How to: Reading nutrition labels

I know that not everyone eats so fresh and clean and some people rely on nutrition labels to buy their food products.

I personally advocate eating less things in a box with a nutrition label but no one is perfect, not even me so let's get to your little lesson on nutrition labels.


Serving size: This is the serving size for 1 SERVING and lists how many servings there are in the package of whatever you buy. When you are eating overly processed or higher calorie no good for you foods, the serving sizes are going to be ridiculous. I mean have you seen how many chips are in a serving size for Lay's. let's get real people NO ONE eats an ounce or has a king size bag and saves the rest for later. PUHLEASE not even I do that! NOM NOM get in my face!

Calories: This one is pretty obvious. It tells you how many calories are in each SERVING of the food that you are eating. So is 200 calories for 12 chips worth it to you? I mean it may be. Maybe it won't that day. Who knows but that is the calorie count for ONE SERVING.

Fats/Sodium: This is where you want to be careful. Anything over 200 mg of sodium is TOO HIGH and is going to cause some serious bloat factor. It will cause water retention and all sorts of things. Be careful even when buying vegetables in a can, beans in a can or tomato sauces and such because the preservatives that they put in these things can be EXTREMELY high. Also beware of soups and stocks, these usually carry about 600+ milligrams of sodium and if you are trying to watch your weight you can be assured that if you aren't drinking a gallon of water a day you will probably gain a pound or two and wonder why the next morning.

Fat is just that, fat. Most things always have fat in them but the higher the percentage of fat in your foods the more calories it has and the more calories from fat it has as well. Fat isn't always a bad thing, if we are talking about avocados and peanut butter or olive oil these are good for you fats BUT should be used in moderation because it WILL make you FAT.

Fiber: You want to have fiber in your food. It helps in the digestive process. It creates somewhat of a ball and rolls through your intestines getting rid of all the gunk that is in there out. Fiber also helps to make you regular. 

Nutrients: This is where your vitamins and minerals are and you should be getting enough of those as well. If you are eating raisins per say your nutrients are going to be higher in this area than if you were eating chips. (I swear I am not a chip hater ha ha)

If you want to figure out where all of your calories are coming from in your meals you can take the grams of each component carbohydrates, fats, and protein and use this equation to see where your calories are going


FAT - 9 calories per gram
CARBOHYDRATE: 4 calories per gram
PROTEIN: 4 Calories per gram

This way you can see where your calories are going and you can judge your food from there. I always say that the best policy is to eat food without a nutrition label that way you are the safest you can be. We all know that we aren't all perfect so I hope you take this information and absorb it :)


Until next time!!!!

Jeannette