Label Reading

Lable Reading

The new food labels mandated by the Food and Drug Administration for procecessed foods were non most products as of July, 1994. Single ingredient foods, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish and unprocessed grains are not required to have labels. The new labels must contain the following information.

Total calories

Cholesterol

Sugars

Calcium

Calories from fat

Dietary fiber

Protein

Iron

Total fat

Sodium

Vitamin A

Saturated fat

Total Carbohydrates

Vitamin C

When reading labels:

1. Look carefully at the serving size. If your normal serving size is more or less than the serving listed, you’ll need to adjust when considering the amount of fat(or carbohydrates, or proteins) in the product.

2. Look at the calories from fat. Figure the percent of calories coming from fat by dividing the total calories into the calories from fat . Figure the percent of calores coming from fat by dividing the total calories into the calories from fat (in the example above: 36/120 = 30%

3.Look at the grams of fat in the food and consider how this food fits into your total daily fat gram allotment.

4.The percentage (%) daily value can be confusing for some clients. It measures the amount of the particular nutrient in the food (e.g.,fat) against the amount of that nutrient an average person is supposed to have in one day. So, if you consume a 2,000 calorie per day diet, 30% fat is 600 calories from fat or about 65-66 grams of fat (see bottom of label). A serving of six cookies nets four grams of fat which is 6% of the 66 total grams of fat you are allowed per day.

5.On the bottom of each label is a little nutrition lesson.