If you have made the decision to eat healthy, you know very well what this entails, since it represents a responsibility and, above all, great attention to choosing the healthiest options. Reading food labels helps you make conscious decisions that are consistent with the lifestyle you want to lead. Next, we will see what to look for and what information is the one that interests you the most when choosing a healthy product .
The multinationals that are dedicated to the sale of food know very well the current preferences of consumers, that is why they try in their slogans and advertising to sell us something “healthy”, which unfortunately, in most cases, is not so healthy nor recommendable as it seems. Food labels are where we can really see what the product contains, what its nutritional values are, and the amount of calories it contains per serving.
How to read food labels to make the healthiest choice
It is essential that we do not allow ourselves to be fooled or fooled by what the advertising shows us of some foods , since precisely the food companies play with the attractive slogan of what is healthy; to reach out and win over the public who has chosen a healthy diet and eating in their life.
First of all, it is necessary to know that it is on the labels where all the nutritional information appears. The first thing we have to do, if we want to know the ingredients and what the product we are going to buy is made of, is to look for its food information label.
What should we look for on food labels?
When we have already found the label of the food in question, it is necessary to look at the grams or the portion to which it refers in its nutritional table. The caloric information of the food will come by grams or portion also of the product, it is important to pay attention to this to really know how many kilocalories we consume with the food that we are going to eat.
In the section of total carbohydrates it is measured in grams , and represents the total of sugars, starch and vegetable fiber. Sugar also appears in a separate section. It is necessary to know that the total of carbohydrates causes that it elevates the sugar in blood. This is a very important piece of information, since if you want a healthy product it should have these values as low as possible.
Below the total carbohydrates is vegetable fiber. In a product rich in fiber, this value will be between 3 and 4 grams per serving . Another thing to keep in mind, to read food labels correctly, is to pay attention to saturated fat. If you want to eat healthy, you should choose the foods that contain less saturated fat per serving . On the other hand, you also have to look at trans fats, which are those that increase “bad cholesterol” and reduce “good cholesterol.”
Sodium represents the main ingredient in salt , so you have to be very aware of this value, knowing that you should consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. As a guide, the label will show the percentage of the daily value of a person’s dietary needs in general. It is recommended that you inform yourself of which ones are yours specifically with a nutritionist, since depending on the difficulties, needs and diseases that you suffer, what is more convenient in your case may vary. This percentage that comes on the labels is only indicative for a person who consumes about 2,000 kilocalories per day.
