Calories in Ready Pac Snack pac apples & cheese with caramel dip

WeightWatchers Points are estimated by carbohydrates, fats, protein and fiber in product. They are not an affirmation of better quality or nutritional value of the product or its manufacturer. Only way to count for dieters. Less points are better.
Read more at Weight watchers diet review

Too much saturated fat raises blood cholesterol, that can increase the risk of heart disease.
This fact has been approved by most health organizations in the world.
You have to limit the intake of it by your recommended daily intake.
Ideally, we should eat less than 10% of calories from saturated fat, so the reference value for an average adult is 24 grams daily.
Remember: a 1-ounce slice of regular cheese has nearly 5 grams of saturated fat.
Read more about fat

Salt (NaCl) is not excactly sodium (Na).
It is not right to use these terms as synonyms.
The FDA recommended limit of sodium is 2,300 mg per day (or even less - about 1500 mg while one is on low sodium diets).
This is much less than the weight of salt.
(5,750 mg per day or 3,750 mg for low sodium diet) and not so convenient to calculate.
Know how much sodium is in your salt - without a calculator:
1/4 tsp salt = 600 mg sodium
1/2 tsp salt = 1200 mg sodium
3/4 tsp salt = 1800 mg sodium
1 tsp salt = 2300 mg sodium

This volume includes both naturally occurring from ingredients and specially added sugars.
USDA tells us that last years each American consumed an average 130 pounds of caloric sweeteners per year!
That works out to 30 tsp of sugars per day approximately 480 extra calories!
Just to think: Eating just 200 more calories daily than your body requires for body functioning and exercise leads to a 20-pound weight gain in a year.

You get real, natural easy absorbing Vitamin C from this product, not as a artificial fortified ingredient.
This is great! Let's try to get the best from the real food, because we get too much from artificial ingredients nowdays.

It is used as a thickener in products such as ice cream, jelly, chocolate milk, infant formula, cottage cheese.
It is a vegetarian and vegan alternative to gelatin.
It has been used for hundreds of years in Ireland and China, but only made headway into modern food processing in the last 50 years.
The processing steps after harvesting the seaweed include drying, grounding, filtration, treatment with potassium hydroxide, removal of cellulose by centrifuge, concentration by evaporation, drying, and grounding.
Interestingly, the Philippines account for the vast majority of the world supply of carrageenan.
In some animal studies, carrageenan was shown to cause intestinal lacerations and tumors.
A 2001 meta-study of 45 peer-reviewed studies concluded that carrageenan consumption may result in gastrointestinal malignancy and inflammatory bowel.
The FDA has approved carrageenan as safe, basing its decision on industry funded studies.
European agencies and the World Health Organization have also deemed carrageenan safe, with the exception of infant formula.
The fear is the a baby's gut may be unable to handle the large carrageenan molecules.
In some individuals carrageenan may cause intestinal discomfort or worse.

* FoodPoints are calculated by Fooducate based on fats, carbs, fiber, and protein. They are not an endorsement or approval of the product or its manufacturer. The fewer points - the better.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a highly processed ingredient manufactured from surplus corn, and yielding a cheap replacement to table sugar. In the early 1980’s many food manufacturers started using it instead of sugar as a cost cutting measure. That’s about the same time obesity rates started to skyrocket in the US. Most scientists agree that HFCS is no better and no worse than plain sugar, though some newer studies seem to find the two affect the metabolism differently. Consumption of both should be drastically limited. ---- Sources: Bray GA, Nielsen SJ, Popkin BM. Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;79(4):537-43. Berkey CS, Rockett HR, Field AE, Gillman MW, Colditz GA. Sugar-added beverages and adolescent weight change. Obes Res. 2004;12(5):778-88. Johnson RJ, Segal MS, Sautin Y, Nakagawa T, Feig DI, Kang DH, Gersch MS, Benner S, Sánchez-Lozada LG. Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007;86(4):899-906. Schulze MB, Manson JE, Ludwig DS, Colditz GA, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Hu FB. Sugar-sweetened beverages, weight gain, and incidence of type 2 diabetes in young and middle-aged women. JAMA. 2004;292(8):927-34. Ludwig DS, Peterson KE, Gortmaker SL. Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observational analysis. Lancet. 2001;357(9255):505-8. James J, Thomas P, Cavan D, Kerr D. Preventing childhood obesity by reducing consumption of carbonated drinks: cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2004;328(7450):1237.

This product is highly processed. If you'll take a look at its ingredient list, you'll discover new words to add to your vocabulary. Many of theses ingredients are required to increase the shelf life of the product and improve the flavor that disappears when food is not fresh.

This product is in the top 10% of the products in its category

Companies add artificial flavors to products to make them taste better. They are created in a lab and the formulations are guarded as trade secrets. Flavorings can compensate for flavor loss during processing, substitute for ingredients, lower production costs and increase shelf stability. Artificial flavorings are cheaper to source than natural flavors and are perceived as "worse" than natural flavors. They are more stable (and usually less chemically complex) than natural flavors. Artificial flavors are not necessarily bad for you from a health perspective. however, people with food sensitivities or allergies may want to avoid artificial flavors if they are unnamed. You can always contact the manufacturer for more information.

When fruits are mashed up, concentrated, reconstituted and jammed into gelatinous blobs or portable pockets, their sugar gets concentrated. Even pure applesauce is high in (natural) sugars. And too much sugar, even all natural, is never a good idea. When you eat fresh fruit, you have a lot of chewing to go through to get to the same high level of sugar as a processed fruit snack. Though nothing will replace fresh fruit, you can choose a healthier fruit snack as follows: Choose fruit snacks with no added sugars and no juice concentrate (aka fruit sugar). Freeze dried fruits are a good choice. So are fruit mashes with no added juice concentrate. Try mixing freeze dried fruits and berries for a variety of flavors and nutrients.

Companies add flavorings to make products taste better. They are created in a lab and the formulations are guarded as trade secrets. Flavorings can compensate for flavor loss during processing, substitute for ingredients, lower production costs and increase shelf stability. Natural flavorings are more expensive to source than artificial flavors, but tend to be better received by consumers. People sensitive to MSG, vegans, vegetarians and those with allergies should pay special attention to the phrase "natural flavorings" since glutamates, animal products or allergens may be the source of natural flavors. You can always contact the manufacturer for more information.

Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide that is used as a food additive. A polysaccharide is a type of carbohydrate. It is produced from starches of corn, wheat, potatoes or rice. Its flavor can be slightly sweet or almost flavorless. Maltodextrin is used as a bulking base for artificial sweeteners, for example in Jell-o it is used in conjunction with Aspartame and Acesulfame Potassium. It is also the bulking agent in Splenda.