Do you eat packaged food? What a silly question this is, you may wonder… From biscuits to cereals to noodles to atta, even water comes packaged these days. Ok, now say if you read nutritional labels when you eat these? The most likely answer is- No.
Most of the times, we are aware of the label given by the companies on the packet but do not actually read them. But if you once really try to read and understand what the label means, you will really know what goes in your mouth. You will realize that one serving of cup noodles gives us 60% of our daily sodium intake and one bottle of soft drink contains more than 7 teaspoons of sugar…. Intrigued? Then read more to find out the way to read nutritional labels.
Sample:
Listed below are the nutrient contents in the order mentioned on a label-
Serving size: This is the first thing mentioned on the label. The serving size talks about the portion in which it is generally eaten. Sometimes though it can be misleading, if the package contains 6 biscuits, the serving size only talks about 2 cookies as one serving and you end up eating 3 times of calories mentioned in the serving size if you eat the entire pack.
Number of servings: This makes it easier to understand the label. If the serving size is 100 gm then a 500 gm biscuit packet contains 5 servings. Thus you know the total number of calories by multiplying serving size with the number of servings.
The information next is the calories per serving and calories from fat. These numbers tells you how many calories the product has per serving and how much of it comes from fat. In the sample label almost half of the calories come from fats, which is clearly not good.
General Guide to Calories
- 40 Calories is low
- 100 Calories is moderate
- 400 Calories or more is high
The next section contains information about carbohydrate, protein and fat content and the amount present in grams (gm) or milligrams (mg) and the corresponding number is the percentage of Daily Value (DV) or the daily requirement recommended, but this is based on a 2000 calorie per day diet which may or may not be recommended for you.
Fats: Fats are first nutrients mentioned in the label. Since fats- the total fats, Trans fats, saturated fats are causes of obesity and weight gain, you should look at the amount closely.
Cholesterol- The culprit responsible for heart diseases and clogging the arteries, make sure that the cholesterol amount is negligible.
Sodium- Sodium stands for content of Sodium chloride or common salt in the food. Sodium is generally very high in packaged food and should be avoided as it is known to cause hypertension, heart diseases, stroke and even some cancers.
All of the nutrients mentioned above are generally high in our diet that not only cause gain weight but also increase the risk of heart diseases. Keep an eye on all these numbers and make sure the numbers are small.
Carbohydrate- High number of Carbohydrates is generally not a good sign as too much of carbohydrates will shoot your glucose level and increase insulin sensitivity.
Dietary Fiber- Fiber is something we lack in our diet. Fiber is known to improve bowel movement, digestion and fight cholesterol. So we need more of fiber in our diet.
Any food that contains 2.5 - 4.9gm of fiber is a good source of fiber.
Sugars- The direct cause of increase in level of sugars in the blood, sugars should be in a low quantity in the food.
Protein- The building block of our body, proteins helps in growth, maintenance and regulation of the body. Protein should be present in a good percentage in the food stuff.
The next section gives information about the vitamins and minerals present in the body. As our diet is usually low in these, any food which has good amount of vitamins and minerals are good for you.
Calcium: Calcium keeps away osteoporosis and keeps the bone strong. Look for the % DV (Daily Value) to judge how much the food is providing you with, a food with 20% DV or more contributes a lot of calcium to your daily total, while one with 5% DV or less contributes a little.
In general remember,
A product that is
High in Fiber, Vitamins, Minerals- Good
High in Fats, Cholesterol, Sugar, Fats- Bad
This way we understand what exactly is present in the foods we eat and gives us a chance to make an informed choice. If only we read nutritional labels for most of the packaged food we eat, we will be able to identify the hidden sources of fats and sodium that lead to health problems and we can make sure we avoid them.
