouts, or "hey look the Brussels sprouts people don't know how to do math!" But again, I just finished 26th grade and my wife went to school for this and has literally done this for a living for nearly a decade, and yet we can't figure out what we're eating.
We have a 1-pound bag of Brussels sprouts:
 |
| 1 pound bag = 454 grams |
The label (photo) is identical to the official USDA label (image above).
My wife counted how many sprouts came in the bag, and we have 40, not the 20 the label says we should have (4 sprouts per serving x 5 servings). Which, on the one hand, is great, because, hey, who doesn't want free Brussels sprouts?
So does our bag just have really small sprouts? Or do we have a 400-calorie bag of Brussels sprouts?
 |
| 4 of our sprouts in a 1-cup measuring cup |
 |
| 10 of our sprouts in a 1-cup measuring cup |
So how do we figure out the nutrition content? Do we have 10 servings of Brussels sprouts and there are 400 calories? Or, do use our measuring cup and we have 160 calories?
My point here isn't that I want bigger sprouts, or "hey look the Brussels sprouts people don't know how to do math!" But again, I just finished 26th grade and my wife went to school for this and has literally done this for a living for nearly a decade, and yet we can't figure out what we're eating.
The NHS says a serving of sprouts is 8 and not 4, but I suspect they think a sprout weighs 12g not 24g. Doesn't the maths all work if the label says "serving size 8 brussel sprouts (84g)"?
ReplyDeletePersonally that's 8 too many for me.
See http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/5aday/documents/downloads/5aday_portion_guide.pdf
Comment from Todd Raine:
ReplyDeleteThe ether ate my first reply -
5 servings of 84 g is 420g. Allowing for the inedible chaff that comes out pretty close to the 454g bag you have. So, you must have smaller than USDA standard sprouts, but does size REALLY matter that much to you???
The sprouts-in-a-cup pic highlights why its so important to cook (and bake) by weight (sorry mass, we are using grams after all) not volume.
So what have we learned?
1. Seth has trouble with math.
2. Seth eats Brussels Sprouts - but we all knew he was weird.
3. USDA standard Brussels Sprouts are ENORMOUS.
My wife cooks very delicious Brussels sprouts, so good my 2-year old daughter loves em
DeleteWhen people are on calorie restricted diets, every ounce counts!
Deleteand you are not going to tell us how she prepares them? I have a five-year-old waiting in the wings for these amazing brussels sprouts.
ReplyDeletejust seasoned & roasted (salt & pepper). sometimes they go in a roasting pan under a chicken (with potatoes, onion, and carrots).
ReplyDeleteher main take: my parents grew up hating Brussels sprouts, probably because they were unseasoned & steamed. but we would never have unseasoned steamed chicken...
I made them under chicken carrot n onion OMG good
ReplyDeleteI personally use to hate them as a kid but now I love the and eat them at least one sometimes twice a week. I can and usually eat around 5 or six per serving depending on there size. But to me they are Oh sooooo delicious! 😋
ReplyDelete