How To Read Food Labels

if you have to keep an eye on your diet, and if you do not right now, then you will have to one day, you should begin learning the caloric values of the different foodstuffs and liquids that you like to eat most often.

For example, you should know items like: 100g (4 ozs) of green beans is worth 100 calories. The next difficulty comes with what 100g of green beans looks like.

This comes with practice, but of course 100g of green beans looks different to 100g of pork or 100g of potatoes. Scales will help here, but they are cumbersome to carry around with you and use in public. The majority of people underestimate their portions, whether by accident or on purpose.Still, practice makes perfect, so the earlier you begin the better.

Another helpful part of dieting, and regulating allergies for that matter, is knowing what is in your food, particularly if it comes out of a tin or jar.

The contents and the additives should be stated on the label, but it is usually merely the non-controversial ingredients that are written in plain English. So, how do you interpret food labels?

The amount of data given and the clarity of description it is given in, varies from country to country, but in general the label will tell you the amounts of: saturated fat, absolute fat, sodium (salt), sugar, fibre, cholesterol and calories per serving. Obviously, you need to know what they mean by 'a serving' or portion.

It may also give you the nutritional make-up of the contents, for instance: citric acid, B5, B12 and it might even give the RDA (Recommended Daily Amount) of those vitamins. And if you are lucky, you will be informed of the additives as well. Additives are controversial, so in Europe they are given in 'E Numbers' so that people may not comprehend them.

The more data on the label the more vital it is to know the serving size. For instance if you are trying to follow a sodium-controlled diet and you see that the tin contains 2g of salt, it makes a colossal difference whether the tin contains one or four servings.

Similarly, if the can contains 500 calories per serving. If the tin contains four servings, it is equal to 2,000 calories or more than the majority of people ought to be eating in a whole day!

As you discover what a manufacturer means by a serving, it is worth putting the information in a book, because it is fairly possible that Cambells and Batchellors, for example, have different thoughts on what constitutes a serving and it may vary from country to country too. A manufacturer of, say, soup may recommend 100 g as a serving in China, but 150 g in America.

The ingredients of the can are listed from the largest amount, which is normally the cheapest, say, water, potatoes or pasta to the smallest, which will be the E numbers, which will be flavour-enhancers, colouring and preservatives. Coming at the end of

the list like that, it is simple to think that the amounts must be minuscule and therefore not worth worrying about.

But it is worth troubling yourself about them if you are allergic to them, so once again, if you see an additive that you do not understand, type it into Google and write a summary in your notebook, which you ought to take shopping with you.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on a number of subjects, but is currently concerned with Mattress Bed Bugs Covers. If you would like to know more, go over to our website at Bed Infestation.