How to Decode Food Labels
How to Decode Food Labels
IT S SIMPLE!
We shouldn’t be eating so much cholesterol. The National Cholesterol Education Program’s expert panel suggests most people should limit their cholesterol intake to 300mg per day. Those at risk should limit their dietary cholesterol to 200mg a day. It’s good that so many people understand that eating too much cholesterol pushes up the amount of cholesterol in someone’s blood, especially the bad LDL cholesterol.
When we eat saturated fats or trans-fatty acids, our body makes cholesterol. Most of the elevated cholesterol that floats around in our blood comes from eating bad fat. So yes, it is important to limit the amount of cholesterol we eat. It is good to find snacks that don’t contain much cholesterol. The most important thing is to limit the consumption of saturated fat and trans-fatty acids - the bad fat.
The first thing you see about nutrition on a package of potato chips may be big words promising “NO CHOLESTEROL!”
So into a shopping cart the bag of chips may go with a big feeling of relief. The problem is that this “r-e-l-i-e-f” should be spelled “t-r-i-c-k-e-d!”
It’s true that there is “NO CHOLESTEROL” in these chips and if the label says these chips were fried in “100% vegetable oil,” that’s true, too. What the label fails to feature is that these chips contain a lot of saturated fat.
If the sales pitch on a package merely says “NO CHOLESTEROL,” be suspicious. If a product doesn’t contain much fat or much saturated fat, this overriding advantage will very likely be the lead copy on the package instead of the words “NO CHOLESTEROL.”
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size 1 Tbsp (14g) | |
| Servings Per Container 32 | |
| Amount Per Serving | |
| Calories 90 | Calories from Fat 90 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 10g | 15% |
| Saturated Fat 2g | 10% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat 2.5g | |
| Monounsaturated Fat 2g | |
| Cholesterol Omg | 0% |
| Sodium 90mg | 4% |
| Total Carbohydrate Og | 0% |
| Protein 0g | |
| Vitamin A | 10% |
| Not a significant source of dietary fiber, sugars, vitamin C, calcium and iron. | |
| *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. |
INGREDIENTS: LIQUID SOYBEAN OIL AND PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, WHEY, SALT, SOY LECITHIN, VEGETABLE MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND CITRIC ACID AS PRESERVATIVES, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, COLORED WITH BETA CAROTENE, VITAMIN A (PALMITATE) ADDED.
This typical label is on all food products. This margarine has 2 grams of saturated fat per table-spoon. If the first or second item in the ingredients is “hydrogenated,” double the saturated fat to allow for the trans-fatty acids, making 4 grams per tablespoon of saturated fat for this product.
Turn the package over and read the Nutritional Facts label to see exactly how much total fat and saturated fat is in each serving and what the serving size is. If hydrogenated fat is listed, figure that there is as much trans-fatty acids in the product as there is saturated fat. You have to do that mental calculation because trans-fatty acids are not listed on the label.
We hope you will read the facts labels and not just the promotional words. The Nutritional Facts make it easier than ever to follow the simple system we’re explaining.
There are plenty of numbers on these labels-more than you need to follow our plan. The first thing you need to know is what the man- ufacturer considers a serving size.
The serving size may be 6 corn chips… 5 crackers . . . 1 bun… 1 bagel… or 1 slice of bread.
For most table spreads and salad dressings, the serving size is 1 tablespoon. A serving size of one kind of cookies may be 1 cookie, while the serving size listed on another brand is 6!
When you open the box, these cookies don’t look like the ones your mother used to make. These are small cookies! They may taste pretty good for having only 1.5 grams of saturated fat per serving. But those 6 tiny cookies go down in a hurry.
Find out the exact serving size of every product you pick up.
After checking the serving size on the Nutritional Facts label, you’ll also want to know how many calories are in one serving. The answer is helpful if you are trying to keep your weight under control. It will amaze you to find just how many calories are in one chocolate-covered donut or a double cheeseburger.
Then as you look at the Nutritional Facts label, be sure there’s not way too much cholesterol in a single serving of what you are consider- ing eating. A quick glance will also tell you if there’s so much total fat in the product that you’ll want to use it sparingly . . . if at all.
The second important fact you need to know (after serving size) is how much saturated fat is in a serving.
Only 1 gram per serving might not be bad, depending on the serving size and your daily budget. If there’s another gram of trans-fatty acids per serving, that makes the bad-fat total come to 2 grams.
Two grams of bad fat in a serving doesn’t seem like much-and it may not be, depending on what else you want to eat today.
What if there are 4 grams of bad fat per serving?
That’s quite a bit, even if your daily budget is 20. If your budget for a day is only 10 grams of bad fat, 4 grams is a lot to spend on one thing. On the other hand, if you have kept breakfast down to a gram or so of bad fat, you may feel good about having a dinner entrée or even a dessert, that will give you 4 grams of saturated fat.
Speaking of dessert, one brand of frozen yogurt listed only 1 gram of saturated fat, which sounded good. The problem? This rich yogurt had one gram of bad fat per ounce. Who eats only an ounce of ice cream or frozen yogurt? Most of the lowfat ice creams list 1/2 cup (4 ounces) as a serving. A more typical serving is about 8 ounces - a total of 8 grams of saturated fat. Check the Nutritional Facts label for two things: the serving size and how many grams of saturated fat are in each serving.
How you spend your 10 or 20 grams of bad fat per day is entirely up to you. Think of spending this budget as you would think of spending a budgeted $10 or $20 on a particular day. If you play a video game for a couple of dollars worth of quarters, that 2 bucks is gone. Another 5 bucks on something else that’s gone fast leaves you with less to spend on things you may want even more.
Spending budgeted grams of bad fat goes the same way. It’s easy to use up your budget frivolously-munching throughout the day, adding a little bad fat here, some more bad fat there. It’s just as easy munch on grapes, chunks of fresh apple, orange slices or something like celery sticks or carrots-which are fat-free. Doing this saves your budget for things you really want at mealtime.
We hope you will choose to limit the amount of bad fat you eat every day to 20 grams if you have no risk factors or 10 grams a day if you have a cholesterol/HDL ratio over 4, have elevated triglycerides or have had a heart attack, heart surgery or any other risk factors (including having a parent who has had an early heart attack).
As you get used to this new way of eating, it will help to keep track of how much saturated fat you are eating throughout the day until you can do it. You will be surprised at how quickly you will know how much saturated fat you are eating-and if you go over your limit. For now, we suggest keeping a simple “Bad-Fat Tally” every day. At first, you may want to also jot down the milligrams (mg) of cholesterol you are eating so you can learn to keep this under 300mg a day-or under 200mg a day if you are at risk.
Keeping these notes will help you make choices of what to eat and how much to eat at each meal and snack time. Keeping this log will also help you see how your budget is working. You may even find that this personal challenge is fun-something like keeping your own score in a golf game and then working on ways to improve it. After omitting things like liver and other organ meats that are high in cho- lesterol, choosing small portions of extra-lean meat and deciding to eat egg yolks only on special occasions, you probably won’t have much trouble keeping within your limit of dietary cholesterol.
How much bad fat have you eaten in the last 24 hours?
Depending on your recall ability, you might be able to stop and figure it out pretty closely right now-maybe even in your head. If you can’t, that’s OK. That’s why writing down what you eat is a good idea.
“How do I know how much saturated fat is in food that doesn’t come with a Nutritional Facts label?
Good question. We’ll give you some easy ones to remember in the next chapter while we talk about how to choose tasty foods without much bad fat.