Labels

Labels

According to Livestrong.com

All packaged foods come with a nutrition label meant to provide you with the information necessary to know exactly what you're eating. Understanding what's in the foods you eat helps you make healthier choices. Checking food labels also makes it easy for you to compare the nutrient content of different options. A healthy diet is crucial throughout your lifetime and paying attention to nutrition labels is a good step toward improving your overall diet. Learning how to read food labels will also help you become aware of “deceptive” advertising on food packing.

Let’s Learn How To Read Labels!

            Thank you to http://www.healthtrek.org/for-teens/4-labeling-nutrition for the awesome visuals!

The first place you should look at when trying to read a label is the serving size. Serving size gives you a point of reference, and the entire label is based on that amount. If you had 1 cup of macaroni and cheese you would have 250 calories. If you had 2 cups you would have to times every nutritional value on the label by two. That would equal 500 calories.

The second place you should pay attention to is the calories per serving and calories from fat. A calorie is a measurement of energy. If you ate one serving of this macaroni and cheese

you would be getting 250 units of energy.

You can check out the Dietary Reference Sheet to see how many calories you should be consuming each day. The recommended number of calories depends on your age, gender and activity level. As you can see on this label, there are 250 calories in one serving and of those 250, 110 come from the fat in the product. Fat is a nutrient that contains calories, and from the amount of fat in one serving a person would get 110 calories.

The third and fourth places for your attention are the nutrients. Number 3 shows you the nutrients that you should try and limit (fat, cholesterol and sodium). Number 4 shows you the nutrients that you should get enough of each day (fiber, vitamins and minerals).

This last part of the label is the most confusing for most people. This section tells you about the percentages to the right of the label and what is called "Percent Daily Value." Percent Daily Value, or % DV, is based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. The % DV helps you quickly tell if it is considered low or high in specific nutrients. Anything 5% or less is considered low; anything 20% or higher is considered high. Take a look at the % DV for fat for one serving. It's 18%. That means if you ate one serving you would have had 18 percent of the total recommended fat for the day. If you had two servings of the macaroni and cheese (2 cups) you would have 36% of your daily value of fat. Here is what that looks like in math.

Remember, based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet:

1 cup of macaroni and cheese = 18% Daily Value of Fat
If you start the day with 100%, eating 1 cup of mac and cheese at
18% would leave you with 82% fat.

2 cups of macaroni and cheese = 36% Daily Value of Fat
If you start the day with 100%, eating 2 cups of mac and cheese at
36% would leave you with 64% fat.

The next thing you should be mindful of when reading the nutrition label is the footnote at the bottom. This portion of the label is the same on all labels. It gives general guidelines, not information specific to the product. You can use the footnote as a reference when deciding if the item you are about to eat is a good choice for you.

Get Smart About Labels

There are clear warning signs on some labels advising moderation or avoidance. These warnings, unfortunately, will often accompany snacks that are super tasty, irresistible, scrumptious, dipped in chocolate — you name it! Other labels will seem to glow like green traffic lights, letting you know the snack in question is an intelligent choice. You can get crazy and have two, you're getting a good Percent Daily Value of protein, vitamin A or C, calcium or iron.

The important thing is to get comfortable with reading food labels. You should have a clear idea of how to read a serving size from a package and what the food pyramid shows as the recommended serving size. Paying attention to labels is of prime importance for a successful Health Trek.

Until next time,
Hayley Jones, BS, CSCS, Pn1
hjones@mvhospital.net