Nutrition labels are everywhere, on things like soups, cereals and salad dressings. But how many of the numbers do you actually digest?
"People tend to pay attention to the top of the label, they do look at the serving size, calories and fat. But sometimes ignore some of the other parts of the label," said Marisa Moore.
Registered dietitian Marisa Moore says every line of a label tells a story, but you don't need to be a mathematician to read labels, simply add a little bit of time to a little bit of patience.
Labels show us how much of a particular nutrient is in a food. The percentages are based on a 2,000 calorie diet for a healthy adult. Even if that does not describe your diet...
"Look to get small percentages of nutrients like sugar and salt and cholesterol but you wanna look for higher percentages of things like fiber and maybe even aim for 20 percent or more of those," said Moore.
And what you see isn't always what you get.
Moore said, "You always want to make sure you sort of avoid the front of the package, which can sometimes be filled with marketing hype."
Remember to look at the types of fats.
"If you're looking for trans fat, you might forget that saturated fat is also important," said Moore.
Moore says getting to know your foods makes shopping a lot easier later on.
"People tend to pay attention to the top of the label, they do look at the serving size, calories and fat. But sometimes ignore some of the other parts of the label," said Marisa Moore.
Registered dietitian Marisa Moore says every line of a label tells a story, but you don't need to be a mathematician to read labels, simply add a little bit of time to a little bit of patience.
Labels show us how much of a particular nutrient is in a food. The percentages are based on a 2,000 calorie diet for a healthy adult. Even if that does not describe your diet...
"Look to get small percentages of nutrients like sugar and salt and cholesterol but you wanna look for higher percentages of things like fiber and maybe even aim for 20 percent or more of those," said Moore.
And what you see isn't always what you get.
Moore said, "You always want to make sure you sort of avoid the front of the package, which can sometimes be filled with marketing hype."
Remember to look at the types of fats.
"If you're looking for trans fat, you might forget that saturated fat is also important," said Moore.
Moore says getting to know your foods makes shopping a lot easier later on.
