10 Tips for Reading Food Labels:- In her capacity as Director of Nutrition at the Pritikin Longevity Center in Miami, Florida, Kimberly Gomer has offered the ten guidelines that are displayed below for the aim of giving a quick reference. These guidelines are shown below. These recommendations are a shortened version of the standard guidelines, and they are intended to help people better understand how to read food labels.
10 Tips for Reading Food Labels
The purpose of each of these ten recommendations is to be of assistance to you in achieving your goals of reducing excess weight, taking care of your heart, and leading a healthy life.
1. Never believe the claims on the front of the box.
That which many people consider to be health claims is, in reality, nothing more than advertising and marketing pitches. In addition, claims that are approved by the government, such as “low-fat” and “light,” frequently do not provide the complete picture. These items could have a high fat content in addition to high levels of sugar, salt, and/or calories.
An example of this would be “light” ice cream, which may nevertheless include between 4 and 5 grams of fat per serving. Both “light” and “regular” versions of ice cream might not differ significantly in terms of their calorie content. Always remember that you should never judge a product based on a single factor, such as the amount of fat, cholesterol, sugar, carbohydrates, or salt it contains.
Many businesses sell their products based on a single thing, despite the fact that there are other unhealthy aspects of the product. This is done in an effort to capitalize on the most recent diet or nutrition trend. (Do you remember when “fat-free” goods were actually loaded with loads of sugar and calories?) For a product to be considered truly healthy, it must satisfy a number of criteria.
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2. Always read the Nutrition Facts label and the ingredient list.
It is possible to determine the level of healthiness of a food by using the information that is contained in these. It is possible, for instance, that crackers will advertise on the front of the box that they are “Trans Fat Free,” but the ingredient list may contain fats such as palm oil and coconut oil that are just as artery-clogging as the trans fats that they have replaced.
3. Check the serving size.
Although the majority of serving sizes were defined by the government many years ago, numerous goods continue to advertise amounts that are unreasonably small. In the case of oil spray, for example, one serving is equal to.25 grams. Approximately 120th of an ounce is a far less amount than the majority of individuals are capable of or would be willing to spray on a pan with even just one squirt.
4. Check the amount of servings per package.
There were a lot of goods that were actually single servings back in the day. Each portion consisted of one bottle of cola. One dish consisted of a single tiny candy bar. A great number of products on the market now are “super sized” and include numerous servings. A bottle of soda that is 20 ounces in size contains 2.5 servings, each of which has 110 calories.
To put that into perspective, in the real world, who is going to consume just one serving of that bottle? Do you find it surprising that a significant number of us are of a super-sized physique?
5. Check the calories per serving.
The phrase “110 calories” that is printed on the label of that 20-ounce bottle of cola leads far too many individuals to believe that they are actually consuming 110 calories. In no way. It is necessary to multiply the 110 calories by the total number of servings, which is 2.5, in order to arrive at the conclusion that you are actually consuming a staggering 350 calories.
Also, avoid becoming very familiar with the number “0.” The reason for this is that some manufacturers utilize serving sizes that are absurdly small (do you remember the 120th of an ounce of cooking spray?). Additionally, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows manufacturers to “round down” to zero, which means that certain items that are touted as being fat-free or calorie-free are not actually fat-free or calorie-free.
It is possible that you are consuming a significant number of calories if you consume many servings of the same food, for example if you spray oil spray all over a skillet.
6. Check the calories from fat.
This information can be found on the Nutrition Facts label. Regrettably, it does not include information regarding the “percent of calories from fat,” which is the method that all health guidelines recommend for limiting fat consumption. You are going to need to do some basic math. The number of calories that come from fat is divided by the total number of calories.
Your product contains 33 percent of its total calories from fat if the serving contains 150 calories, of which 50 are fat. If you find that division is difficult to understand, try dividing by grams. Implement this simple rule. According to the Pritikin standards for processed foods, a product is considered to have a fat content that is within the acceptable range if it has two grams of fat or less per one hundred calories.
This means that the fat content per serving is twenty percent or less of the total calories. You don’t need to be a mathematician to understand that the Pritikin Eating Plan recommends consuming twice as much fat as you consume, which is four grams of fat for every one hundred calories.
7. Check the sodium.
Don’t bother with the percentage of sodium that is considered to be the Daily Value (DV). It is not worth your time to deal with the Daily Value percentages. Because they are based on government norms, which are typically not as healthy as the guidelines provided by the Pritikin Program, what they are.
Look at the amount of sodium that is contained in the serving rather than the amount of serving size. There is a good rule of thumb that states that the amount of sodium in milligrams should not exceed the number of calories that are contained in each meal. Less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium should be your daily objective.
Not only has this been the daily prescription for sodium on the Pritikin Program for close to four decades, but it is also the suggestion of a large number of prominent authority on health, such as the American Heart Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
8. Check the types of fat.
Make certain that the list of ingredients does not contain any saturated fats, partially hydrogenated fats, or tropical oils. These types of fats can be found in goods such as lard, butter, coconut, cocoa butter, palm oils, shortening, margarine, chocolate, and dairy products that are either whole or part-skim. Each and every one of them is harmful to your heart and arteries.
In spite of the fact that polyunsaturated fats (such as safflower, soybean, corn, and sesame) and monounsaturated fats (such as olive and canola) are less harmful and would be acceptable, you should still make sure that the percentage of calories that come from fat is within the acceptable range.
If the percentage of fat in your diet is less than twenty percent, your waistline may begin to become problematic. Even the so-called “good” oils contain a significant amount of calories.
9. Check the sugar.
Reduce the amount of calorie sweeteners you consume. Be wary of sugars and other caloric sweeteners that do not state “sugar” but are in reality sugars. Some examples of these sweeteners are corn syrup, rice and maple syrup, molasses, honey, malted barley, barley malt, and any term that ends in “ol,” such as sorbitol or maltitol, or “ose,” such as dextrose or fructose.
You should make an effort to restrict all of these added, refined, and concentrated sugars to no more than five percent of the total calories, which is equivalent to no more than two teaspoons per day for the majority of people. Do not be concerned about the naturally occurring sugars that can be found in fruit and certain dairy products that are low in fat.
When it comes to the Nutrition Facts label, however, both naturally occurring sugars and added sugars are grouped together under the umbrella term “sugar.” Look at the list of ingredients for the best chance of success. As much as possible, steer clear of foods that include refined caloric sweeteners that are introduced in the first three to five ingredients.
Due to the fact that components are written in descending order of weight, it is preferable to locate additional sugars further down the label from where they begin.
10. Make sure that any grain is WHOLE grain, such as whole-wheat flour.
Despite the fact that many bread and pasta products claim to be made with whole wheat, the first item on the list of ingredients is frequently wheat flour. Although wheat flour may sound like a healthy ingredient, it is actually refined flour. The next item on the list is going to be bran or flour made from whole wheat.
Do your research and look for items that solely contain whole grains. And be sure that each serving has at least three grams of fiber, as this is a good indicator that the product is primarily, if not entirely, made of whole grains. If a product seems like it would be too good to be true, it probably is.
In each year, thousands of new items are introduced, many of which are attempting to capitalize on the most recent trend in diets. Quite a few might not be subject to any kind of regulation at all. It was recently discovered by the Florida Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that all 67 diet products were incorrectly labeled.
For instance, the labels of these goods suggested that they contained more sugar than they actually did. In addition, consumer laboratories recently conducted an analysis of thirty low-carb nutrition bars and discovered that sixty percent of them had incorrect labels. The majority included a greater quantity of carbohydrates, sugars, and salt than what was stated on their labels.
Allocate additional time to yourself on your initial visits to the market so that you may thoroughly examine the merchandise. You’ll gain speed in no time! It will be much simpler and quicker for you to go shopping after you have discovered things that you like and that are in accordance with these healthy principles. You should prioritize your health!