How to Read Food Labels for Healthy Ingredients
Food labels can be so confusing that some of us don't even bother reading them. There are two basic parts to think of when reading a food label; the actual ingredients of the food and the nutritional values of those ingredients. Here are some helpful tips to read food labels for healthy ingredients.
Instructions
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Educate yourself about healthy foods and ingredients. Limit your intake of fats, sugars, carbohydrates and sodium. Many low fat, processed or prepared foods have added higher amounts of sodium to replace the flavor of fats. Excessive amounts of sodium can cause health problems, including fluid retention, which contributes to high blood pressure.
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Start with the ingredients of the food you're buying. Ingredients are listed in descending order, so the first ingredient listed makes up the majority of the food. Read all the ingredients listed and make note of sugars, fats, artificial flavorings or additives. Make sure the first five ingredients are healthy ingredients that you want to eat.
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Read the whole label carefully. For example, you may think you are buying meat, but the label states "meat flavored." "Meat flavored" only means the flavor of meat is in the food, not the meat itself.
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Check the nutritional value per serving and the size of each serving. While you may eat a whole box of prepared macaroni and cheese, the serving size listed is for half that amount. If you are going to eat the whole box, you must multiply everything by two. For example, double the amount of calories and fat, sodium and sugar to determine the nutritional value of the food you'll actually eat. When broken down like this, some so-called "healthy" foods are not.
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Read the percentage of daily recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals, based on your serving size. The nutritional value is listed by percentages. If you eat that same macaroni and cheese dinner, in the same proportion, you would get 40 percent of the daily recommended allowance of calcium. This tells you that more calcium is needed in your diet the day you eat that meal.
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