March is National Nutrition Month which is an annual campaign to encourage people to make informed food choices and develop healthful eating habits. This can be challenge with all the labeling on processed foods. Any packaged food will have information on all sides of the package. How do we determine if a food is “healthy” or not? Knowing how to read both the front and back of packaged food is vital to stocking a nutritious kitchen. Eating whole food in its natural state doesn’t require a label (unless it is some strange fruit or vegetable); but packaged food is another story. Let’s look at the labeling of processed foods to improve our food choices.
Obviously, it is the front of the package that we see first and this is where the most deception can occur or as my three year-old granddaughter would call it: propaganda. Yes, I said deception, as food manufacturer’s main goal is to sell the product and hopefully make a profit. There can be a lot of information on the front of the package; it is important to know what this information means or doesn’t mean.
Front of the Package
The front of packages can be the sneakiest. The best tip can be to ignore what is promoted on the front side as these are often marketing techniques. Many claims are misleading.
- Light – the product is processed to reduce either calorie or fat content which can mean that sugar content is increased.
- Multi-Grain – this sounds healthy enough but all it really means is that there is more than one type of grain in the product. These grains are more often highly refined grains unless whole grain is mentioned in the ingredient list.
- Natural – this simply indicates that at one point the manufacturer worked with a natural source but does not necessarily mean it resembles anything natural after processing.
- Organic – just because something is organic does not mean that it is healthy; take organic sugar for example.
- No Added Sugar – many products are naturally high in sugar; examples can include honey or maple syrup.
- Low-Calorie – this means that the product has one third the amount of calories compared to the original form of that brand. There may be other brands that may be as low as the “low-calorie” version of some original brands.
- Made with Whole Grain – the product may contain very little whole grain so it is important to check the ingredient list to see if whole grain is in the first three ingredients; otherwise, its content will be negligible.
- Fortified or Enriched – this means that ingredients have been added to the product; again, just because it has been fortified or enriched does not mean it is healthy.
- Gluten-Free – again, gluten-free does not mean it is healthy; it simply means that it does not contain wheat, spelt, rye, or barley. These products can often be highly processed and have unhealthy fats and sugar.
- Fruit Flavored – this may refer to a natural flavor, but it may not contain any fruit. It can contain chemicals designed to taste like fruit.
- Zero Trans Fat – what this actually means is that it contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fats per serving. This one is really quite misleading.
Nutrition Facts Label
The important information will be found on the nutrition facts label located on the side or back of the product. There are five sections to the label and some changes to the label became effective as of January 2021.
- Section 1: Serving Information – this contains the number of servings per package, size of the serving, and its weight in grams. This is NOT the recommended amount but instead reflects the amount people most often eat. This section is now printed in larger fonts.
- Section 2: Calories – the calories are listed for the specific serving size and is based on 2,000-calorie daily intake. It is important to note that if you eat more than the stated serving size, you will be consuming more calories.
- Section 3: Nutrients – this section will show some key nutrients that may impact your health such as total fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, sugar, and protein. A change in this section includes two different numbers for the sugar content: the first is the total sugar and a separate line for any added sugars. This is important to know as some foods have natural forms of sugar in them but with processing more sugar may be added.
- Section 4: Percent Daily Value (%DV) – specific nutrients will be listed here with the percentage in the product. This will be based on the serving size. This can be used to determine if a product will be helpful for your specific dietary needs.
- Section 5: Ingredient List – contains each ingredient in the product by its common name or usual name. This list is in descending order. If the ingredient list is two to three lines long, it can be considered a highly processed food.
Reading food labels can be daunting and time consuming but now that you know some tips, you should be able to choose foods that will invest in your overall health. Remember the front of the package is for marketing and instead, concentrate on the nutrition label. The best choices are to choose whole real food: an apple contains apple, a carrot contain carrot, and etc.
Do you regularly read labels? Did you know the labels had changed this year?
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Heather
