Read Labels for Weight Management

In this day and age, when so many of our foods are produced or prepared by someone else, it is vitally important to know what’s in the foods we’re eating. Foods can look one way at first glance but very different when we check that label and do some self-educating. I’m frequently amazed at how many calories and grams of fat can be packed into fairly small portions of foods that come in packages, not to mention astronomical sodium levels.

Being a trained food consumer isn’t too complicated. Let’s take a look and you’ll be a food label ninja before you know it.

What to Look For on a Food Label

Serving Size and Servings per Container

This is a major issue with current food packaging: foods that are intended to be multiple servings are consumed as one serving. I do question food companies’ motivation and feel that they know full well that a 20 oz soda isn’t consumed in 2.5 servings, as traditional labels have advised.

If you’re tracking food intake on an app or computer that adds your intake as you go, be certain you’re getting your servings accurately entered, or there’s really no point in tracking. Mistakenly entering the soda as 1 serving vs 2.5 when consuming 20 oz vs the 8 oz serving chosen will not add in the appropriate 150 calories for the larger serving.

Calories

We in the healthcare community throw the term “calories” around too loosely. Studies have shown that the calorie data on menus has had very little impact in lowering calorie intake in a majority of patrons like it was intended to. This is felt to be widely related to lack of education on what calories are and how they impact health.

To help: a calorie is the measurement of food’s ability to provide energy, so the higher the calorie level, the more energy potential that food has. Studies show that some people choose foods with higher calorie values thinking they’re getting more for their money, not realizing that extra calories mean they need to increase energy use, i.e. exercise, to effectively use those calories without adding weight.

You likely don’t fall into that sub-category of people, but to effectively utilize calorie information, you need to have an educated idea of how many calories you need in a day to create a calorie/energy deficit that results in desired weight change. Check out this link, entering your desired weight and being very honest about your activity/exercise levels, to assess your calorie needs.

Calorie Calculator

Percent Daily Value (%DV)

Few people get down to this part of a food label, but this is the info we can use to be sure our food choices are healthy, nutritious choices, and not just within our calorie budget.

• 5% or less means a food is low in a nutrient

  • Choose foods that are low in fat, cholesterol, sugar, and sodium

• 10% to 19% of the DV is a good source of that nutrient

• 20% or more means a food is high in a nutrient

  • Choose foods that are high in fiber, vitamins and minerals

A healthy food choice is one that has at least one Good or High nutrient rating and fits within your calorie target. If you’re already accurately tracking calories, start looking at the percent Daily Values section to ensure most of your food choices are healthy and nutrient rich, as we want them to be.

Check Your Skills

Using the label above:

1. How many servings are in the package?

2. How much should you measure out for one serving?

3. How many calories are in one serving? Pretty easy so far? OK then,

4. How many calories would you get if you ate the whole package?

5. Is this food a Low, Good or High nutrient source for

   1. Fiber?

   2. Vitamin D?

   3. Calcium?

   4. Iron?

   5. Potassium?

6. Is this a healthy food choice?

Karen Fisher, MS, RD, LDN, CDE is a dietitian in Reno, Nevada, happily promoting the benefits of healthy foods at her nutrition consulting firm, Nutrition Connection. Find her website atwww.NutritionConnectionNV.com

To find a nutrition expert in your area, go to the academy website – Find an Expert https://www.eatright.org/find-an-expert