Calories in Heluva Good! Dip sour cream, buttermilk ranch

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

Great! Contains less than 1.5 tsp of sugar per serving!

Veggies such as broccoli, bok choy, spinach, parsley and most leafy greens are naturally high in iron.
However, compared to other high-iron foods, like red meat, fish and poultry, the iron in plant foods is not absorbed as easily by the body. What can you do to increase the absorption of iron from these plant foods?

• Vitamin C increases the absorption - so try having a fresh tomato, lemon juice, or an orange together with your high iron food
• Avoid drinking too much coffee - caffeine can decrease the absorption of iron
• In addition to caffeine, the tannins found in tea can also reduce iron absorption
• If you are a vegetarian, try having iron-fortified breakfast cereals, legumes, and eggs

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.

Monosodium Glutamate is used as a flavor enhancer with an umami taste that intensifies the meaty, savory flavor of food.
Naturally occurring glutamate does it in foods such as stews and meat soups.

Despite the fact that MSG is one of the most extensively studied food ingredients and is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by FDA.
Some people should steer away from it as they feel that react adversely to MSG.

MSG is generally found in processed, low-quality foods, stuff that you shouldn’t be eating much.

REMEMBER: Any food ingredient listed as hydrolyzed, protein-fortified, ultra-pasteurized, fermented or enzyme-modified is often MSG, or creates free glutamic acid during processing.