UNLOCKING THE SECRETS TO FOOD LABELS Healthy Living: Lesson 3
Jan 18, 2016
UNLOCKING THE SECRETS TO FOOD LABELS
Healthy Living: Lesson 3
Welcome!
Beverly Utt, MS, MPH, RD Registered Dietitian Wellness Coach and Smoking
Cessation Coordinator with the
MultiCare Center for Healthy Living
Email: [email protected] Phone: 253.301.5096
Today’s Class
Unlocking the Secrets to Food Labels
What we will cover: Food label tour Getting to know daily values Finding hidden fat, sugar and salt Choosing whole grains And a recipe!
Benefits of Food Labels
Informative Compare foods and
products Find hidden fat, salt
and sugar Valuable tool
START HERE!
Putting it to Use
Let’s look at a Mac-n-Cheese Label
Serving Size Serving size tells you the
measurement of one serving.
All nutrients on the label are based on this amount.
Servings per container tell you how many servings are in the package.This package
contains 2 cups of Mac-n-Cheese.
More than one serving? No problem!
Serving Amount x Calories or Nutrient
Example: How many calories are in 2 servings of Mac-n-Cheese?
2 Cups X 250 Calories = 500 calories
2 Cups x 12g fat = 24g of fat
1 Cup =
250 Calories
Use the Nutrition Facts Label
5% is LOW
20% is HIGH
Choose Foods for Their Nutrients…
Putting % Daily Value to Use
Nutrients in Yellow:Look for foods that provide LESS of these nutrients or close to 5% the daily value.Nutrients in Blue:Look for foods that provide ENOUGH of these nutrients or close to 20% the daily value.
Food Labels- Daily Value
The % Daily Value column is your math free guide!Use the “5-20 Rule”
Choose foods that contain 5% Daily Value of fat, sodium,
cholesterol, but a 20% Daily Value of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Listed from largest to smallest amount (by weight):
Marmalade JellyIngredients: sugar, oranges, juice, lemon juice, fruit pectin, citric acid, grapefruit
Oat Crisp CrackersIngredients: whole-grain oat flour, wheat flour, oat flakes, rye flour, skimmed milk powder, yeast, canola oil, baking soda, salt
At Look at Ingredients
Look out for Hidden Fat Ingredients that indicate added fat: Oil Shortening Butter Beef fat (other animal fats) Hydrogenated fats or oils (trans fats)
avoid these
Look out for Hidden Salt Ingredients that indicate added salt: Sodium Baking soda Seasoning salt Soy sauce Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
Look out for Hidden Sugar Ingredients that indicate added sugar: Any ingredient that ends in –ose (e.g.
sucrose, fructose) Corn syrup High fructose corn syrup Brown sugar Molasses Honey
Ingredients to Watch Out For
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
Partially Hydrogenated Oils
Aspartame/Sucralose
Sodium Nitrate
BHA/BHT
Look for Whole Grain Ingredients Words that indicate whole
grain: whole grain corn, whole wheat,
whole oats, whole rye, wild rice, brown rice, bulgur, graham flour, pearl barley, popcorn, oatmeal
Words that don’t necessarily mean whole grain: Multigrain, wheat flour, enriched,
bran, stone-ground, 100% wheat, seven-grain, cracked wheat, white rice, degerminated cornmeal
Why Whole Grain?
Tips for Buying Whole Grains Look for the whole grain stamp
Look for “whole” grains in the first three ingredients in foods
Just because something is dark colored does not necessarily mean it is a whole grain! Check the ingredients list!
Label Free Foods