[flatiron]

OK I was PO'd when I learned in the men's forum that the Parkay butter substitute was NOT 0 calories and 0 fat but was in actuality 832 calories and 93 grams of fat in one 8 oze bottle but because a single serving one spray (.8 calories/fat is .085 grams) is so small that the company can legally say there is no calories or fat.

In other words they made the serving size so small that they can legally lie about what is really in their product. I wrote them a pretty nasty letter about this and I got a canned nice nice response and never heard anything else, somehow I am not surprised!

Anyway's I really liked using that stuff because TO ME the stuff tastes like butter. I put it in my soups, salads and just about all my vegetables!

Well I stopped using the stuff but I had a whole bottle left in my fridge.

Well yesterday I opened that bottle and got a bowl and a tablespoon (I don't know if it was a true tablespoon but I have 2 kinds of spoons, big ones and small ones and I got the big one LOL!) and I poured out and counted how many tablespoons there are in one bottle and I am sure their is some sort of easy math to figure out how many tablespoons but I am to dense to know! LOL!

I got 24 tablespoons of the stuff out of an 8 oz. bottle.

Knowing that there is 832 calories and 93 grams of fat in a bottle that means there is (rounding up) approximately 35 calories and 4 grams of fat in one tablespoon of Parkay butter substitute.

The reason why the fat content is so high for such a small amount is because the company hydrogenated the oil so it would not be like water and be more like melted butter.

SO I am still going to use the stuff (I love it on broccoli!) but only use 2 tablespoons at a time at 70 cals/8 grams of fat.

Considering that I used to just pour it out of the bottle on to stuff I think that will be a WHOLE lot better! LOL!

I know this might be old news but I am just putting this out there in case someone can use the info!

[nelie]

If you search for 'butter spray', you'll find a few threads about this. Here is one:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131407

Basically a product can legally advertise that it has 0 calories if one serving is less than 5 calories. Typically, I believe 2-3 sprays is around 4 calories so they can say that is 0 calories.

[JulieJ08]

Originally Posted by flatiron

Knowing that there is 832 calories and 93 grams of fat in a bottle that means there is (rounding up) approximately 35 calories and 4 grams of fat in one tablespoon of Parkay butter substitute.

The reason why the fat content is so high for such a small amount is because the company hydrogenated the oil so it would not be like water and be more like melted butter.

I'm not sure why that is such a high fat content. One tablespoon of real butter has 102 calories and 11.5 grams of fat. The Parkay must be diluted.

[flatiron]

Originally Posted by nelie

If you search for 'butter spray', you'll find a few threads about this. Here is one:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131407

Yeah I read those but I needed to know how many calories was in one tbsp of the stuff so I could put the calories in my log and I couldn't find it listed anywhere.

.08 calories in one spray is all I could find and that didn't help me because I use more than that when I used it thats why I measured it all out with a spoon.

Funny thing is after pouring out all that yellow oil and getting it all over my hands and shirt I sure didn't have an appetite to eat any of it in fact it kinda repulsed me!

[judipurple]

What I did with the sesame oil "dropper" on the bottle was to count how many "shakes" it took to fill a tablespoon or a teaspoon. I think the same could be done with the spray butter - squirt it into a table spoon, then you can estimate how many calories are in each serving, i.e., per a certain # of squirts. I usually use about 6 squirts on a piece of toast, and more if I'm seasoning a pot full of broccoli.

[AngelsEulogy]

It's like this with a lot of products, especially sauces and the likes of Mustard, Vinegar, Dressings, Sugar Substitutes, etc. Anything under 5 calories per serving, can basically legally put that it's 0 calories, something about the increments of how they label calories.
What I usually do is just pay attention to servings, it's not much by itself, but it can add up quickly with some things! You can always just keep that in mind and add 5 calories for a serving of anything.

[BillBlueEyes]

Neat job, flatiron, figuring out the number of calories in your "big spoon."

Yep, you have a right to be annoyed with the "zero calories" claim. Even now that I know the 5 calories or less rule, it means that you have to examine a label carefully to determine if it's "zero calories" or "no calories." In the jargon of government allowed syntax, no means there aren't any to it's less than zero.

For what it's worth, by definition there are two certified Tablespoons in a fluid ounce, and three certified teaspoons in a Tablespoon. However, that info isn't particularly useful to you since you'll be measuring with your "big spoon" and you've done the calculations for that.

[cathyw]

I contacted Smart Balance, and here is the "REAL" calorie and fat count for their spray butter

The nutrition information for our Smart Balance Buttery Burst is as follows:

Fat Calories

1 g 0.25 2.4

1 tbsp. 3.7 35

½ cup 30 280

1 cup 59 560

Bottle 59 560