Whether you’re feeding a whole family, a gathering of friends, or just cooking for one or two, you need to know what’s going into the pot (so to speak). Are your foods natural, or filled with chemicals and preservatives that can be harmful over time? Do organic labels really signify that 100% toxin-free foodstuffs are included? How can you tell which foods will help to lower your sodium or cholesterol (and which will make them worse)? Actually, there is an easy way to answer all of these questions, and it can usually be found on the packaging for any product. By reading and understanding food labels, you can get a firm grasp on what you are putting into your body and the effects it might have on your short- and long-term health. So how can you tell what the food labels mean?
The easiest way to approach understanding labels is to break them down into parts. At the top of the label, under “Nutrition Facts”, you’ll see the serving size as well as the number of servings per package. This is important because everything else on the label pertains to only one serving size (usually measured in teaspoons, cups, or some other easily quantifiable portion). If you’re watching your intake of something (calories, sodium, sugar, etc.) you’ll need to be aware of serving sizes. Below this is the section for calories. You’ll also see how many calories are from fat. If you’re worried about cholesterol, this could be important (although the type of fat is more important).
Next you’ll see a long list of pertinent nutritional elements included in your food, usually starting with a section that contains such items as quantities of fat (broken down into types), cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, sugars, and protein. These will each show an amount in grams (or milligrams) as well as the percentage of daily value (or the percentage of the total you are recommended to eat in a day, usually pertaining to a 2,000 calorie diet). This will be followed by the vitamins and minerals included in the food item, also with a daily value attributed to them. And finally, you will see the actual list of ingredients, although technically this is not considered part of the nutrition label. But what does all of this mean to the lay-person?
Although it can be difficult to formulate a harmonious picture of nutrition from the many factoids listed on the food label, you can learn to read and interpret them over time. For example, those who are worried about hypertension will want to avoid large amounts of sodium, which are often used as a preservative and flavoring agent in packaged foods. If you are getting 20% of your daily intake of sodium from one serving of soup, for example, and you end up eating the entire can of soup (2 servings), then you have consumed almost half of your sodium for the day in just one meal. And if you are seeking organic foods, you need to look at the list of ingredients. Every organic item will actually be preceded by “organic” on the ingredient list, so you can see pretty quickly if it lives up to its promise.
In short, there is a lot of pertinent information provided on the nutrition label of packaged foods if you just know how to read it and comprehend its meaning as part of the whole. As for foods that don’t have nutrition labels, such as unpackaged produce, simply look online. There are many websites that provide this information. And finally, when you go out to eat, ask for nutrition information. Not all restaurants are yet required to provide this information upon request, but most do, so if you have a hard time getting it, you may want to take your business elsewhere.
Sarah Danielson writes for EPI Labelers where you can find bottle labelers and a label applicator for your packaging and promotional needs.