NUTRITION SPECIAL LABELS
NUTRITION
Are you getting enough fibre from your cereal? Too much sodium from your snack? Here’s how to find the nutrition answers you need from those complicated food labels.
DECoDER
BY KATE DALEY
SERVING SIZE
Pay attention to how much you’re about to eat. Serving sizes aren’t consistent from label to label, and they’re not necessarily the suggested portion of food you should eat. If you’re planning to tuck into a cup of cereal, and the nutrition facts are for a half-cup serving, keep in mind that you’re consuming double the calories, fat and sugar listed.
NUTRITION FACTS TABLE Health Canada has made nutrition labels mandatory on most prepackaged foods. Daily values (the highest recommended intakes for listed nutrients) apply to most people aged two and older and are based on a diet of 2,000 calories per day. Be aware, though, that daily values shouldn’t be used for tracking food intake.
FAT All fats are not created equal, and not all fats are bad. For a healthy adult, fat should account for 20 to 35 percent of daily calories (45 to 75 grams per day for an adult woman), but you need to make sure you get the right types of fat and limit others.
SATURATED FAT
PHOTOGRAPHY, RYAN BROOK. CEREAL BOX DESIGN, SHELLEY FRAYER
CALORIES Calories measure the amount of energy in your food. While counting calories can be important for weight loss, many dietitians recommend looking at the overall nutritional value of the food instead. For example, a food containing nuts may be higher in calories, but it’s also likely loaded with antioxidants and good fats to help keep you feeling full longer, meaning you’ll eat less.
Health Canada advises reducing your intake of saturated fat found in animal products and tropical oils due to the potential negative effects on cholesterol levels and the heart. But it might not be as negative an association as initally thought, as new studies are raising questions about the association between saturated fat and heart disease.
TRANS FAT
CHOLESTEROL If you have heart-health concerns, you’ll want to consider consuming no more than 200 milligrams a day of cholesterol, a type of fat found in animal products. Most people should aim to consume less than 300 milligrams a day.
MARCH 2015 | CANADIANLIVING.COM
The less trans fat in your diet, the better. Vilified for its role in raising “bad” cholesterol and lowering “good” cholesterol, this partially hydrogenated fat is found in many baked and fried processed foods, and it can increase your risk of heart disease. Look for products that contain little to no trans fat. 43
