Reading Food Labels
The first step to developing a healthier lifestyle is being educated and knowledgeable on food labels. Food labels can be very misleading if you don’t know what to look out for. Below I have included easy steps and tricks to follow when reading food labels.
Step One: Read the Ingredient List
When reading the ingredient list be on the lookout for unfamiliar names. Most people aren’t aware that ingredients are listed in a specific order. Ingredients are listed from most to least included. A great thing to do is read the first three ingredients. If you recognize and approve of the first three ingredients, you are headed in the right direction.
Step Two: Watch out for Serving Size
Serving size is so important to look at. When purchasing a small bag of your favorite snack, don’t always assume it’s one serving. Often times companies will list it as unrealistic or misleading. Nutrition facts will follow the serving size.
Step Three: Don’t Fall for Misleading Claims
Misleading claims are everywhere! Organic is listed everywhere now a days. Just because sugar is listed as organic, doesn’t mean it’s healthier, it’s still sugar. When it says “no sugar added”, this means no natural sugar was added. Other variations of sugar are being added instead. The list goes on and on…
While there are many things to understand and look out for, here is a great start! Intrigued in learning more? There are many great websites going into greater detail! Let me know what you find!
3 Comments
Brooke Bescup
I wanna start by saying that I absolutely love the design and outlook of your website, it definitely matches your topics and themes! Besides that, I am really happy you wrote about this topic for this week. I am currently trying to start working out more and getting better at what I am eating, so it is definitely important to read the labels. I just find that reading labels takes time and sometimes I just don’t have the time. However, after reading this blog I definitely am going to be more cautious and read the labels more often!
Mohammed Al Khathlan
Interesting topic, personal I feel it is a hassle to read food labels so times, because it looks complicated. Well made post and very helpful
Savannah Bertram
Hi Madison,
Many of your points were already familiar to me. However, the “Don’t Fall for Misleading Claims” point was great! I may be too trustworthy and trust brands too much, I never thought that sugar free wouldn’t actually mean sugar free. Thank you for the advice! I will definitely take this into consideration as I go forward in life.