It all starts with reading food labels.  They can be your guide to making wise choices for a healthy diet, but only if you know what you’re looking for.  Eventually, with practice, you’ll get to the point where you don’t even need to turn the package around—you’ll have a sense of which foods are the best options.

So how to read a food label?  First, you’ll want to look at the number of calories in a food, keeping in mind that most people need roughly 2000 calories per day.  This can vary widely, of course, based on such factors as size, age, or activity level.  But you’ll also want to look at the serving size. If you eat two servings of a food (& who doesn’t?), you’ll need to make sure to double the calories & nutrients info.  And look carefully!  Some beverages that look to be single-servings actually have 2.5 servings in them, so you would need to multiply the calories you’re drinking by 2.5.

Next on the Nutrition Facts Panel are the nutrients we want to keep to a minimum.  Let’s start with cholesterol.  It’s found in animal products, such as meats, dairy & eggs, but saturated fat has a bigger impact on blood cholesterol levels than dietary cholesterol does, so you’ll want to keep your saturated fat intake low too.  You can do that by choosing skinless white meat poultry and leaner cuts of meat.  When choosing ground meat, look for the package with the highest percentage of lean beef.  Keep away from trans fats altogether, and here’s the fool-proof way to find them:  if the ingredients list contains the word “hydrogenated”, the food contains trans fats.

Keep your sodium intake low—ideally, less than 2300 mg/day.  Fruits and vegetables are some of the lowest sodium foods out there, but they’re also great sources of some of the nutrients you want to eat a lot of, such as vitamins A & C.  And this brings us to the part of the food label that includes nutrients we should be getting plenty of…

Bone up on calcium.  Sources include kale, broccoli, canned salmon & low-fat dairy.  Rich sources of iron include meats & poultry, clams & oysters, leafy greens, beans & lentils, dried fruit and fortified cereals.  And just about everyone needs more fiber in their diet, so aim for high fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables (including beans), nuts, seeds & whole grains.  Women need at least 25 grams a day, while men need 38 grams.

What are the % Daily Values for?  These show you how much of a nutrient you’re getting by eating that food, compared to how much you’re supposed to have.  (Looking at the image above, you want the %DVs for the yellow nutrients low, and the %DVs for the blue nutrients high.)  These numbers can come in handy when you’re shopping & meal planning.  Here’s how…

• You can compare one product or brand to a similar product, such as when you’re comparing the amount of fiber in a breakfast cereal, but first check that the serving sizes are similar.
• Food labels can make nutrient content claims, such as reduced fat, light, or low sodium, a little less confusing.  All you have to do is compare the %DV of that nutrient on each product, such as when you’re comparing the amount of sodium in canned soups—no need to memorize terms!
• Use %DVs to balance you’re daily intake.  All foods have a place in a healthy diet. So if you DO happen to have a high-sodium food (for example), just read the labels on your other foods & shoot for lower sodium foods the rest of your day to keep your daily sodium intake within recommendations.

Pay attention to protein—it’s easier to get than you may think since virtually all foods except fruit have at least some protein.

While sugar naturally occurs in many foods, keep in mind that added sugar has many names: evaporated cane juice, corn syrup, sucrose, and brown rice syrup, to name a few.

Don’t forget about the ingredients list. Eventually, this might be the first—and only—place you’ll need to look. Look at the first few ingredients, since they are listed in order of amount in the food. For example, when looking for whole grain bread, make sure the first ingredient includes the word “whole”. In most cases, the shorter the ingredients list, the better. Ideally, every ingredient in the list should be recognizable, but keep in mind that some terms just sound complex, but are really rather simple. For example, ascorbic acid is just vitamin C.

So what are these other labels on foods? Facts Up Front is a voluntary labeling program that aligns with the USDA & FDA’s guidelines & regulations.  It brings all of these nutrition details to the front of the product in a clean label that’s easy to read & compare.  The four basic nutrition keys are: calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugars. Two additional keys are allowed if the food contains more than 10% of the Daily Value of a nutrient.  These might include: fiber, protein, vitamins A, C & D, calcium, potassium, or iron.

What about Guiding Stars?  They’ve taken all this information from the Nutrition Facts Panel & ingredients list & used it to rate the nutrition quality of a food.  If you’re grocery store has them, use these stars to point you toward foods that have more vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber & whole grains, as well as and less unhealthy fat, cholesterol, sugar and sodium.  One Guiding Star indicates good nutritional value, two indicate better, and three Guiding Stars indicate best nutritional value.  Over 100,000 foods have been rated, so it’s a fun way to involve the kids in healthy food shopping.

As featured on the Charlotte Today show (January 2013):

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