The first time you buy anything, make sure to read both the front and back of the label. As a rule of thumb, fewer than or equal to ten grams is considered a small amount, between ten and fifteen grams is considered average and more than fifteen is considered high.
When reading a label, you should be looking at the following (in this order):
1. Serving Size: Most food packages include two or more servings, yet if they feel or appeal to be reasonably small, it is easy to neglect that if you consume the entire thing, you are taking in multiple servings. This is important because if there are four servings and you eat / drink the entire thing, you are eating / drinking four times the number of calories listed.
Take a Sports drink as an example. You might buy one, look at the amount of sugar listed and see its sixteen grams of sugar (not excessive but not ideal) then drink the entire bottle. Well it turns out after drinking it you realize there were two or more servings (most have four servings in one eighteen fluid oz. bottle!) so in one sitting, you took in thirty-two or more grams of sugar! The excess sugar will surely store in your body as fat.
2. Calories per serving: This is the total number of calories the food / drink has per serving.
3. Calories from fat: This is the total number of calories the food / drink has in its serving from fat. But be careful here, if you’re looking at almonds, organic peanut butter, coconut oil or anything else that is good for you that has a significant amount of good fat, then it is all right that most of the calories are from fat because its fat that will help your body. However, here more than ever, you need to be careful with portions and the amount you consume.
4. On the right-hand column of a label, you will see a percentage. This is called the Daily Value percentage and is the percentage a ”typical person” should consume of a nutrient/ mineral based on a 2000 calorie a day diet. Therefore, your needs may be higher or lower depending on the number of calories your body needs. As it will be discussed later, we are not concerned with calories as much as we are with healthful eating habits and portions.
5. Fat: This should be low unless it is a source of good fat.
- a. Saturated Fat: Society has told us to stay away here, but more and more research is showing that saturated fat is not all that bad for us. Again, it comes down to the source. If it is something processed or fried, stay away! Dairy, healthful oils and grass-fed beef tend to have a higher saturated fat with plenty of nutritional value.
- b. Trans fat, also known as “The Worst” – stay away from foods with Trans Fat!
6. Cholesterol: Normally want to keep this low, but again with dairy, healthful oils and grass-fed beef, this number might be higher and that does not mean that it is bad for you. Sometimes, foods are high in good cholesterol or high-density lipoprotein.
7. Sodium: Should never be a problem unless you are eating something packaged or processed. Most of the time you should stay away from packaged food, however, something like canned black, red or garbanzo beans are fine to eat if you rinse them before consumption.
8. Total Carbohydrates is the total number of carbohydrates in the serving size. Mostly, this is based on the theory that 40-70% (depending on the source) of your total caloric intake should be from carbohydrates, as you will see in the meal plan chapter your total calories from traditional carbs will be less.
- a. Dietary Fiber: The more natural fiber something has, the better! Try to consume items with at least two grams of fiber.
- b. Sugars: Stay away from anything with fifteen grams or more of sugar! The following words all mean “added sugar.”
FYI: the words “syrup”, “sweetener”, and anything ending in “ose” can usually be assumed as “sugar”. If the label says “no added sugars”, it should not contain any of the following:
- Corn Sweetener
- Corn syrup or corn syrup solids
- Dehydrated Cane Juice
- Dextrin
- Dextrose
- Fructose
- Fruit Juice Concentrate
- Glucose
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Honey
- Invert Sugar
- Lactose
- Maltodextrin
- Malt syrup
- Maltose
- Maple syrup
- Molasses
- Raw sugar
- Rice Syrup
- Saccharose
- Sorghum or sorghum syrup
- Sucrose
- Syrup
- Treacle
- Turbinado Sugar
- Xylose
- c. “Other Carbohydrates” sometimes is displayed on labels, if this number is high, stay away from it!
9. Protein: This is the amount of protein found in the food / drink. Make sure in every feeding you are consuming protein! Protein helps feed your muscles thus allowing your body to look toned, increases your metabolism, and aids in a healthful hormonal balance.
10. Below are vitamins and minerals I recommend, however healthfully you eat, to consume a gender-specific multi vitamin. I have found the best source from Prograde (www.carabasetraining.
Get Dress Ready is a program designed specifically for busy and budget minded brides looking to get in the best shape for their life for their wedding. Get Dress Ready is about showing brides how they can look beautiful in their dress without starving themselves and spending hours in the gym. Discover how you can own the moment and shine in the spot light on your wedding day, forever showing off your wedding photos. To check out Joe Carabase's bridal fitness blog, for more information on Joe Carabase's Bridal Bootcamps and Bridal Fitness, go http:www.getdressready.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment