How to Interpret Nutrition Facts
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| Nutrition Facts |
When you go shopping, do you look for the nutrition facts
on the black and white label, or do you rely on statements on the front of the
package, such as "low cholesterol," or "no sugar added?"
The statements in bold coloring on the front are primarily for marketing
purposes, and are designed to encourage you to purchase the product. The actual
nutrition facts tell you how many grams of fat, protein, and carbohydrates are
in each serving size. You can use these facts to measure out serving sizes for
yourself and figure out how many calories you consume, as well as what those
calories consist of. Here are seven vital tips to help you use the nutrition
labels to become a savvier shopper:
1) Use the nutrition labels as criteria for purchasing
a product, rather waiting until you get home to see what you have.
2) Look at the serving size before even looking at the
other information (it's usually at the top). This can help you decide if a
product is right for you: for example, note in a typical bottle of Caesar salad
dressing, a serving size is 1 oz., with 180 Calories per serving. This tells
you that there are 180 calories in 2 tablespoons of dressing. Use serving size
as well as the requirements of your own particular diet to determine portion
size. If you double the portion size, you will double all the calories, carbohydrate
content, fat content of a particular food.
3) Compare different brands of similar items, as some
brands may have better nutritional value than others.
4) See how many serving sizes there are in the item
you are purchasing. For example, some snack foods like potato chips or pretzels
often show that there are more than one serving contained in the package,
meaning that less than the whole package should be consumed at a time. If the
nutrition facts on a bag of potato chips says, "Number of servings:
2," this means that half of the bag is one serving size, and you are given
the nutrition information for half of the bag. If you eat the whole package,
you have to double all the numbers-the calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium,
carbohydrates, and protein.
5) Percent Daily Value is another important thing that
Nutrition Facts tell you. They can be found on the right side of the Nutrition
Facts panel and are printed in bold. Percent Daily Value is the amount of a
nutrient that your body needs through food for the entire day. For example, if
a nutrition label shows that one serving of dressing has 30% of daily total
fat, it means that two tablespoons of this particular dressing give you almost
a third of the all the fat that your body needs for the whole day. If you would
like to lose weight or maintain weight loss, choose foods with lower
percentages of daily requirements in the fat and carbohydrate categories. You
can use this as a guide to make sure you get enough essential nutrients without
going overboard on carbohydrates and saturated fats.
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| Nutrition Facts |
6) If you need to count carbohydrates, subtract the
grams of fiber from the total grams of carbohydrates to get the amount you will
consume at one time. This new number constitutes the grams of active
carbohydrates. When you plan a meal, you will need to add up all of the
carbohydrates from each food to keep it at the recommended amount.
7) To save time and money, choose the brands of the
foods you consume wisely, and then keep using the same ones. For example, a
slice of bread may have 5 to 30 grams of carbohydrates depending on the brand.
Once you find one that you enjoy that fits into your budget and meal plan,
stick with that brand.
Thank you, and please feel free to connect with me on
my website, if you have any questions or if I can serve you.
More information about nutrition information and facts about nutrition here
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