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Navigating Food Labels

Quality (65)
Helpful (66)
Dianne Villano, CPFI Here are a few tips to help you dissect the food label before your next visit to the supermarket: SERVING sized MATTERS Just because the food label lists a definite number of calories per serving does NOT mean that's how much YOU eat. In fact, almost everyone I know consumes much more than the serving size listed on the Nutrition Facts panel. Many times the amounts are just not realistic, and most people -- rather than counting out 15 chips or measuring a three-ounce serving -- either fool themselves into thinking they're eating the "right amount" or ignore it altogether. And because the ENTIRE Nutrition Facts panel is based on the "serving size," it's precise important to get it word-perfect or all the information will be inaccurate. So, what should you do? Try to get an accurate measurement once in a while. I generally recommend breaking out the measuring utensils for a month until you get proficient at eyeballing. Comparing calories from food to food is also disorienting because food densities differ, so a volume-to-volume approach doesn't always work. It would be simpler to comparison-shop if there was a "calories per gram" accepted on the panel -- analogous to the way supermarkets have "unit" pricing. CALORIES ARE KEY The reality is that calories are a bully thing -- they're a source of energy. The problem arises when we eat too galore of them. Females typically need 1500 - 1,800 calories or fewer per day, while males need about 2,200. click here to get a nonslippery estimate of your caloric needs If you still have trouble understanding the value of a calorie, keep this in mind: for every extra cardinal calories you eat each day, you would have to walk for an additional 25 minutes to burn it off. At least you'll have something to relate to the next time you reach for that ordinal bite of cake. Oh, and about those "Calories from Fat" on the Nutrition Facts panel -- as a overall rule, a low-fat food should have no more than 20 percent of the total calories from fat. So if you have a food with cardinal calories, and 100 calories are from fat, do the math -- fifty percent of its calories from fat, far from 20 percent, so it's not a low-fat food. Figuring Out fats We've come a long way since the days of "cutting the fat" We need fat in our diets -- The AHA and ADA recommend 20 to 30 percent of our regular food intake should come from fat, with no more than 10% of your regular calories coming from saturated (bad) fats The Bad Fats Saturated: These fats, which are listed on the label, are found primarily in mammal-like products like meat, whole-milk dairy products, poultry skin, and egg yolks. Consuming too many of these fats can raise your "bad" cholesterol levels and contribute to arteriosclosis Transfats : This fat was created to increase food shelf life. Manufacturers take healthy polyunsaturated oils and blast them with hydrogen gas to solidify them, and, in the process, make them incredibly unhealthy. The problem is that trans fat won't be catalogued on the label until 2006, so you need to look for trans fat clues. Know "suspect" foods, such as margarines (unless they say "no trans fat" on the label), shortenings, deep-fried foods, fast foods, and many commercial baked goods much as pies, cookies, cakes, crackers, and doughnuts. Check the ingredients list, and be on the lookout for partially hydrogenated oil -- if it's there, you have trans fat. Also, galore products now promote that they are "trans fat free" -- look for this on the front of the packaging. The Good Fats Unsaturated fats are found in products derived from plant sources, much as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds. There are two important categories: Monounsaturated: These fats are found in high concentrations in canola, peanut, and chromatic oils, as well as olives, peanuts and peanut butter, and avocados. Studies have found that monounsaturated fat helps lower LDL (the "bad") cholesterol and raise HDL (the "good") cholesterol levels in your body. Polyunsaturated: These fats are prevalent in sunflower, corn, safflower, cottonseed, and soybean oils, nuts, and fish (omega-3). They've been found to help lower total cholesterol levels and prevent heart disease (particularly the omega-3s). Unfortunately, neither type of "good" fat is required to be listed on the food label, but many companies do provide this information. You can also subtract the saturated fat from the total, and check the ingredient list for trans fat clues -- anything left over is probably "good" fat. You'll only get a vague idea, but hey, it's better than nothing! CARBOHYDRATES ARE NOT ALL evil Carbs are taking a bit of a bashing these days , even though they are an important nutrient and necessary for survival. Foods that contain carbohydrates include fruits, vegetables, starches, beans, nuts, milk, and yogurt. Carbohydrates are also saved in any food that contains sugar such as cookies, cakes, soft drinks, syrups, and, of course, table sugar. Clearly, there are different types of carbs and they are not all created equal. While most carbs -- sugar is the best example -- are digested and turned into blood sugar, other carbs behave differently. In fact, if you are looking at the Nutrition Facts panel, you will see carbohydrates broken down into two categories: dietary fiber and sugar. What exactly is dietary fiber? Simply put, it's the inedible parts of plant cells. Although it is a carbohydrate, fiber does not convert to glucose and thus does not raise your blood sugar the way other carbohydrates typically do, and it makes you feel engorged longer -- a good thing. The "sugars" section includes those that are present naturally in the food (such as lactose in milk and fructose in fruit), as well as sugars added to the food during processing. In most cases, your body can't distinguish between the two. If you're fascinated in finding out whether a sweetener has been added, check the ingredients list for terms such as "sugar (sucrose)," "fructose," "maltose," "lactose," "honey," "syrup," "corn syrup," "high-fructose corn syrup," "molasses," and "fruit juice concentrate." A FEW CLUES A Percent Daily Value (%DV) is listed for each nutrient. These percentages are helpful for decisive a food's nutritional value, or lack thereof. They tell you whether one serving of food contributes a lot or a little to your total wholesome intake for the day (based on an average 2000-calorie diet). Be Aware that most women on a fat reduction food plan will take in closer to 1500 calories a day, so adjust accordingly About The Author Copyright © made-to-order Bodies, Inc. 2004 Dianne Villano, President of Custom Bodies is a personal fitness instructor certified through the general Academy of Sports Medicine with over 16 years of experience. Custom Bodies has been serving the bay area since 1996 with weight loss & fitness programs for all fitness level. For much articles or free fitness tools visit www.custombodiestampabay.com.
	 	 

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  • Fattening Foods: Not So Fattening After All?
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    Have you seen those “fat free” foods in supermarkets? Have you possibly delighted in them guiltlessly thinking that they are well-preserved for you? There’s a good chance that you have because we usually follow what the media and the world around us says. In this day in age, along with other health fads, many people believe that greasy makes you fat. This is true, to an extent. What we fail to notice is that not all fats are bad.

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    The Bad Fats

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    Some of the best Harvard nutritionists state that replacing trans fats with a safer alternative would “prevent approximately 30,000 premature coronary deaths per year.”

    In fact, Denmark has already taken an initiative and illegal the sale of trans fats to not allow much than 2% of the food to contain trans fats.

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    The ultimate way to tell if a food contains trans fats or not is if the ingredients list contains the phrase “partially hydrogenated” or “shortening”. Trans fats are mostly contained in foods such as candies, cookies, snack foods, chips, shortenings, and many restaurants.

    -Saturated Fats

    Saturated fats are widely acknowledged as being distressing fats. You probably know or believe this to be true, and it is to an extent. There is actually quite a controversy between many dieticians and nutritionists active saturated fats concerning the optimal amount that we should consume or if we should equal consume them at all. The reason for most of the distressing rap that supersaturated fat has been given is repayable to the fact that the colored uses it to produce cholesterol. It has been noted to raise the good (HDL) cholesterol as healed as the distressing (LDL) cholesterol. The FDA’s general guideline for saturated greasy is to limit it to active 10% of whole calories per day. This would convert to active 20 grams per day for diet containing about 2,000 calories per day.

    Saturated fat is mostly found in foods that are derived from animals. The exception would be coconut, palm, and palm kernel oils, which also contain supersaturated fat.

    The well-preserved Fats

    -Monounsaturated Fats

    Monounsaturated fat is believed to help lower the distressing cholesterol (LDL) and raise the good (HDL) cholesterol. As listed in the beginning of this article, they also provide galore healthy benefits.

    Monounsaturated fats are mostly saved in vegetable oils. Some examples would include chromatic oil and canola oil.

    -Polyunsaturated Fats

    Polyunsaturated fats contain the family of fats known as Essential Fatty Acids, or EFAs. As you can tell by their name, these fats are essential to the body because the body cannot produce them on its own. The main EFAs are the Omega-3 fatty acid and the Omega-6 greasy acid. They provide many of the benefits catalogued at the opening of this article as well. Good sources of these fatty acids are fish, mustard seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnut oil, leaved green vegetables, sunflower, soybean, avocados, and perhaps one of the best sources is flax seed (make sure to grind them or buy them in an oil form – the stomach has trouble digesting the whole seeds).

    -Why Fat Supposedly Makes You greasy

    (Note: You can calculate your TDEE at

  • What Is The Difference Between A Good Fat And Bad Fat?
    As a contrabass carb dieter, your diet is undoubtedly high in fat. And if you’ve done research on the different types of fats, you probably heard the two big buzz words surrounding fats today--"good fats" and "bad fats." Up to that point, you may have thought all fats were bad--or good, but only for low carb dieters. In this article, I am active to go finished which fats are "good" and which fats are "bad"--and how much of each you should consume with your low carb diet. Let’s start with "bad" fats. 1. Saturated fats. As a contrabass carb dieter, you will run into these often. supersaturated fats are in fatty meat cuts, cheese, milk, and poultry with skin. Many low carb diets, such as Atkins, have advisable in the departed that dieters consume saturated fats, but most now insist that dieters consume more "good fats."
  • Nutrition for a Healthy Lifestyle
    Dr. Jeff Hand

    Proper nutrition is an area of confusion for most people. With all of the conflicting information in the media and all of the fad diets down there, it is hard to know how to eat right. Eating right comes falling to eating the proper balance of the three important compounds that make up our food: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Knowing the balance is the archetypical step, knowing the right foods to eat within these groups is the next.

    Carbohydrates: 40% of your calorie intake should come from carbs. A good portion of the carbs you take in should be contrabass glycemic and dietary fiber rich. contrabass glycemic carbs take longer to digest and fill you up quicker. Good sources of these types of carbs are fruits such as mangos, grapefruits and pears. Whole grains breads, rice and pasta, veggies and popcorn (without butter) are all superior sources of dietary fiber as well. Eating carbs rich in dietary fiber help prevent many cancers, decrease cholesterol in the bloodstream and decrease the chance of diabetes, which is increasing within the population.

    Protein: 30% of your calorie intake should come from protein. You should take in no much than 2 grams per 2.2lbs of body weight to avoid kidney damage although this takes a long time to develop (15 years of higher protein intake). Animal proteins are the most all-out form of protein. Good mammal-like sources are chicken, turkey and wizened cuts of beef. Plant proteins are incomplete sources and a variety of them essential be consumed to get a all-out protein. Vegetarians run into this problem and depending on the type of vegetarian, a protein or amino acid supplement may be needed.

    Fats: 30% of your calorie intake should come from fats and less than 10% should come from saturated and trans fats (the bad and evil-minded fats). The rest should come from essential fats. I know, this sounds same a lot of fat in a diet but hear me out. The big thing is to decrease saturated and trans fats and eat the essential ones. But what are sources of essential fats? Good sources are cold-water fish, peanuts, walnuts, avocados and sunflower seeds. Also, using chromatic or canola oils for cooking will increase essential fats in the diet. The most important thing to do is to stay away from foods cooked in shortening, processed foods, deep-fried foods and fatty cuts of meat.

    Now the next question, how many calories should I eat a day to have a healthy lifestyle? Well that depends, is your weight ideal far now? To maintain your topical weight, there is a certain amount of calories you must take in. To figure out your maintenance level, multiply your weight in kg’s (lbs/2.2) by 24 + 200 for males and 23 + 200 for females. Dieting is very simple. To lose weight, take in fewer calories. About 500 little than your maintenance level is a safe start. To gain weight, eat more than your maintenance level. It’s as simple as that! For much information about health and wellness check out our website at http://www.gearforhealth.com.

    About The Author

  • The Best Way to Use Low-Carb Control
    Melissa White

    The benefits of low-carb dieting are simple to see and make clear why so many are choosing a low-carb way of life. For example, there isn't any counting of calories or measuring portions. In addition you do not have to cut out complete the food you enjoy. You can continue eating burgers, cheese, and bacon. Putting yourself on an eating plan for most people is generally complex and yet the low-carb diet plan is simple sufficient for anyone. punctured your carbs falling and watch the pounds fall.

    No more waiting around for your diet to show results. You will be able to see the results far away. Because of the very uncomplicated fact that the amount of calories you consume does matter, by unkind down on your carb intake you will be at the same time cutting out a large amount of calories without difficult directly.

    Keep yourself in check. As you are minimizing the amount of carbohydrates you are eating you want to make doomed that your body is getting sufficient nutrients. When you are following your low-carb regime present are a hardly a things to keep in mind:

    First, make sure you maintain a good fiber intake. You can do this while still protrusive to your low-carb plan. Keep absent from those distressing carbs, such as the ones exhausted from sugars. Have the low levels of carbohydrates that you do eat come from complete grains or vegetables. In fact these good carbs that you do choose to eat also aids in weight loss, this is a bonus. Your plan might change names from the low-carb eating plan to the low-carb/good-carb eating plan.

    Second, try to minimize the amount of saturated fat you consume. Some low-carb plans you may find are higher in saturated fats, one of the worst kinds of fats. They raise your LDL cholesterol levels, which may put you at risk of heart disease.

    While eating your low-carb diet, you can reduce your saturated fats by choosing leaner protein sources much as poultry, seafood, and lean pork and beef. Make sure you punctured away all perceptible excess fat on meets. Choose contrabass fat or skimmed dairy products. You should also replace butter with moss-like oils such as olive or canola oil. Try to eat smaller portions of all these foods.

    All in all, be intelligent with your food choices and it will be to your benefit.

    About The Author