Food Labels

Are you someone who is overwhelmed when it comes to reading food nutrition labels? If this is you, you are not alone. I am here to share some helpful tips to overcome this fear.

First, do NOT believe everything on the package, many companies make health claims to draw you into buying them, some examples are fat free, high protein, low sugar, reduced fat and organic. Truth is, even though this may be the case it does not necessarily make them healthier. As you probably know they have to add additional ingredients into the product to make it taste as good as the original. My rule of thumb is, if the product has more that 7 ingredients listed, it may not be the best option. Also, if you have trouble pronouncing certain listed ingredients, it is a sign to ditch it and look for something else.

Make sure to always check the ingredients list to make sure the health claims are correct, as many ingredients can come under different names. For example, a product has listed itself as sugar free, even though the total grams of sugar may be low, sugar can STILL be hiding in the product. Sugar can be listed in 50 DIFFERENT ways, but just to name a few, we have agave, brown rice syrup, cane sugar, dextrose, fructose, glucose, honey and maltose. Make yourself aware of these and always check the ingredients when certain products make these claims.

Secondly, always read the per 100g column to compare similar products, because the serve sizes differ between brands.

Lastly compare the health star rating of similar products, for example compare one brand of cereal with another brand of cereal. The health star rating is just a guide but can be useful to some people who are on the run and are limited with time to read all of the nutritional label. The more stars out of five that the product has, the healthier choice it is.

Please note that these are all just SUGGESTIONS, you do not need to follow them exactly when choosing products, but it can be useful when you are overwhelmed and don't know what to look for.