UNLOCKING THE SECRETS TO FOOD LABELS

Healthy Living: Lesson 3

Welcome!

Beverly Utt, MS, MPH, RD Registered Dietitian Wellness Coach and Smoking

Cessation Coordinator with the

MultiCare Center for Healthy Living

Email: Bev.Utt@multicare.org Phone: 253.301.5096

Today’s Class

Unlocking the Secrets to Food Labels

What we will cover: Food label tour Getting to know daily values Finding hidden fat, sugar and salt Choosing whole grains And a recipe!

Benefits of Food Labels

Informative Compare foods and

products Find hidden fat, salt

and sugar Valuable tool

START HERE!

Putting it to Use

Let’s look at a Mac-n-Cheese Label

Serving Size Serving size tells you the

measurement of one serving.

All nutrients on the label are based on this amount.

Servings per container tell you how many servings are in the package.This package

contains 2 cups of Mac-n-Cheese.

More than one serving? No problem!

Serving Amount x Calories or Nutrient

Example: How many calories are in 2 servings of Mac-n-Cheese?

2 Cups X 250 Calories = 500 calories

2 Cups x 12g fat = 24g of fat

1 Cup =

250 Calories

Use the Nutrition Facts Label

5% is LOW

20% is HIGH

Choose Foods for Their Nutrients…

Putting % Daily Value to Use

Nutrients in Yellow:Look for foods that provide LESS of these nutrients or close to 5% the daily value.Nutrients in Blue:Look for foods that provide ENOUGH of these nutrients or close to 20% the daily value.

Food Labels- Daily Value

The % Daily Value column is your math free guide!Use the “5-20 Rule”

Choose foods that contain 5% Daily Value of fat, sodium,

cholesterol, but a 20% Daily Value of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

Listed from largest to smallest amount (by weight):

Marmalade JellyIngredients: sugar, oranges, juice, lemon juice, fruit pectin, citric acid, grapefruit

Oat Crisp CrackersIngredients: whole-grain oat flour, wheat flour, oat flakes, rye flour, skimmed milk powder, yeast, canola oil, baking soda, salt

At Look at Ingredients

Look out for Hidden Fat Ingredients that indicate added fat: Oil Shortening Butter Beef fat (other animal fats) Hydrogenated fats or oils (trans fats)

avoid these

Look out for Hidden Salt Ingredients that indicate added salt: Sodium Baking soda Seasoning salt Soy sauce Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Look out for Hidden Sugar Ingredients that indicate added sugar: Any ingredient that ends in –ose (e.g.

sucrose, fructose) Corn syrup High fructose corn syrup Brown sugar Molasses Honey

Ingredients to Watch Out For

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

Partially Hydrogenated Oils

Aspartame/Sucralose

Sodium Nitrate

BHA/BHT

Look for Whole Grain Ingredients Words that indicate whole

grain: whole grain corn, whole wheat,

whole oats, whole rye, wild rice, brown rice, bulgur, graham flour, pearl barley, popcorn, oatmeal

Words that don’t necessarily mean whole grain: Multigrain, wheat flour, enriched,

bran, stone-ground, 100% wheat, seven-grain, cracked wheat, white rice, degerminated cornmeal

Why Whole Grain?

Tips for Buying Whole Grains Look for the whole grain stamp

Look for “whole” grains in the first three ingredients in foods

Just because something is dark colored does not necessarily mean it is a whole grain! Check the ingredients list!

Label Free Foods

Contact us anytime:

Email: Hope.roberts@multicare.org

Phone: 253.301.5097

THANK YOU!