Grocery Shopping I: Nutrition Label Logic

How does your shopping cart stack up nutritionally? Give your cart a makeover with a few simple tips to create a more healthful pantry and fridge. This will help you keep your nutrition plan on track. The first step is to become savvy about nutrition labels.

This Healthy Eating article will help you improve your grocery shopping:

• It explains how to read and understand nutrition labels.
• It helps you use the information on the labels to make your meal planning easier.

Learn From Labels!

The sheer size of a modern supermarket can be overwhelming. Not only that, but supermarkets offer you more than 30,000 different choices. And a lot of them tantalize customers with a variety of health claims spread across the packages. Even the most health-conscious shopper may be afraid to pass through the automatic doors!

But don’t fear. Armed with label-reading skills and tips about food choices, you can successfully navigate the grocery aisles and walk out with a cart full of healthy foods. Do not try to read every label in the store in one shopping trip. Focus on one section at a time. For example, look at cereals on your next trip, and compare the fat content of cheeses on the trip after that. Look for three kinds of information:

• Nutrition label panels. Read them carefully. (More about this below.)
• Health claims. Are you drawn to look at any food that claims to be fat free or sugar free? Labeling laws set strict standards for foods that carry these claims. Claims offer a good place to start, but they don’t tell the whole story. Remember to use the nutrition information on the label when you’re deciding what to buy.
• Ingredient list. The ingredient list includes all the ingredients in a food in descending order. That means that the first ingredient on the list provides the largest part of the total amount; the last ingredient provides the smallest amount. The ingredient list is a great place to use the Food Choices/Choice Foods rating system. Select more foods that have “Better Choice” ingredients high on the list and choose fewer foods that have “OK Choice” ingredients near the top. The ingredient list is also essential if you have food allergies because it can help you avoid potential problem foods.

Using the Nutrition Information on the Label: A Step-By-Step Guide to Success

Step 1: Check the serving size

Always check the serving size.

Consider this …

• Is the portion size reasonable for you?
• Will you eat a single serving of the food, or are you more likely to eat two or three servings?

Step 2: Check the calories

Ultimately, weight and diabetes management success depends on how many calories you consume versus how many you expend. So, reading labels for calorie content is key to your success.

Consider this …

• Considering the portion size you’ll eat, do the calories provided by this product fit into your calorie plan?

  Yes? Continue with step 3.

  No? Keep looking for healthy foods to fill your cart.

  Hint: No food is forbidden, and portion control is the key to fitting many foods into your weight loss and diabetes management plan. It makes sense. You get more calories when you eat a large portion. You get fewer when you eat less. If you really enjoy a food, are you willing to eat less of it to make the calories fit?

Step 3: Go for balance

Consider this …

• The nutrition information on the label is a guide for choosing healthy foods, but using the label is more of an art than a science.
  • While your goal is to limit saturated trans fat and cholesterol in your diet, occasionally eating a food that’s high in one of these nutrients can still be part of a healthy diet. Pair a food that’s high in saturated fat with a food that is very low in saturated fat.
  • If a food is high in fiber but low in calcium, pair it with calcium-rich foods as part of a balanced meal.
• Reading labels helps you choose foods that you can mix and match to create a healthy, well-balanced diet. Once your cupboards and refrigerator are filled with these foods, you will have a strong foundation for a healthy diet.
• Your nutrition plan should be designed to provide a mix of healthy foods for a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and provides adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
• Some products also provide dietary exchanges, which group foods into categories such as carbohydrates and meats. This makes it easy to see how they fit with your nutrition plan.

Test Your Label-Reading Skills

Choose a food from your pantry or refrigerator and use the four steps described above to decide how this food fits into your healthy nutrition plan.

Using the information in this article, determine if this food is a good choice for your nutrition plan.

Summary

• Look at nutrition labels on packaged items (you won’t find them on fresh foods). Particularly check serving size, calories per serving size, vitamins and minerals, amount of saturated fat and cholesterol, and amount of fiber.
• When you look at these labels, ask yourself: Can I fit the calories that I’ll get in the amount that I’ll likely eat into my nutrition plan? Is this food a good or excellent source of vitamins and minerals? Will I get too much saturated fat and cholesterol in this product, given my nutrition plan? Will I get three grams of fiber or more? Will I get any fiber? Use your answers to decide whether a particular food is a good, healthy choice for your nutrition plan.