Today Nutrition Program and Weekend Manager at Dynamic You Fitness, Nancy, shares...
What’s in a Label?
Heart
healthy. Low in fat. Sugar free. Full of essential vitamins and minerals. You
probably see words similar to these on food packaging every week when you visit
the grocery store. While they sound like great reasons to put the products in
your cart, those words can sometimes be deceiving. For the full story on what
you’re buying, turn that package around and take a look at the nutrition facts
label.
These
labels provide a lot of important information, though they can look confusing
at first glance. Take the time to review the serving size, calories, fat,
sodium and sugar contents especially. A bottle of juice that looks like one
serving may actually be two (or even more), which means the number of calories
and everything listed below it need to be doubled to find out how much is in
the entire bottle.
The
% Daily Value shows what percentage of each nutrient this food item contributes
to the total recommended amount per day. Aim to choose food items that have
high percentages of fiber, vitamins and minerals, and low percentages of fat,
cholesterol and sodium.
Be
sure to look at the list of ingredients as well! This list tells you a lot
about the food’s composition. It includes every ingredient found in the
product, listed by weight, in order of most to least. So, if you see sugar as
one of the first few ingredients listed, that means there’s a lot of sugar in
the food! If you’re looking to avoid foods containing additives, fillers,
and other chemicals, a good rule of thumb is to select items with five
ingredients or less. The longer the list, the crazier the ingredients become!
While it’s not
necessary to scrutinize every single label and stress over what you see, it’s
important to be aware of what you are choosing to put into your body. Reading
food labels can seem like a daunting task, but with a little bit of practice,
it will become second nature and you’ll be an expert in no time!
