One of the things I learned when my journey to fitness started was that I couldn’t trust the hype and marketing claims made on food packages. There are so many buzzwords now that make it sound healthy but unless you know how to navigate a nutrition label, you can fall prey to these false claims.

 Terms like “natural” “whole grain” “high in fiber” “no sugar added”  “fat free” or “organic” can certainly make you feel like you’re making a great choice for your health and the health of your family. Yes, while it may be true that something is natural, whole grain or high in fiber, the fact that is has 32 grams of sugar (8 teaspoons?!) doesn’t mean it’s a healthy choice. Just to put this in perspective, cyanide is derived from nature too but it’s deadly. Now those healthy looking granola bars or cereal may not be deadly but they can certainly hurt your fitness efforts. And just for the record, organic cookies are still, well, cookies. Just food for thought.

 The advice I live by in trying to eat a healthy diet is to avoid those processed foods that need a nutrition label in the first place. In a perfect world, we would not eat anything that came in a package but we live in a convenience driven world that demands it.

 So how do we navigate the mountain of boxes and cans, bottles and bags that offer those conveniences? By learning how to read a nutrition label. It can be a little challenging but let’s just look over the basics of just a few of the items on a label.

 One of the first things I learned on a label was the serving size. Crafty marketers will display the calorie count per serving on the front of the package but unless you read the label, you may be shocked to find out that there are 2, sometimes 3 servings in that bottle or candy bar. At first glance, a bottled drink may seem like it has a paltry 100 calories until you realize that by drinking the whole bottle (which wasn’t really all that big), you just consumed 300 calories.  I could’ve had a meal for that amount.

The other is fat. There’s a lot of controversy about fat these days. Is coconut oil and other saturated fats good for you or will it clog your arteries?

 Well here’s my take on it and its very unscientific. I was born on a tiny island in the Caribbean. My ancestors ate what was available to them and coconuts were the fat of choice. There were no olive trees growing there so they made oil from coconuts. And they lived well into their 90s and beyond. My great great grandfather lived to be 101. They also didn’t have much in the way of vegetables available. They ate mostly root vegetables like yucca and potatoes. There were no salads to speak of. Ever. The majority of their meals were beans and rice, fish or chicken, beef when they slaughtered a cow and that was very seldom and indigenous fruits like mangoes and papayas. What’s so interesting to me, fascinating actually, is that the fish they ate was what is now considered high in heavy metals like mercury, something that I now feel like I have to avoid. But doing research recently I found out that there is an enzyme in papaya that actually breaks down metals found in fish. Isn’t God amazing? He provides for each culture, all around the world, exactly what is needed for them to be healthy within the confines of their location in the world.

 Getting back to the nutrition label, it’s a personal decision on what types of fat you should consume based on your health conditions and doctor’s advice. Sometimes just being aware how much fat is in an item can be an eye opener and help in how much you decide to eat. But what every doctor and nutritionist will agree on is that trans fat is a health killer. So stay away from anything that contains it.

Another element of the nutrition label that is important is carbohydrates and sugar.  Armed with the knowledge that 16 grams of sugar is approximately 4 teaspoons of sugar and that the American Heart Association says a woman shouldn’t consume more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day, you can make better decisions.

Here’s a little tidbit to chew on. The average American consumes approximately 150-170 pounds of sugar in a year and there are about 87 teaspoons in a pound. If you know me at all, you know math is not my jam, but when I got out my calculator, I was shocked. That’s over 13,000 teaspoons a year or 35 teaspoons a day. A DAY! I know you’re thinking what I thought. I don’t put that much sugar in my coffee but what about in your other drinks. I grew up in the south from age 12 to my early 50s and sweet tea is our drink of choice. Not to mention soft drinks, energy drinks and the like. Then add in the sugar from fruit, grains, desserts, breakfast items. The list goes on and on. When most American’s breakfasts contain waffles and syrup, sweetened coffee or tea, doughnuts or pastries, cereal and bread. Yes, it really does add up in a day.

And lastly I like to see how much protein is in a food I’m eating. My goal has always been to build lean muscle and getting enough protein has been a challenge over the years. This doesn’t come up too much in packaging unless it’s a protein bar in which case I try to find the ones that have more protein than carbs. But putting in a calorie tracker app how much protein sources I’m taking in is very important. 

There are other items on labels that are important if you’re watching your cholesterol or if you’re wanting to see if you’re getting enough calcium and fiber but the ones I’ve listed are the ones that I’ve watched closely through the years.

I hope this gives you some information that will prompt you to start reading those labels and taking control of what you put in your body. Knowledge is power!