As you may know, food labels provide information under the title "Nutriton Facts" on packaged foods, some fast food packages, and grocery store items. You can also find nutrition information that would normally be included on a food label with a Web site such as About.com's Calorie Count.
One of the most important things to understand on a food label is serving size and/or servings in package. A serving size is the amount of the food that is considered a "normal" serving. This is often quite a bit less than you are accustomed to consuming. For example, the serving size for many cereals is either a half-cup or three-fourths; most of us easily eat a cup or more in each bowl. (You could be eating twice as many calories as a serving and not even realize it!)
The number of servings per container is also very important. More often than not, something you may think is one serving is actually two, such as a small bottle of soda. Convenience foods often come in different sizes as well as candy such as "snack" or "fun size" for example. But just because a package looks like it "should" be a single serving, that doesn't mean it is. If at first glance you see a caloric count for a food, don't assume it's for the entire package; always check the servings section of the label.
Sodium lists the amont of salt in one serving of the foods. Often, pre-packaged, processed foods contain high amount of sodium. It is recommended to not consume more than 2,000 mg of salt per day.
Most pre-packaged foods are low in fiber and therefor do little -- if anything -- to help us meet the daily recommended goal of 25-35 grams per day. When choosing snack foods, it is possible to locate high-fiber varieties, typically whole grain foods, such as crackers and cereals.
Sugar is an important piece of information on any food label; even some "healthy" foods like certain yogurts can contain a high amount of sugar. Always compare labels when making your food and beverage choices, even if a product is a "diet" or "lite" version of a higher-fat food: Just because something is fat-free, that doesn't make it preferable to another type of food if it contains a high amount of sugar. Some lower-fat versions of foods actually contain more calories than the regular version due to sugar conetent.
As a rule of thumb, you should look for foods high in fiber, low in fat and sugar, low in saturated fat, and trans-fat free whenever possible.
Previous Daily Tips:
Add Healthy Foods to Your Diet
Try Plate Portioning
