Remember When Food was Simple and Made at Home?

Remember When Food was Simple and Made at Home?

Remember when food was simple and made at home? Now our foods are made in factories with chemists, not cooks. The government requires food manufacturers to tell us what is in the food we buy, but what does all those tiny words on the labels tells us?

Just the basic facts:

The first thing you need to look for on a nutrition label is the PORTION SIZE. At the top of the nutrition label it will tell you how many portions are contained in the products as sold. The calories are based on a single portion, not the entire package! The same will go for the calories. The percentages that you will see are based on a 2000 calories diet and the percentage is part of the total amount or the Recommended Daily Amount for that diet (RDA). If you need a 1600 calorie diet, then the percentages will not be made for your body’s requirements.

Take a look below the nutrition information and there will be a list of ingredients. They will be in order of amount by weight. If it is first, then it contains the most and the amount will descend as the list grows. Don’t be fooled by clever words; corn syrup is sugar, high fructose syrup is sugar. If you see this near the beginning of the ingredients list, think twice about what it does in your body. Those are bad calories and carbohydrates.

FAT FREE! Boy does that sound good for us, well fat is important in our diet, but it should be consumed in moderation. If fat is removed, sometimes it is replaced with worse stuff for us to eat, like modified starches and names I can’t even spell and I won’t even begin to pronounce.

So, next time you need to go shopping, allow yourself a few minute more to read a few labels, start slow, don’t overwhelm yourself with the small print and look before you leap.