Reading Nutrition Labels on Food Packages
You can find nutrition information on the labels of food containers. This is important dietary information when selecting foods to cook for a well-balanced meal. It is particularly necessary, when planning a diet for diabetics, growing children, elderly people, and those on a paleo diet or a keto diet plan, to have the correct calorie intake.
When eating out at fast food restaurants, it’s also important to look, for example, at the McDonalds nutrition facts or KFC nutrition information. This will help to ensure that you do not exceed the recommended daily intake of sugar, fats and calories.
Reading food labels can be scary… and confusing.
Here are ten tips to help you…
10 Tips for Reading a Food Label
Tip #1 Our food is fuel for the body.
The body burns food as you go about your day.
Tip#2 Food provides energy for your daily activies.
The more active you are, the more calories you burn.
Tip #3 Know how much is in one serving.
To know how much energy food contains, you must know the serving size. This can be determined using a measuring cup.
Tip #4 The calories listed are per serving.
The calorie listing is important because it tells you how much energy you get from one serving of food.
Since the calories listed on the label are per serving, if you have multiple servings you have to multiply the number of calories by the number of servings.
This will give you the total calories that you have eaten. For example, 232 calories times 10 servings equals 2320 which is the total calories eaten.
There are three types of foods that provide energy… fats, carbohydrates and protein. If you add all these ingredients together you can calculate the total calories.
Tip #5 Know the type of calories that you are eating.
Tip #6 How fatty is your fuel?
Fats are the most concentrated foods which means that a large number of calories are present in a small amount of fat. Make sure you eat healthy fats like fish and nuts.
But remember a very little bit of fat burns for a long time and contains lots of energy.
Tip #7 Sugar is too sweet.
Carbohydrates are foods that are broken down by the body. If you are running a race that requires a lot of energy then carbohydrates are a good choice. However, if not burned right away, carbohydrates are stored almost immediately.
Excess carbohydrates have been tied to many health problems.
Tip #8 Premium-fuel food for the body has a lot of protein.
Protein is the third and final ingredient in food that provides us with calories. Protein provides good energy levels, keeps your weight steady and helps the body to repair itself.
Tip#9 Food ingredients should not be in a foreign language!
Ingredients are listed at the bottom of the food label. Chances are if you cannot pronounce the ingredients they are not good for you.
Tip #10 Foods with too many ingredients will clog your body’s engine.
So many people choose what they eat by what they crave, what they want to eat or what tastes good.
You can make better choices about what you are eating so that you can maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Choosing foods with fewer ingredients that are less processed (and that you can pronounce), is a good way to insure good health and a long life.
The first thing you should look at is the ingredient list.
Watch this video to learn why…
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