Reading Food Labels
Every book has a table of contents which helps you understand what is inside. Every electronic device you buy comes with a diagram that identifies every small piece. In the same way, every food product in the United States must me equipped with a container on which you must find the list of nutritional facts about that respective product. Usually, you can find this diagram on the back side of the container.
The “Nutritional Facts” table is the section that informs you about how large the serving is and how many servings you can find in that specific package. There is also information about calories, protein, fat and vitamins listed, in order for you to see if the product is appropriate for you or not. There are a lot of facts that need to be listed, but sometimes companies would list only the basic information required by laws.
Understanding Food Labels
Understanding nutrition information panel allows you to compare similar products and make a wise decision in choosing the one that better suits your needs. Let us have a small exercise. Here is the ABC of food labels revealed to you. You can take a box of food you have at hand to see the examples for yourself. It is a good way to get used to reading and decipher food labels.
Serving Size – Serving sizes help people understand how much they are eating. A serving size refers to an amount of food which people should eat. It is usually measured in cups, ounces and sometimes in grams. Taking as an example that a serving size of pretzels is 5 pretzels, if you eat 10 pretzels, that makes 2 servings.
Serving per package - In this case, the label tells you how many servings that package of food contains.
Amount per serving – Refers to the total calories you can find in one food serving.
Percent Daily Value – When it comes to food labels, the term “percentage” refers to the amount of something (vitamin A, D etc., calcium, sugar and so on) a person should get each day. This amount of nutrients is listed right next to the item in grams or milligrams. On the right side of the column you can observe the percentage daily value (also “%DV”) which helps you know how much of your daily needs are contained by that specific product. The great advantage of listing %DV on food labels is that it helps you chose the foods that represent the best source of energy and nutrients your body needs.
Total Fat – The number of fat (in grams) contained in one serving of the food. As you might know, your body needs a certain quantity of fat in order to produce the energy that makes it functional. There are different types of fat: saturated, unsaturated or trans fat. These ones are listed separately on the food label.
Total Carbohydrate – Taking into account that the daily value for carbs is 300 grams, you can adjust your carb intake depending on your needs. If you are an active person who exercises a lot, then you should eat more food that contains carbohydrates.
Dietary Fiber – Fiber is a form of carbohydrates which is also named “roughage”. The normal amount of dietary fiber for one day is 24 grams.
Cholesterol – The reason for which cholesterol is included on food labels is that there are many people who have problems with fat in their blood. The daily value for cholesterol should not be more than 300 mg. No matter how much you weight, you don’t want too much cholesterol in your blood as it affects your entire health state.
Saturated Fat – As you have noticed in a previous section, saturated fat is part of the total fat in foods. It is the part which is responsible for heart diseases even more than the cholesterol. The average daily value of saturated fat is placed between 10 and 15 grams.
Sodium – The reason sodium is included in the table is that some people are not allowed to have too much salt in their food. The daily value of sodium is 2400 mg.
Potassium – You need potassium to produce energy, and the daily value of potassium intake is placed around 3500 mg. If you are under medications, you should check if the pills you take have the effect of lowering potassium level in your body. In this case, you should consider taking some potassium supplements.
Soluble Fiber – Its aim is to reduce the risk of heart diseases. Present in all plant foods, soluble fiber refers to fibers that have the characteristic of dissolving in water. Most of the soluble fiber found in your food is being dissolved in the large intestine.
Sugar – along with sweeteners, sugar includes the naturally sweet part of fruit and other types of food. Basically, sugar is just another type of carbohydrate.
Vitamins and Minerals – It is practically impossible for food not to contain vitamins and minerals. They are elements that form the fuel for your body. The food labels usually list the %DV in one serving. In this way, you could make a difference between foods, and pick the ones which are rich in vitamins and minerals.
Daily Value Chart – It is a section in the food label area where you are told how much food should be eaten with reference to a 2000 calorie diet. If you follow a strict balanced diet plan, then this chart is very helpful, as it includes goals for total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, total carbs and dietary fibers.
Calories per Grams – The numbers in this section show you how many calories you find in one gram of fat, carbohydrate and protein. This information happens to be the same for every food: fats contain 9 calories per gram; carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram and proteins also 4.
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