Interpreting food labels
To understand exactly what you are eating, it is important to be able to decipher and read food labels. I don’t know about you, but I like to know what exactly is in my food. After all, we are what we eat.
Before we go into the nitty-gritty, I aim to lay out a few key elements critical to reading between the lines of manufactured food…
A lot of processed food has radical health claims on the front of its package. For example, totally sugary cereals claiming to be “a good source of vitamins and fiber” or a non-organic product labeled as “natural”. Sure, these claims could be partly true, but what’s more critical is the information provided on the label. So, I’d try to ignore claims on the front of packages as much as possible and stick straight to the label on the back. The fact of the matter is that all processed food tends to be scary for our health. So, manufacturers will label something as “Low-Fat, Low-Carb, Low-Sugar” for people to look past what is actually in it.
*Important Seals to look for include USDA ORGANIC, NON-GMO, and CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE.
Please note that all information on the food label is based on a 2,000-calorie diet. The amount of calories consumed per day varies greatly from person to person based on weight, height, age, what is going on in your life, how much you exercise, etc. Aside from calories, I would worry more about what’s going on with the ingredients, sugar, fat, and sodium on labels.
Food label facts
Serving Size: All information on the food label is in relation to one serving size, not the whole amount in the package. Pay attention to the serving size closely. For example, a bag of chips may list one serving as 10 chips, but you just ate 20 chips and want to know what’s going on — double everything on the label to understand that you ate double one serving size.
*Often times serving sizes are much smaller than what someone might eat in one sitting, take this into account! This is a way products can be deceiving in the amount of sugar, fat, or sodium is in them.
Calories: Important to note that this relates to one serving. So, if you are counting calories, don’t forget this, and account for how much you eat in comparison to the package’s serving size.
Percent Daily Value: Note that anything above 20% is high — this can be bad if there is higher than 20% of fat, sodium, or sugar, but could be beneficial if higher than 20% in vitamins and minerals (or protein and fiber if you are looking for foods high in those).
Total Fat: Includes what is listed below combined:
Saturated & Trans Fat are not good for us, avoid these as much as possible. Monounsaturated & Polyunsaturated (Omega 3 & Omega 6) include some good fats we need in our diet (olive oil, nuts, fish).
Sodium and Cholesterol: Don’t want these to be too high.
Total Carb: Can include Dietary Fiber which is good, and we need it! And also on some packages Total Carb includes sugar… see below for sugar details. Carbohydrates are something that can easily get confused — we need to eat carbohydrates! They are our body’s preferred source of energy and our brain’s number one source of energy. Carbs are broken down and processed as sugar (glucose) in our body. So, carbs are essential, but if we eat too much our body stores the sugar for later energy use or it turns into fat.
Added Sugar/Total Sugar: Watch out!
Total Sugar amount includes the sugars that occur naturally in the food plus added sugar. Added Sugar is artificial and totally awful for you. Please don’t eat too much (if any) added sugars.
*There are loads of names and sources for added sugar that you may not recognize in the ingredient list. So, looking at the amount of added sugars on the food label is extremely important to be sure you’re not being duped into eating too much artificial sugars which are the worst for you.
Protein: Dependent on your diet, age, etc., protein can be beneficial or harmful if you are getting too much.
Vitamins and Minerals (i.e. Vitamin D, Iron, Potassium…): All good! We need these for proper bodily functions, and a lot of us are deficient.
Ingredients list: In order descending from highest amount in the product to lowest amount by weight. There is the most of the first listed ingredient and the least of the last listed ingredient.
Following this model, the first few ingredients will be the largest concentration of the product. So, taking this into account, if the first three ingredients are a sugar, hydrogenated oil, or a refined grain, we can deem it as probably not the healthiest thing you can be eating. Also, if an ingredient list contains something you can’t pronounce, don’t understand, or has a list longer than your attention span, you probably shouldn’t eat it.
Avoid or limit: Sugar, Fat (Trans & Saturated), and Sodium.
Always be on the look out for any hydrogenated oils - these are bad for us and sometimes aren’t accounted for in the total fat.
I love reading labels and discovering what’s going on in our food system. If you ever have a question or want a crash course in person, feel free to reach out!
