Reading labels is an essential part of any weight loss program. Being able to clearly identify key components of a food item is vital to the success of your diet. You have to be careful when you read the label and be extremely thorough. Labels are placed on food items because it is required by law. Marketers are forced to display this information but it does not keep them being tricky about it.
Lets take a look at a sample label.
See here we have the Serving Size of the food item. First we have the Serving Size which is 1 oz. or 28 grams. Then there is the Servings Per Container which is 16. This is where you have to be careful. On small items like a bag of chips or cookies, people tend to skip this part of the label and go straight to the Amount Per Serving Section. This where you will kill yourself. Most small items have a Servings per container with more then 1. They usually have 2 or even 2 1/2 servings per container. Not being aware of this, people do not correctly calcuate the Nutrition Facts for that item. When they think they are eating 200 calories in reality they are eating 400 or even 500 calories.
Next thing to look at is Calories and Calories from fat. Most people only look at the total calories. Here we see that this item has 190 calories. Not alot of calories. But here is the killer. Calories from fat is a whopping 150. Making this item over 80% fat. A big misconception of people who read labels is, there is not a lot of saturated fat becasue the lablel says only 2grams of saturated fat. Wrong, there is another 15 grams of fat. Where does this come from? My best guess is that about another 10 -13 grams of fat are trans fat which is the fat responsible for obesisty.
Next we see the % Daily Value. This is recommended daily allowance set by the FDA. This item has a total of 25% fat inregards to your recommened dailiy aloowance. That means that is you eat 4 of these food items, your fat intake would have to be cut off for the rest of the day.
Another item we should look @ is Total Carboydrates. This is the evil demon among low-carb dieters. The FDA's recommended daily allowance for carb intake is around 330 grams per day. There are good carbs and bad carbs. The bad carbs would be considered Sugars. In this case there is only 1g of sugar and 3 g of Dietary Fiber. In regards to carb intake this is a good product.
Then there is the protein. The more the better. Remember this fact. 1 gram of protein and carbs are the equvalient to 4 calories. 1 gram of fat is the equivalent to 9 calories. I hope this article has cleared up some issues in regards to reading labels. Any educated dieter is a successful dieter.
Joe Maresca
Senior Health & Fitness Advisor
http://www.getbuilt.net
Joe has over 15 years of health & fitness experience. He has helped numerous individuals meet their fitness goals.
express cleaning service Arlington Heights ..Food cravings can be triggered by various things including low... Read More
If you are into herbs and natural cures, you've undoubtedly... Read More
New studies suggested once again that citric fruits including oranges,... Read More
The Quest to Reach Your Ideal WeightIt was late in... Read More
The loss of fat comes from fat cells all over... Read More
We, as a society, are always trying to lose weight.... Read More
Diet information is everywhere. In advertisements, on TV, in magazines;... Read More
Welcome to lesson #2. First of all, I believe that... Read More
Repeat a lie often enough and people take it as... Read More
If you want to reduce your body fat, focus on... Read More
I personally lost 60 pounds in 2003. Here are some... Read More
"Help, none of this mainstream stuff works!"There is a specific... Read More
With summer completed and school back in session, it'll be... Read More
Gastric bypass surgeries are temporary physical fixes to a long... Read More
Lousy Reasons to Lose Weight"I want to be a size... Read More
Dieting will continue to fail most dieters, unless personalized weight... Read More
All of us that have had a love-hate relationship with... Read More
I am embarrassed to admit how many different commercial weight... Read More
When obesity gets out of hand, unresponsive to dietary, lifestyle... Read More
Dumping syndrome is an effective result of the gastric bypass... Read More
The Review Diaries She Unlimited MagazineThere are masses of carbohydrate... Read More
When embarking on a weight loss program people will almost... Read More
Dieting is not easy. If it were, we would probably... Read More
As a weight loss coach I speak will people regularly... Read More
Before you even think of taking diet pills to lose... Read More
tidy up service Arlington Heights ..Good health is an invaluable bliss and you cannot simply... Read More
According to a recent survey by the National Health Institute,... Read More
Gastric Bypass surgery is becoming increasingly more popular for the... Read More
Building a Perfect Body for Body Perfect Fitness and Health... Read More
Doctor, Why Can't I Loose Weight and by the... Read More
What is the advantage of these new half sugar and... Read More
(Ailsa's Apple Crumble Diet)I'm Scottish, so it's not a big... Read More
The rediscovery of the wealth of the wonder drug Hoodia... Read More
Many people want to lose a few of those annoying... Read More
Saboteurs are people and thoughts that are going to sabotage... Read More
Are you committed to losing weight and keeping it off?... Read More
I've worked with hundreds of people who were interested in... Read More
First off, let me start by saying this list is... Read More
You've seen diet pill advertisements? You have read the testimonials... Read More
To see the "low carb" diets on the way out... Read More
The Order of Energy UtilizationBack to our table of stored... Read More
There are several ways to manage cravings. You can: ... Read More
Any dietary plan on the market has some portion of... Read More
Sometime, during the phase of rapid weight loss after gastric... Read More
Almost everyone has attempted to follow diets and weight loss... Read More
Activity means both mental and physical activity.Mental activity is similar... Read More
Weight loss is a hot topic among people today, especially... Read More
To prepare ourselves for the Summer Sun we want to... Read More
Our bodies only require a small amount of salt for... Read More
It's the American Dream: "If I could just lose a... Read More
Weight Loss |