the evils of food labels

so today . . . i went to costco. this wasn't a fun trip--we needed food! i've never gone on a thursday before, but after today, i think thursday will be my new "going to costco" day. there were very few people there--i didn't even have to wait in a line to check out!

anyway, i had picked up bananas, tillamook cheese (because, why eat any other kind!) broccoli, and salad mix and was headed for the refrigerated foods. i usually don't eat the samples that are out, but today they were giving away tidbits of scrambled eggs. i LOVE scrambled eggs, but i just got the results back from my most recent cholesterol test . . . and then i noticed that these were not your average scrambled eggs. these were 95% egg whites (i'm not really sure what the other 5% was) but they looked and tasted like real, whole eggs. so, with my cholesterol numbers in mind, i found the product and put it in my cart. feeling pretty pleased with myself for my healthy choice, i went around the corner to the cheese. i added a big bag of tillamook shredded cheddar cheese (because we already know how i feel about tillamook cheese) and also a big block of processed swiss american cheese (which i'm sure is mostly plastic, but i like it!)

as i continued down the aisle, i was suddenly struck by what i had just done. so i stopped, and looked at the bag of tillamook shredded cheese--it had 25 mg of cholesterol per serving. then i looked at the other tillamook cheese--also 25 mg of cholesterol per serving. i checked the plastic swiss cheese and found that it had a mere 15 mg per serving. but i still wasn't too alarmed, because after all, i had just put that egg white product in my cart and it had 0 mg of you know what. so every day that i ate that instead of eggs, i would be avoiding lots and lots of cholesterol--i was sure of it. lets see, i thought, how much will i be saving. i checked the label and it said a real egg had 5 mg. WHAT?!?!? you have got to be kidding me! so if i'm doing the math correctly, 1 serving of cheese is equal to 5 eggs?!? oh boy, am i in trouble . . .

i love cheese, almost as much as i love dark chocolate and o'henry bars. i don't think i can go even one day without it. but now that i have read that evil label and know it's contents, i will feel like i'm poisoning myself whenever i have a toasted cheese sandwich (you know, the kind where the cheese gets all melty and gooey . . . ) or a quesadilla--even if it is on a whole wheat tortilla. of course, i will still eat them--i will just know i shouldn't. i hate those food labels!

on the upside, i can now eat REAL eggs with no guilt at all!