Understanding Labels and Health Claims
By Chad Tackett
At home, you can eat only what is available. For your weight
management program to be successful, you must master the art of low-fat
shopping. If what you have in your refrigerator and cupboards is junk
food, chances are you'll eat that in place of healthy, low-fat foods
that satisfy and provide energy.
Before you head to the store, you should have a clear understanding
of how to read labels so you can make the healthiest, wisest choices
of foods you will enjoy. The following are key words for properly understanding
food product labels:
* Serving size: The amount of food the information refers
to.
* Servings per container: The number of servings in the entire product
or package.
* Percent daily values: Shows how a food fits into an overall daily
diet based on a daily intake of 2,000 calories.
* Calories: The total number of calories in one serving of this food.
* Calories from fat: The total number of calories from fat in one serving
of this food.
* Total fat: The weight of fat (in grams) in one serving of this food.
* Saturated fat: The weight of saturated fat (in grams) in one serving
of this food.
* Sodium: The weight of sodium (in milligrams) in one serving of this
food.
* Protein: The weight of protein (in grams) in one serving of this food.
* Total carbohydrates: The weight of both complex and simple carbohydrates
(in grams) in one serving of this food.
* Sugars: The weight of simple carbohydrates (in grams) in one serving
of this food; to find out how many complex carbohydrates are in the
food simply subtract sugars from total carbohydrates.
After you have a clear understanding of the key label words,
there are five other important values you will want to consider before
concluding that the food product is a healthy, low-fat food.
1. Check the List of Ingredients :
Ingredients are listed in descending order according to
their quantity in that food. The first three or four ingredients listed
usually make up most of the product. Keep in mind, however, that fat
and sugar come in many different forms; even if they are not one of
the first three ingredients, the food can still be very high in fat
and/or sugar. Other "names" of fat include hydrogenated vegetable
shortening, butter, margarine, oil (coconut, safflower, palm, etc.),
lecithin, lard, and cream solids.
Other names of sugars include fructose, honey, corn sweeteners,
molasses, maltose, corn syrup, fructose, galactose, glucose, and dextrose.
If only one of these names appears among the first few ingredients on
the label, or if several of them are listed throughout the label, this
food is likely to be high in fat or sugar.
2. Pay Attention to Total Fat and Saturated Fat
:
When checking the label of a food, always check the line
that reads "total fat." Most experts believe you should get
no more than 25 percent of total daily calories from fat. For someone
who weighs 160 pounds, that would be about 72 grams a day. So before
purchasing any food, check the total fat to see if that product fits
into your eating plan.
Right below the "total fat" line is "saturated
fat." Again, you want this number to be very low, since this type
of fat is linked to obesity and heart disease. No more than 10 percent
of your calories should come from saturated fats. For the average person,
this is between 7-10 grams a day.
3. Figure Out the Percentage of Calories from Fat
:
In addition to listing the ingredients, labels give you
the information you need to determine the percentage of calories from
fat in a specific food product. Knowing this is actually far more important
than simply knowing the number of grams of fat in the food product.
Just as you want less than 25 percent of your total daily calories to
be from fat, you also want to try to eat foods that get less than 25
percent of their total calories from fat. Because a food product has
a low number of fat grams, it is not necessarily a low-fat, healthy
food.
Take, for example, a reduced-fat whipping cream. Many people
assume that since this product only has 1.5 grams of fat per serving
that it is a healthy dessert topping (often justifying double or triple
the amount on their dessert). However, this product contains actually
45 percent fat. On the other hand, a common nutrition bar has 5 grams
of fat per serving. Many dieters would not touch this product for fear
of so much fat, when, in actuality, this product contains only 12 percent
fat.
How can a food that only has 1.5 grams of fat per serving
have a higher percentage of fat calories than a product that contains
5 grams of fat. It is quite simple: The whipped topping only contains
30 calories per serving whereas the nutrition bar contains 380. The
nutrition bar is packed with protein and carbohydrates, giving the product
a lot more nutritious food value and more calories. Since the whipped
topping only contains 30 calories, it has very little nutritional value
and quite a bit of fat relative to the total volume of food and calories.
When checking labels, be sure to figure out the percentage of fat calories
in addition to the number of fat grams.
To determine the percentage of calories from fat of a food
product, look for two important numbers: calories per serving and total
grams of fat per serving. Since you want to know what percentage of
the total calories are fat calories, you must first convert the grams
of fat into calories. Remember, there are 9 calories per gram of fat.
To calculate the fat percentage of the food:
a) Multiply the number of grams of fat
by the number 9 (9 calories per gram of fat).
b) Divide this number by the total calories
per serving.
c) The result is the percentage
of fat calories (should be less than 25).
This article was provided by GHF.
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