Label Ease An easy way to decide if

Label Ease An easy way to decide if a food is nutritious or not using the food label.

Two goals to have when choosing food: • Make sure the food contains good nutrients you need for good health. • Make sure the food we eat doesn’t have too much fat,

Food labels give you a fast way to decide if a food is healthy. • Most families want to eat healthy, but they don’t want it to take a lot of time or energy.

All foods have Pluses and Minuses • Pork Chops + Contain a good source of protein, niacin, thymine, and riboflavin. – Are high in fat, cholesterol, and saturated fat. • Whole Grain Bread + Are low in fat, cholesterol as well as being high in fiber. – Contain only small amounts of nutrients listed on the food label.

What Information do you look at on a food label? • Most people only focus on 1 or 2 parts of the food label. – Calories or Fat Content There are… Valuable facts on a food label and you should choose a food based on the entire label.

Can you guess which food has this information on its food label?

You Guessed it—Pop! • Pop has 0 Fat, 0 Cholesterol, and only 1% sodium. • Pop also has no vitamins and the sugar calories is high!

Divide the label into 3 Sections These nutrients are the most likely to keep us healthy, but we have low amounts of them in our diet. Percents are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Lower amounts of these. Like a tag on a mattress— read and ignore

Parts of the food label.

5 Finger Test • This is a simple system for choosing food to make informed choices • The best thing about this system is that you only need 5 fingers. • Remember—All labels are based on a 2000 calorie diet (that’s the amount of calories and average adult should eat each day)

Magic Number in Labels • If the food has 10% or more (Vitamin A, C, Calcium, Iron, Protein and Fiber) it is a good source of that nutrient. Put 1 finger up for each nutrient on the middle of the label that has 10% or more.

Which Nutrients are low in our Diet? • Vitamin A—This vitamin helps your night vision • Vitamin C—This vitamin helps cuts and bruises heal as well as fighting the common cold. • Calcium--This nutrient builds strong bones and teeth • Iron—This mineral gives you healthy blood.

Protein and Fiber • Sometimes Protein and Fiber are listed in grams. • 5 grams or more of Protein and Fiber is good! • Put 1 finger up if the food has 10% or more of protein and fiber—or 5 grams or more.

Confusing Sugars • The sugar listed on the label includes natural sugars like lactose in milk or the natural sugars in fruit—Good sugars! • Because good sugars are included with bad sugars, we ignore the sugar on the label of healthy food because it is too difficult to tell the difference.

Putting Fingers Down • Look at the Fat and Calories, we call these excesses. • Choose to watch either Fat or Calories, not both. • When watching fat, put 1 finger down if the fat content is 10% or more. • When watching calories, put 1 finger down if the calories are 200 or more. • The calories section on the food label is the only place where the magic number 10 doesn’t apply.

How many Fingers make a Food Nutritious? • If you have any fingers standing—then the food is nutritious. • If you have no fingers standing then the food is not nutritious. • You will find that things you think are healthy really aren’t when you read the label. (Check granola bars and cheese)