Understanding food labels

Understanding Food Labels Watching the video and reading the material about food labels was very interesting. Reading and comprehending food labels is important to learn for one’s knowledge but most important for one’s health. I know I for one see food labels every day and never pay attention to them. I knew what the items on the food labels were but never really knew how to comprehend why the percentages and numbers were on there and why measuring calories were so important to count. Learning the 5/20 rule, as well as, learning about the six nutritional facts have helped me to go into my own kitchen to grab items to learn what is good for my health and what I need to start staying away from in my every day diet. The 5/20 rule was something I found the most interesting when watching the video, “ Food Label and You. ” The 5/20 rule from the video talks about the importance of the percentage number of a particular nutrient in a food item. For example, if a nutrient that you need is less than 5% in that particular food then it would not be a good idea to eat that item. If the food item has more than 20% of the nutrient, for example calcium, than that food item would be good for you. That would be for good nutrients and you use the same rule for the bad nutrients. If the food item you are eating has more than 20% of saturated fat then that item would not be that healthy for you. A great example of healthy nutrients from my kitchen is the can of mixed vegetables that I have. It has 0% of total fat and 60% of Vitamin A. A can of mixed vegetables is low on the nutrients that our body does not need but high in the vitamins that are body does need. According to the article, “ How to understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label” there are 6 steps to understanding the food label. Step one of the food label talks about serving sizes. For example, a small jar of peanut butter has a serving size of 2 tbsp. which is 32 grams and the overall serving size of the small jar is 16 servings. The second step is about counting calories. If you are set with a certain number of calories per day then the food label would tell you exactly how many calories are in each serving size. The cans I chose from the kitchen to check the labels on are as follows: Kroger brand of Creamy Peanut Butter: Nutrition facts Serving size is 2 tbsp Calories 140 Total fat 16 g or 25% Sodium 150mg or 6% Carbs 7 g or 2% Protein 8 g Aldi’s brand Green Beans Nutrition Facts Serving size ½ cup Calories 20 Tatol fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 330 mg or 14% Carbs 4 g or 1 % Protein <1%