Raise your hand if you also feel that shopping for healthy food is as hard as eating healthy. We are bombarded with information constantly. Each cereal box is cluttered with labels, but the truth is I have no idea how to make sense of them and I am sure I am not alone. We are all swamped with information when we shop. Eating healthy requires making yourself aware, but how do you choose??
We took it on ourselves to decode this world of food labels, to know what information we have to look out for.?
Reuters
¡°I encourage all my clients to read nutritional labels before buying any packaged products. Food labels provide key information such as serving size, total fat, saturated fat, calories per serving, list of ingredients. This not only helps you keep track of your diet but helps you avoid certain ingredients in case of allergies or food intolerance.¡± Dr. Seema Singh, a nutrition expert based in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, told IndiaTimes.?
When you are looking for something healthy, look out for:?
Due to some brilliant marketing strategies, companies have developed new terms to disguise the actual amount of sugar a product carries. For example: Corn Syrup,?Crystalline Fructose,? Date Sugar, Fruit Juice, Grape Sugar, Honey, Malt syrup, Maple Syrup. Please don¡¯t be fooled, these are sugars and something which we all know should be consumed less anyway.
¡°Men should consume around 37 grams of sugar everyday and women should consume around 25 grams. But it¡¯s important to always remember less is more and you should be consuming sugar lesser than these specified quantities.¡± says Singh
?
Reuters
Look out for products that have a higher quantity of unsaturated fats. These fats commonly found in fruits, nuts, avocados are good for you.
Fats to avoid: saturated and trans fats. Saturated fats are found in milk, butter and other dairy products that can increase cholesterol levels. Trans fats are used in place of preservatives in order to increase the shelf life of a product. Commonly found in cookies and cakes, these need to be avoided at any cost.
Food items that have high quantities of vitamins, minerals, fibre and protein. Think pulses and organic vegetables.
?
Reuters
Look out for the number of calories a product contains.?
A healthy individual should be consuming around 1500-2000 calories. Please note that this number of calories depends on your age, gender and how much you exercise.
1. Five grams of fat is equal to one teaspoon of fat. So if an item says 20g per serve, that¡¯s equivalent to eating about? four teaspoons of fat. So be careful.
2. Don¡¯t get confused with how a product uses the term ¡®light¡¯. It doesn¡¯t always mean less of calories. It could be light in taste or light in salt. So read those nutritional labels properly.
3. Five grams of sugar equals one teaspoon of sugar. So if an item says 40g per serve, that¡¯s eight spoons of sugar you are consuming.?