HOW TO READ NUTRITION LABELS

With the increased awareness of obesity, so many people are learning about how to read nutrition labels. After reading this article, you'll be able to, too.

Steps

Locate the Nutrition Facts. They are normally located on the side. Normally, the first thing written under Nutrition Facts is Serving Size. For Serving Size, a good amount is 8 fl. oz. (240 mL) for drinks, and it varies for other products.

Find out how many calories there are per serving. Let's say that you need 2000 calories per day. A snack should not exceed 300 calories, and a meal should not exceed 650 calories.

Look for things like Total Fat, Sodium, Total Carb, Protein, Sugar, etc. These headings should tell you how many grams of there are. Sports drinks are high in sodium, meat is high in protein, sweets are high in sugars, etc. Across from each heading is a percent. This tells you what percent of your daily values this will take. For example, if you have one serving of Orangina, that is 8% of your total carbs, if you eat 2000 calories per day.

When you look on the nutrition information, you will see that the "fat" section will be broken down into subsections, like polyunsaturates, monosaturates, saturates, transfat etc. If you want to choose healthier products, look for low or no saturated fat, transfat and cholesterol content. These are bad fats that are detrimental to your health.

Tips

If you eat healthy food (wheat bread, lots of fruit and veggies, lean meat, only a few sweets, etc.) you shouldn't have to worry about calories, sugar, sodium, etc.

Remember to drink lots of water! Eight to ten glasses a day is recommended.

Another important thing to remember is that if you eat more calories than you burn off, you will gain weight. To maintain your weight, you need to have a balance. Also, athletes need more calories.

Warnings

Talk to your physician if you want to start a diet. Not all diets are for everyone - s/he can probably recommend one that is safe for you.

Beware! Many foods, like a small bag of chips, are really two servings, despite that they look like just one. Always check!

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