Let’s talk about nutrition labels. You’ll find them on just about every food item except for meats. No matter what a manufacturer says about a food, look to the label for important information.
For example, let’s look at serving size. Manufacturers are referring to the serving size that they have analyzed. It has nothing to do with how much you should eat. It simply means they took a half a cup of a product or four of the product to analyze the nutritional values. Sometimes you think that you’re eating one serving, but the manufacturer may have analyzed four, five or ten. So for starters, you need to know how much of a serving that they are talking about.
Next, is the amount of calories. If you see something that has, say, 200, 300, or 500 calories, and you’re just having a little snack, that’s your first clue that it’s not a great food.
Now, we’ll look at fat content. There are three places to look. First, find the percent of calories from fat. It is listed near the top of the nutrition label. The American Heart Association recommends that you choose foods that have 30% fat calories or less for one serving. This can help you maintain a healthy weight.
Second, look down at the Total Fat section. You want that number to be as low as possible. Again, this will help you maintain a healthy weight.
Third, look just below Total Fat, and you will see Saturated Fat. This is the type of fat that can raise your cholesterol. You want that number to be as close to zero as you can get it. Starting in 2006, it will be mandatory to also list Trans Fatty Acids in this section. Trans Fatty Acids can also raise your cholesterol. Again, you want this number to be as close to zero as possible. Also in this section, you may see a listing for mono-unsaturated fat. This is the heart healthy type of fat. You want to choose a food that has more monounsaturated fat than the other types of fat.
Now, let’s talk about sodium. Most people could get by on 2,000 milligrams of sodium a day. Now if you eat mostly fresh food and less processed food, you’re easily doing that and you don’t have to count. If you buy everything processed, you’re well above the limit and that can affect your blood pressure.
If you have high triglycerides, or “free fats,” it is caused by excess sugar and carbohydrate. Sugar intake isn’t just table sugar. There are 10 or 20 different kinds of sugars that are carbohydrates.
Also, I recommend everyone look at fiber. Fiber has no calories. We don’t absorb it. If you need to lose weight, keep your blood sugar down or lower your cholesterol, fiber is your best friend. It also decreases your risk for cancer, eliminates constipation, and reduces hemorrhoids. The more fiber the better!
Finally, be sure to look at the ingredients. They’re listed most to least. You want the healthy stuff listed as the first couple of ingredients and the not so healthy stuff listed at the bottom of the ingredient list — because that means there’s less of the unhealthy stuff.
