Nutrition and health go hand
in hand. In addition to exercise, having
a balanced and proper diet will do more to protect your health than anything
else. If you are seriously interested in
living longer and maintaining your independence status, you will need to think
seriously about what you are putting into your mouth.
Most of us are not
authorities when it comes to nutrition, but as we get older we have gained a
certain understanding about what we should and should not be consuming. Keeping track of fiber and protein and sodium
and fat content becomes a full time job.
As if you didn’t have enough
things to think about when you shop for food, marketing companies seem to make
it as difficult and confusing as they can.
How low is low fat? How much salt is in a serving of cereal, how
many different types of sweetener are in that same bowl of cereal? You really have to scour those labels for the
fine print.
Jeffrey Rosensweig, PhD.
author of “Age Smart,” shares a few tips for deciphering food labels that you
might find helpful, at least as a jumping off point.
- Read carefully.
The big print on the package may scream light or low fat but that
may not be the whole story. Those
same food items might still be high in fat as well as sugar, salt and
calories.
- Read the nutrition facts label and the
ingredient list. Watch for hidden
fats and half dozen forms of glucose.
- Check the serving size. Some products expect you to eat
unreasonably small serving sizes.
- Check the amount of serving sizes per package. Many products are supersized and contain
multiple servings. For example: a
20 oz bottle of soda will be listed as 2.5 servings at 110 calories for
each serving.
- Check the calories. You may think that the 110 calories listed
on that soda bottle is for the whole bottle instead of half, so be sure to
double that amount.
- Check how many calories are from fat….hopefully
it will tell you the percentage of calories that are from fat. You can’t even be confident that a claim
such as 99 percent fat-free is accurate.
These figures are based on weight, not calories.
- Check the sodium. Look at the number of milligrams a
serving contains. Your daily goal
is less than 1500 mg, which isn’t very many.
- Check the types of fat. Make sure there aren’t any saturated
fats, hydrogenated fats, or tropical oils in the list. Even with good fats you need to make
sure that only 20% or less of calories are from fat.
- Check the sugar.
Watch out for words like corn syrup, rice and maple syrup, molasses,
honey, dextrose, fructose or any of those other “ose” words that you don’t
understand.
- Make sure your grains are whole grain and find
breads that have at least 3 grams of fibers (5 or 6 is even better).
If a product sounds too good
to be true it probably is. Marketers are
constantly trying to kowtow to the current diet plans and cater to your
fears. It is up to you to get back to
the basics. The food groups that you
learned about as a child are still relevant today. During your first few trips to the store you
will need more time. Pull your cart over
to the side and peruse those labels carefully.
Watch those starches, sugars, salts and start concentrating on protein
and fiber. You will soon speed up. Your health is worth the effort.
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