Tip Thursday: Fat or Fat-Free?

If you are on a diet, I guarantee you've thought of this before.

Should you buy the fat-free version just because it says fat-free?

It does make common sense - you need to cut down on "fat" so you cut out the fat from the foods that you eat. It makes so much sense that you think you're doing the right thing.

The skinny on the fat deal

Fat-free products intentionally deceive you by displaying a lower caloric consumption number (i.e. the part that says kcal on the nutrition label). Foods low in fat usually mean that the manufacturers have compensated for taste elsewhere. 


Let's use everyone's favorite Vitamin Water

What you lovelies are looking at is the entire label from the Vitamin Water bottle. For now, just look at the nutrition label part on the right. 

1. Number of calories per serving. There are 2.5 servings per bottle which mean that per BOTTLE, you're consuming 125kcal. So much for 50kcal.
   
2. Total fat content 0g. This is technically true. There are no MUFAs, trans or any other kind of dietary fat in the drink. We're talking scientific 'fat', not the fat that appears on your hips here.
   
3. Total Carbohydrate content is 13g. JUST LOOK at where the entire 13g actually comes from! SUGAR. A person's worst enemy. Yes, sugar is a carbohydrate! It is a polysaccharide made by monomers of glucose/ribose bonded together. (High school biology suddenly flooding back to you?)
   
4. I don't need to explain why something that contains less than 1% juice is not the best thing for you. Especially when you're getting 4% of sugar per serving (that's about 10% of the entire bottle!)

Let's face it. We're being lied and cheated even through the mandatory nutrition labels. They think us consumers are so caught up in the hype of fat-free, no sugar, etc etc, that we don't pay attention to detail.


And the truth is we don't. We need to pay just that extra bit of attention to what we put into our mouths.


I'm not saying I have the perfect diet. I'm human like everyone else. When I found out that fat-free didn't really mean fat-free, I felt so cheated. 


Because really, they don't care about you at all. 


You need to care about you. 


Alright lovelies. 

Til the next post!

Shopping on the Internet: Transaction Details

As someone who is a frequent buyer/seller on eBay and as someone who has owned and operated an online retail store, here are some tips and information I think everyone should know about making online transactions.

Making An Online Transaction

1. Safety is KEY. Never hand out your credit card number to anyone. 

Seriously. NO ONE. That's what PayPal is for. It allows you to use your credit card without displaying or sharing any of your card's information with the seller. It also offers your protection insurance, especially useful in the eBay marketplace. Remember! The great sellers offer PayPal as a means of payment ALWAYS. And they should absorb the the cost of using PayPal, not hand over the cost to you.

2. Internet Banking is much much much easier for everyone. 

Most local online retail stores, usually referred to as blog shops, offer bank transfer as a mode of payment. The most common bank offered is DBS/POSB because a lot of people have a DBS and POSB account. Usually they also have a second (or third!) account from another bank. If you don't have an account with any of these banks, then you can perform an interbank transfer, which will take up to 3 days to complete (i.e. 3 days until the seller receives payment) and will cost you a small percentage of your transfer.

3. Made your payment via internet banking? Here's what to include in your "Transaction Details" email. 

Since sellers need to verify that it was indeed you that sent them the money and that you did indeed send them money, this email is vital. You will need to include your:

Internet Banking Nickname (the bank will prompt you to include one)

Your Bank Account (in the case that a re-transfer back to your account is needed)

Amount Transferred (just to confirm that you did transfer the right amount + any additional shipping charges)

Date and Time of Transfer  (at the top of the banking details page)

Transaction Reference Number (self-explanatory, I think)

4. Always choose the "Registered Mail" option. 

Registered Mail or Insurance Protection is an additional fee on top of your shipping charges. In Singapore, sellers should charge you an additional $2.24 for registered mail but some round off the figure to $2.25, some even $3! Even if they make you pay $0.76 more than what you should be paying, you NEED to pay that amount. 

Let me tell you a story of how I learned my lesson the hard way when it came to Registered Mail. 

I bought OPI's Mad As A Hatter from an online nail supply store here in Singapore, I opted for no registered mail, just standard. Now, I've purchased items many a time from this person and I've never, not once, not received an email when the package has been shipped. So happens, this time around, with my precious limited edition OPI Alice in Wonderland, I never got an email stating that the package was sent. I emailed the person about it a few weeks later and she said she already sent the package weeks ago!

Now, I was shocked. I thought she was being dishonest. But then the reality of the situation hit me, even if she was dishonest, I couldn't prove it! She said her server crashed and so I had to believe her. That's why, now, I only ever purchase items with registered mail. 

I just don't chance it. 

That's pretty much the major rules of transactions when it comes to shopping on the internet. If I left out anything. Let me know! :P