How to read a Nutrition Label!!

So, you are at the grocery store, longingly staring at the cartons of milk that sit in front of you. Which one do I buy? Nonfat or 2%? Soy milk or Almond milk? If you are like most people, you have no idea how to read that nutrition label on the back of every food container. And if you are like even more people, you usually end up making the wrong decision on which product is best for you! Well, I'm gonna give you a few good tips so that next time you are in your fav store, you can pick the right choice for you and your family. Please note that I am NOT a certified dietitian. When I was pregnant, I met with an awesome dietitian weekly who taught me all of this great info!

Let's take the example I used above to compare labels- MILK.

Things to look at when looking at the nutrition labels....

FIRST: Serving Size- Look at the serving size and then how many servings are in the package overall. Ask yourself, how many servings will I be consuming?

2% Milk & Nonfat Milk- Serving Size: 1 cup for each (these are from those little milk cartons so Servings Per Container is 1) Makes it easy in this case- we will be consuming exactly what this container says, don't have to do any adding!

SECOND: Calories- Now that you have determined how much you are going to consume, you can look at how many calories are in that serving size, and if need be, do the math to figure out how many calories you will be consuming...

2% Milk- 120 calories (45 calories from fat)
Nonfat Milk- 80 calories (0 calories from fat, guess that's why it's called nonfat... haha)

Looking at how many calories come from fat is important! Although it's good to have SOME fat in your diet, you don't want to overdo it. For example, Macaroni & Cheese has 250 calories in 1 cup, 110 of those calories are FAT CALORIES. Listen, put down the box and walk away!

How many calories should you be consuming in 1 serving? Here is a rough answer for you- 40 calories is too little (meaning, you aren't gonna get much satisfaction from this food!), 100-150 calories is a good place to be, and 400+ calories= DANGER! YOUR PANTS WON'T FIT THE SAME AFTER EATING THIS! Now, of course, you can't use this for EVERYTHING but it's a good cheat sheet when you are comparing labels!

THIRD: Fat- Now, like I said earlier, you want to eat some fat in your diet, fyi you people who think that cutting out ALL FAT will get the job done, WRONG! But, you want to make sure you are eating a LOW FAT diet with the healthy fats that your body needs. What are the "ok" fats to eat? The "unsaturated fats" such as POLYUNSATURATED & MONOUNSATURATED. Eating these kinds of fats can actually help lower your blood cholesterol level! I know, right!?!!? Where can you get this kind of fat? From fish, nuts, and avocados, to name a few. Now, what are the "NO-NO" fats? Saturated fats and the worst of them all, TRANS FATS (also known as hydrogenated fats)!!! STAY AWAY FROM THESE AT ALL COSTS! "But Christine, I thought that everyone stopped making trans fat foods!" Nope, unfortunately, that is wrong, the FDA made it mandatory for companies to show that there is trans fat in the food, but they can still produce it. Where do we see trans fat? Some margarine, white breads, cake & cookie mixes, and fast food restaurants (of course!).

2% Milk- Total Fat 5g (Saturated fat 3g, Trans fat 0g)
Nonfat Milk- Total Fat 0g (again, makes sense! haha)

Now, comparing Total Fat to Calories, how much fat should be in the foods compared to the calories being consumed? Again, this is just a ROUGH answer, but a good cheat sheet just the same- for every 100-150 calories, try to stay around 2 grams of total fat.

FORTH: The next thing to look at is FIBER, SODIUM, SUGARS, & PROTEIN! I'm not going to get into depth with these but here is an easy way to know you are getting the right foods- go for the foods with MORE FIBER & PROTEIN and LESS SODIUM & SUGARS.

As for our Milks- both milk have the same Sodium, Fiber, Sugar, and Protein grams.

FIFTH: Vitamins- this is kinda a no-brainer- the more vitamins you can put in your body, the better!!

As for the Milks, they both have the SAME amount of vitamins. This is IMPORTANT to know because a lot of people think they need to buy the 2% milk because it has more calcium, but nope! they have the same amount of nutrients! So, the verdict is, BUY THE NONFAT MILK!! There really isn't any reason not to have nonfat milk, unless it's because of taste.

SIXTH and LASTLY: Ingredients! The first FIVE ingredients are the most important ones to look at because those are going to be the bulk of the food. What do you NOT want to see in the first five ingredients? HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!! Don't be fooled by those darn commercials claiming that it's ok in moderation, it's really not... but unfortunately for us, it's in A LOT of the food we eat, like KETCHUP! But, don't worry, Heinz is the first to come out with a ketchup that has NO HFCS! So, find it and replace your fridge with it! New studies are linking obesity with HFCS! Overall, look for WHOLE FOODS in your ingredients, not man-made replacements!

Hope this helps, everyone!!!! :)