Demystifying Food Labels

Let's be honest: we all eat packaged foods. Unfortunately, the current food labels and nutrition facts can be a monster to maneuver though, especially if you don't know exactly what to look for.

There's a lot of information on labels we need. Some that we don't. Some that's misleading. A whole bunch of loop holes. So, how do we get this right?

The easy answer would be to not eat any packaged foods, but can we be a little more realistic than that? It's going to happen, so let's just learn how to decode the crazy labels. 

First, ignore anything on the front of the package. Brand names, nutrient claims, whatever. They don't matter! I don't care if your bag of candy is certified organic. It's candy.

Step One : Find the Ingredients List

Why am I telling you to start with something that's not even technically on the food label? Because it's more important than anything on that label! Check out the ingredients for a minute.

Is that list half the box long? Try to keep it under six ingredients, keeping in mind that spices or other confounding variables may throw this idea out the window. Are there a whole bunch of names on that list that you couldn't say if you tried? Probably not a great option. Are you seeing any of the ingredients on this list? Just put it back.  

Step Two: Weigh Out the Serving Size

This will change next year, but have you ever really looked at the serving sizes for foods? Especially junk foods, they're completely insane! A serving size of Oreos is three Oreos. If we're being entirely for real, I have never in my life come into contact with only three Oreos at a time in my life. It's even worse for "single serving" foods, like small bags of chips or drinks. A 20 ounce drink can be three servings, but most people would consume that in one sitting. However, most people will look only at the amount of sugar on the food label, so food companies use that to their advantage. For example, there are calories labelled on a 20 ounce Coke, but we forget to multiply that by 2.5 to account for the whole bottle. Twenty-seven grams of sugar sounds a whole lot better than 81 grams! (Let's just take a second to appreciate that a 20 ounce coke, a sitting for some, has EIGHTY ONE GRAMS OF SUGAR)

Step Three: How Much Sugar Does It Have? 
While we're on the subject of sugar, really look at how much sugar this product has. Compare that to the fiber. On the label above, there's absolutely no fiber to offset the amount of sugar and other carbs in that product. When I say look at the sugar, what I really want you to do is take the total carbs and subtract the fiber. The net carbs will be what really have an explosive effect on your blood sugar, which is what we want to avoid. 

Step Four: Does It Contain Trans Fats? 
Too bad this step isn't as easy as looking at the nutrition facts. There is a fun loophole for this one! Trans fats are the nasties that really do a number on your cholesterol (not saturated fats). On the nutrition label, serving sizes can be altered so that the food contains less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving. Who cares if a person will eat eight servings at a time; it can be labeled as zero trans fats! The problem? It is recommended to eat absolutely zero grams of trans fats. So, how do you find it? Go back to the ingredient label. If there is any form of hydrogenated oil in the ingredients, it's a trans fat. Just put it back. 

Step Five: Analyze Your Needs

When we're looking at the food labels, we also need to be really honest with ourselves and what we're looking for. The nutrition label is a tool to maybe help you choose a better option out of two foods, that's it!

• Drinks can be difficult ones to analyze. You've probably heard "don't drink your calories". Most calories in drink are going to come from sugar, so that's really the reason behind it. That makes sugar a pretty good deciding factor! If I'm holding a green tea that has 1 net gram of sugar and another that contains 27 net grams of sugar, I'm obviously going to chose the lower sugar one.
• Do you want something to get you through the day and fill you up. You want something that's a little higher in protein and lower and sugar. Check for that in your nutrition facts!
• Do you want whole grain bread? Did you know that unless it says 100% whole grain, you're really not getting whole grain bread? This would be a good time to focus on the ingredients. 
• Are you holding a package of cookies and expecting the nutrition label to tell you that it's low in sugar and high in fiber? Probably not going to happen. Be real with your expectations. 

Like I said, nutrition labels are a tool. You're knowledge and understanding of what you're eating will go much further that that label will. Have a good idea of what's supposed to be in your food. 

Juice is a great example of that one with random other products in it! You want cranberry juice, but see a long list of various juices (apple, grape, etc.) on the ingredient label? That wasn't 100% cranberry juice. 

What should peanut butter have it in? Peanuts. Squished peanuts. Maybe salt. If there's a lot more than that, run away! 

Also, why are there preservatives in some frozen vegetables? Isn't that what freezing them is for? 

So, use your nutrition labels to help you along at the grocery store, but as much as possible, buy out of the package.