Going Halfway

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Coco

When I was losing weight, I saved calories by switching from my beloved Half & Half to
Fat-Free Half & Half. Once I reached my goal weight I switched back, and I haven’t looked back until I recently discovered Low-Fat Half & Half.

Taste-wise, it gives full-fat Half & Half a run for its money, and with only 25 calories and 1.5 g fat in each 2 tablespoon serving (compared to 40 calories and 3 g fat for the full-fat version), it seems like an easy way to save calories and reduce my consumption of saturated fat.

But one morning as I was pouring some Low-Fat Half & Half into my coffee, the ingredient list caught my eye.

Ingredients: Milk, Cream, Contains less than 1.5% of the following: Whey Protein Concentrate, Carrageenan, Potassium Citrate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Color Added (Ingredient not in regular half & half)

The ingredient list for the full-fat version is much shorter:

Ingredients: Milk, Cream, Contains less than 0.5% of the following: Sodium Citrate and Disodium Phosphate (Stops cream from separating in hot liquid).

Maybe “less than 1.5%” of additives isn’t worth this much thought, but it is still three times as much as in the full-fat version.

So which is worse, three times the additives or twice the saturated fat?

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5 Responses to Going Halfway

  1. Miz says:
    April 17, 2012 at 1:16 am

    Im probably not fit to comment as I drink my coffee BLACK but happily consume a diet coke per day 🙂

  2. Heather @ Not a DIY says:
    April 17, 2012 at 1:20 am

    I'm all about eating real food & I'm not afraid of a little fat. Bring on the full fat version! (Only as a treat though, since I'm still in weight loss mode. Right now, black coffee is the norm.)

    • Coco says:
      April 17, 2012 at 2:54 am

      I lost my taste for sugar/sweetener in my coffee but I'd rather have tea if I can't have half and half — and I don't like tea. 🙂

      Sent from my iPhone

  3. KCLAnderson (Karen) says:
    April 17, 2012 at 4:21 am

    I think it's more a question about how much fat and chemicals you eat on a daily basis…if, say, you ate a lot of processed low-fat food, I'd say that the full-fat creamer is the way to go. If you ate lots of whole, unprocessed foods, then a few chemicals aren't going to kill you. Either way, it's either a small amount of fat or a small amount of chemicals. Go for what satisfies best. I STILL use non-dairy creamer (and now that I've developed lactose intolerance, it's a better choice for me) and it's full of chemicals. I figure one tablespoon per day won't kill me as I eat healthful whole foods the vast majority of the time.

  4. Kyra says:
    April 18, 2012 at 7:01 am

    I'm still using the fat free. I know it has additives, I'm just sticking my head in the sand about them. I eat fairly well, otherwise.

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