Read Your Food Labels Carefully
October 5, 2009 by Linette Gerlach
Filed under Recipes
I’m a label reader. I love to got to the grocery when I’m not in a hurry so I can check out the labels on foods before I buy. I have some favorite foods that I know what’s on the label, but whenever I try something new I like to see what’s in there.
If you just take the time to check out labels while your in the grocery store a couple times, you’ll get much faster at it on future trips. You’ll know where to look for the important stuff, and you’ll learn which brands you can trust.
Some things to look for on the food label?
- Check out the ingredients list, if there are things you can’t pronounce put it back on the shelf.
- While you’re checking out the ingredients list check to see what the top ingredients listed are. Ingredients are listed from most used to least used on a label. If the first item on the list is high fructose corn syrup, enriched white flour, or sugar you probably should put it back on the shelf and look for a healthier option.
- What should top the ingredients list? whole grains, fruits, or vegetables are a great start to an ingredients list.
- Watch out for hydrogenated oils and fats, or partially hydrogenated oils. Your body has no idea what to do with these, they’re also listed as trans-fats, shortening, and a few other sneaky names.
- While you’re checking out the ingredients, take a look at the calorie information, fats, carbs, and fiber content.
- Another thing that’s good to check is the serving size, how many can you eat for 150 calories? Sometimes what looks like a one serving bag can deceptively be labeled as three servings.
- Check the sodium content, you’ll be surprised at all the sodium in processed foods.
Not all packaged foods are bad for you, there are many healthy options out there, once you get used to reading the label it becomes like second nature. Every time you pick up a new item you’ll automatically turn it over to see what’s inside the packaging.
I’m also not saying that everything that goes in my cart is healthy, but reading labels does help me make more good choices than bad in the grocery aisle.
Image (c) L Gerlach
Also pay attention to how many different types of sugars are present on the label. The label lists ingredients by quantity, so if half the sweetener is high fructose corn syrup and half is sugar, the sugar and the corn syrup will each show up a lot lower down on the label than if one was excluded and the other doubled. This is a sneaky way manufacturers are trying to slip the added sweetness past label reading consumers.
Judy~ Excellent point! I forgot about that one! Thanks for adding it.
Hi. I admire how you take time and read the labels. The only thing that I am interested in the label is the calorie per serving and the sodium content of the product. I am talking about food products only. Other than that I have never thought of taking the time to read the label. I think what you are doing is awesome.