"The most important thing to remember about food labels is that you should avoid foods that have labels" - Joel Fuhrman
How to read a food label is not only important when you want to lose weight, but knowing what you are eating is important so you can make informed choices that will be good for your health and wellbeing.
You would be chocked if you knew what are in some foods and a lot of the ingredients that we are eating can be extremely harmful to us in the long-term.
In this post, you will learn how to read a food label, understand why it's important to pay attention to the serving size and also get to know about some important guidelines.
Let’s decode this food label…
Doritos Cool ranch Tortilla Chips:
On your left: Ingredient list that tells you what the Doritos contain.
Manufacturers contact details (Not on this label but there usually is on the packaging)
Best before and expiry date: (Not on this label)
Serving size: Always check the serving size!!! On this Doritos label the serving size is 1oz (That’s 28g about 12 chips.)
Calories per serving: Those 12 chips contain 140 calories. See amount per serving.
Total fat: is 8 g
Saturated fat: is 1 g
Transfat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium:150 mg
Total carbohydrate: 18 g
Dietary fiber: 2 g
Sugars less than 1 g
Protein 2 g
How much are we meant to have per day?
Carbohydrates: Average healthy woman 50% of 2000kcal = 1000 calories of carbs per day. 1000/4 (As there are 4 calories in 1 gram of carbohydrates) = 250 g of carbs per day.
Protein: Average healthy woman 10-15% of 2000 kcal = 200-300 kcal of proteins per day 200/4 (As there are 4 calories in 1 gram of protein) = 50 g of proteins per day. Or 300/4=75 g of proteins per day.
Fat: Average healthy woman should eat no more than 35% of fat of 2000 kcal = 2000x 0.35 = 700 kcal. 700/9 (As there are 9 calories in 1 gram of fat) = 78 g of fat per day for the maximum limit of fat intake per day. for men, the recommended fat intake should be no more than 90 g/ day
Low fat is below 3 g per 100 g and if it is more than 5 g per 100 g it is considered high in fat.
What can we say about these Doritos?
12 chips (28 g) has 8 g of fat. If 5 g of fat per 100 g is considered high, that means that these Doritos with 8 g of fat per 28 g (which is the serving size) is extremely high in fat!
Serving size
The serving size that manufacturers use is often unrealistically small, (like the Doritos where the portion size is 12 chips, I mean come on, who can eat only 12 chips?
Per serving and by portion, what does it mean?
You must check the calorie and fat content of the serving you are actually consuming.
Look at this can of Heinz tomato soup. It shows the content of 100 g of soup and 1/2 can of soup. The recommended serving size is 1/2 can, but the realistic serving would be the full can so you will need to double everything to get the accurate content.
Tip: If you are on a weight management program, you should try to stay within the recommended serving size as a portion. This way you can still enjoy the foods you would normally have but in more moderate amounts to help manage nutrient and calorie intake better.
Actual serving sizes
A standard recommended serving for cereal such as Special K or Cornflakes for example is a ‘medium’ size bowl at 30 g. Have you ever tried weighing out 30 g of cereal to see what it looks like? It's like a handful so always weigh and measure!
Guideline daily amounts
Some packaged foods are providing information on ‘Guideline Daily Amounts’, or GDAs, as well. The GDA shows the amount of kilocalories, fat, saturated fat, salt and total sugars the average adult should aim for each day to maintain weight assuming they are healthy, of average weight and activity levels. A very active person may need more energy (kilocalories) and a less active person may need less.
Per serving and % GDA: This shows how the amount of the key nutrients per serving compares with the total recommended levels of intake for the whole day, for an average adult. The percentages link the actual amounts of energy (calories) and key nutrients found in a serving compared to the total upper level of intake for a whole day recommended in the GDAs. It is worth noting that many GDA boxes on food labels will only refer to the GDAs for the average healthy female (those that require 2,000 kcal).
Guidelines: ‘a little’ and ‘a lot’
The examples are based on per 100 g of a product. The products that show ‘a lot’ per 100 g should be consumed sparingly in your overall diet. You will need to be aware of the actual portion sizes that you serve up.
A lot: A little:
10 g of sugars 2 g of sugar
20 g of fat 3 g of fat
5 g of saturated fat 1 g of saturated fat
3 g of fibre 0.5 g of fibre
500 mg Sodium 100 mg of sodium
This Weeks’ action step: Start paying attention to food labels next time you go to the super market. See the ingredients list and check if you understand how to calculate the calories of your actual portions.
Next week Part 2. Food labels, terminology, and the law... What does farm fresh really mean?
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