image by tom fishburneReading and understanding food labels can be confusing and we are often rushed for time while grocery shopping. Understanding what you are looking for can make reading nutritional labels easier and allow you to choose foods that are healthier for you and your family.
Serving Size and Servings per Container: The serving size on the food package influences the number of calories and nutrient amount listed on the label. Be realistic about what you would actually consume as a serving size to determine actual calories and fat per your serving.
Calories and Calories from Fat: Calories provide a measure of how much energy you get from a serving of this food. Based on a 2,000 calorie diet, the general guidelines for calories are 40 calories = low, 100 calories = moderate and 400 or more calories = high.
Calories from fat are the calories in the food that are purely from fat. You want to choose foods with a small amount of fat calories.
Percent Daily Value: The % Daily Values (%DVs) is based on the daily value recommendations for key nutrients based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet. Your caloric intake may be more or less depending on your nutritional needs. However, even if you don’t know how many calories you consume per day, you can still use the %DV as a guideline.
The %DV helps you determine if a serving of food is high or low in a nutrient. Each nutrient is based on 100% of the daily requirements for that nutrient (for a 2,000 calorie diet).
A good guide to go by is 5%DV or less is low for nutrients you want to limit (i.e. fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium). 20%DV or more is high for nutrients you want to consume in greater amounts (i.e. fiber, calcium, etc).
For example, look at the amount of total fat in one serving on a nutrition label. Let’s say it was 18%DV. 18%DV is not yet high, but what if you ate two servings? You would be eating 36% of your daily allowance for total fat. That leaves you with only 64% left of your fat allowance for all of the other foods you eat that day, including snacks and drinks.
Carbohydrates: There are actually two categories: complex carbohydrates (dietary fiber) and simple carbohydrates (sugars). You want to eat more complex carbohydrates and fewer simple carbohydrates. Diets high in complex carbohydrates have been shown to fight cancer and heart disease. Simple carbohydrates break down quickly in your bloodstream causing peaks and dips in your blood sugar. They usually make you crave more and are not very satisfying.
Vitamins and Minerals: The FDA requires only Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron and Calcium on this label, although food companies can voluntarily list others. The FDA feels these four vitamins and minerals are particularly important in order to maintain a healthy diet. Try and get 100 percent of each every day.
Sugars: No daily reference value has been established for sugars because no recommendations have been made for the total amount to consume per day. Ideally you want to keep sugar intake to a minimum. However, because the nutrition facts include naturally occurring sugars found in fruit and dairy products you need to check the ingredients to see what type of sugar is in that product. Sugars have been added to a product if you see words such as high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, maltose, dextrose, sucrose, honey and maple syrup.
Serving Size and Servings per Container: The serving size on the food package influences the number of calories and nutrient amount listed on the label. Be realistic about what you would actually consume as a serving size to determine actual calories and fat per your serving.
Calories and Calories from Fat: Calories provide a measure of how much energy you get from a serving of this food. Based on a 2,000 calorie diet, the general guidelines for calories are 40 calories = low, 100 calories = moderate and 400 or more calories = high.
Calories from fat are the calories in the food that are purely from fat. You want to choose foods with a small amount of fat calories.
Percent Daily Value: The % Daily Values (%DVs) is based on the daily value recommendations for key nutrients based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet. Your caloric intake may be more or less depending on your nutritional needs. However, even if you don’t know how many calories you consume per day, you can still use the %DV as a guideline.
The %DV helps you determine if a serving of food is high or low in a nutrient. Each nutrient is based on 100% of the daily requirements for that nutrient (for a 2,000 calorie diet).
A good guide to go by is 5%DV or less is low for nutrients you want to limit (i.e. fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium). 20%DV or more is high for nutrients you want to consume in greater amounts (i.e. fiber, calcium, etc).
For example, look at the amount of total fat in one serving on a nutrition label. Let’s say it was 18%DV. 18%DV is not yet high, but what if you ate two servings? You would be eating 36% of your daily allowance for total fat. That leaves you with only 64% left of your fat allowance for all of the other foods you eat that day, including snacks and drinks.
Carbohydrates: There are actually two categories: complex carbohydrates (dietary fiber) and simple carbohydrates (sugars). You want to eat more complex carbohydrates and fewer simple carbohydrates. Diets high in complex carbohydrates have been shown to fight cancer and heart disease. Simple carbohydrates break down quickly in your bloodstream causing peaks and dips in your blood sugar. They usually make you crave more and are not very satisfying.
Vitamins and Minerals: The FDA requires only Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron and Calcium on this label, although food companies can voluntarily list others. The FDA feels these four vitamins and minerals are particularly important in order to maintain a healthy diet. Try and get 100 percent of each every day.
Sugars: No daily reference value has been established for sugars because no recommendations have been made for the total amount to consume per day. Ideally you want to keep sugar intake to a minimum. However, because the nutrition facts include naturally occurring sugars found in fruit and dairy products you need to check the ingredients to see what type of sugar is in that product. Sugars have been added to a product if you see words such as high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, maltose, dextrose, sucrose, honey and maple syrup.
