if a food is nutritious or not 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, cholesterol and sodium.

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… 14 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. Like a tag on a mattress—read and ignore Percents are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Lower amounts of these.

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. 10 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)