Read Your Food Labels

For optimum health, as well as weight loss, it's important to know what you're putting in your body. The best way to get an accurate picture of what you're consuming is to read your food labels. Here are the most important things to look for:

SERVING SIZE & CALORIES Look for the serving size on the label and determine how many servings you are really consuming. Many packaged items may appear to be one serving, but will actually be 2 or 2.5 servings. So, if you eat the entire package, you'll need to multiply the calories & nutrient amounts per serving by 2 or 2.5.

NUTRIENTS TO LIMIT Below the calorie information, look for very low numbers for Saturated Fat, Trans Fat, Cholesterol & Sodium. Most of us already get too much of these nutrients, so it’s best to keep these as limited as possible.

VITAMINS & NUTRIENTS TO INCREASE Use the Nutrition Facts label not only to limit the nutrients you want to cut back on, but also to increase the nutrients you need to consume in greater amounts. These include: fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron.

INGREDIENTS Food manufacturers are required to list all ingredients on the label. They are listed in order of the ingredients used in the greatest amount first, followed in descending order by those in smaller amounts. You should always check the ingredient list to see what is in your food.

THE BOTTOM LINE: We know it takes extra effort at first, but once you learn how to properly read food labels, it will become make healthy grocery shopping much easier. Want more help? Consider joining us for our next Grocery 101 Nutrition Seminar.