Whether you're concerned about cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or simply losing weight, you want to eat a healthy diet and focus on foods that are high in vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, and balanced in fats, carbs, proteins. There is only one way to incorporate healthy foods into our diet and that is to make the decision to do it! Practical information about the nutrition and safety of the foods we consume is absolutely vital in making this decision. cardinal way to learn more about what we eat, is to snoop around the supermarket. Check-out package labels to see what manufactures are adding (or removing) from the foods we eat. Read the information on the package and start making comparisons to determine which foods are the best for YOU. Know about nutritional labeling and the sometimes sneaky ways that manufacturers have of hiding what is in the food. Know and understand ingredient declarations, how they are used, and what a few of the "technical" terms mean. Are the unfamiliar ingredients good or bad for your health? Since 1994 food manufacturers have been required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to include food labels (or Nutrition Facts labels) on product packaging so that consumers have accurate nutritional information about the food they purchase. But food labels are more than just a national requirement – once you understand the information they provide, you can use food labels as a guide to planning better meals and snacks. Food labels are necessary on almost all foods, except those that don't provide galore nutrients such as coffee, alcohol and spices. Although some restaurants provide information about the food they serve, they aren't necessary to have labels. The FDA recommends that sellers provide nutritional information on produce, meat, poultry and seafood, but it's strictly voluntary. What Is a Serving? At the top of a food label under Nutrition Facts, you'll see the serving size and the number of servings in the package. The rest of the nutrition information in the label is supported on one serving. Calories, Calories From blubbery and Percent Daily Values This part of a food label provides the calories per serving and the calories that come from fat. If you need to know the total number of calories you eat every day or the number of calories that come from fat, this section provides that information. Remember that this part of the label doesn't tell you whether you are eating saturated or monounsaturated fat. On the right side of a food label, you'll see a column that lists percentages. These percentages refer to the percent daily values (%DV). Percent regular values tell you how more of something, whether it's fat, sugar or vitamin A, cardinal serving will give you compared to how much you need for the entire day. It will help you gauge the percentage of a nutrient requirement met by one serving of the product. One way to use this section of the label is when you comparison shop. For example, if you're concerned with sodium, you can look at two foods and choose the food with the lower % DV. Are you trying to eat a low-fat diet? Look for foods that have a lower percent regular value of fat. The DV is supported on how much or how little of the key nutrients you should eat whether you eat 2,000 or 2,500 calories a day. So if you eat a 2,000-calorie diet, you should eat less than 65 grams of fat in complete the foods you eat for the day. If you're eating 12 grams of fat in your one serving of macaroni and cheese (remember that's cardinal cup), you can calculate how much fat you have left-handed for the day. You can use the bottom part of the food label in albescent to compare what you are eating to the DV you're allowed for that nutrient, whether it's fat, sodium or fiber. If you need much or less than 2,000 or 2,500 calories, you'll need to adjust this accordingly. Nutrients Fat, Sugar, Sodium and Carbohydrate The sections on a food label shows the name of a wholesome and the amount of that nutrient provided by one serving of food. You may need to know this information, especially if you have high blood pressure, diabetes or are eating a diet that restricts definite nutrients such as sodium or carbohydrates. Food labels also include information about how much sugar and protein is in the food. If you are following a low-sugar diet or you're monitoring your protein intake, it's easy to spot how much of those nutrients are contained in cardinal serving. Vitamins, Minerals and Other Information The light chromatic part of the label lists nutrients, vitamins and minerals in the food and their percent daily values. Try to normal 100% DV every day for vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and fiber. Do the opposite with fat, saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol. Try to eat less than 100% DV of these. Common Mistakes to Avoid When Reading a Food Label Until you become accustomed to reading food labels, it's easy to become confused. Avoid these common mistakes when reading labels: -A label may say that the food is reduced blubbery or reduced sodium. That means that the amount of blubbery or sodium has been shrunken by 25% from the creative product. It doesn't mean, however, that the food is debased in fat or sodium. For example, if a can of soup originally had 1,000 milligrams of sodium, the reduced sodium product would still be a high-sodium food. -Don't confuse the DV for fat with the percentage of calories from fat. If the DV is 15% that doesn't mean that 15% of the calories comes from fat. Rather, it means that you're using up 15% of all the fat you need for a day with cardinal serving (based on a meal plan of 2,000 calories per day). -Don't make the mistake of forward that the amount of sugar on a label means that the sugar has been added. For example, milk naturally has sugar, which is called lactose. But that doesn't mean you should stop drinking milk because milk is full of else important nutrients including calcium. Reading Label Lingo In addition to requiring that packaged foods contain a Nutrition Facts label, the FDA also regulates the use of phrases and terms used on the product packaging. Here's a list of usual phrases you may see on your food packaging and what they actually mean. No fat or blubbery free - Contains less than 1/2 gram of fat per serving Lower or reduced fat: Contains at least 25 percent less per serving than the reference food. (An example might be reduced fat cream cheese, which would have at least 25 percent less fat than original cream cheese.) Low fat - Contains less than 3 grams of fat per serving. Lite - Contains 1/3 the calories or 1/2 the fat per serving of the original version or a analogous product. No calories or calorie free - Contains less than 5 calories per serving. Low calories - Contains 1/3 the calories of the creative version or a similar product. Sugar released - Contains less than 1/2 gram of sugar per serving. Reduced sugar - at least 25% little sugar per serving than the reference food. No preservatives - Contains no preservatives (chemical or natural). No preservatives added - Contains no added chemicals to preserve the product. many of these products may contain natural preservatives. Low sodium - Contains little than 140 mgs of sodium per serving. No salt or salt released - Contains less than 5 mgs of sodium per serving. High fiber - 5 g or much per serving (Foods making high-fiber claims must meet the definition for low fat, or the level of total fat essential appear next to the high-fiber claim). bully source of fiber - 2.5 g to 4.9 g. per serving. much or added fiber - Contains at least 2.5 g much per serving than the reference food. With a little practice, you will be able to put your new found knowledge about food labeling to work. Reassess your diet and decide what needs to be changed. Start by eliminating the foods that don't measure-up to your nutritional wants and needs, and replacing them with more nutritional substitutes. And while you're at it, visit the FDA website and learn about the new labeling requirements, including those for "trans" fat. Like supersaturated fats, trans fats can raise levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and increase your risk of heart disease. The "Nutrition Facts" panel on food packaging essential provide this information beginning January 1, 2006, but most manufacturers will start providing it sooner.
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