How to Read a Nutrition Label

There are 8 things I look for when purchasing food at a grocery store (nutrition label-wise).


1. Calories

2. Fat

3. Sodium

4. Carbs

5. Fiber

6. Sugar

7. Serving Size

8. Ingredients


Calories: You want to think in terms of your daily caloric intake. And this varies according to person and their fitness goals. To find your caloric intake visit: http://teambeachbody.com/eat-smart/nutrition-tools/caloric-needs


Fat: Look at the total fat grams. You want to pay attention to trans fat and saturated fat as well. These are the fats that are derived mostly from animal sources (not all but most). They’re the ones you’ve got to look out for. They have a tendency to raise your bad cholesterol level, put your heart at risk, and add to your waist line.


Sodium: Too much sodium will actually dehydrate you. Not only that but because your body becomes dehydrated it will begin to retain water causing you to bloat (not comfortable) and add weight.


Fiber: The more fiber the better. Fiber is what cleans out your digestive system and intestines and keeps you regular. Very comfortable!

Sugar: Okay, here’s the thing. A lot of companies will get you with this one. Often times you see the terms “low calorie” “low fat” or “reduced” something or another. Guess what. Sugar turns into fat in your body! A lot of times what these companies will do is find a way to reduce the calories, or fat, or even sugar but it’s packed with one of the others. Watch out for that. It’s a marketing trick. I try not to buy anything with a Sugar content of over 10 grams if I can help it.


Serving Size: Again when you see the disclaimers “low, reduced, non-etc.” you need to be mindful of all of these elements. Serving size is a big one where they can get you. The ideal serving size for a normal person is not what’s listed on nutrition labels so ideally you need to think “how many servings of this will I actually eat?” Then do the math. They will sometimes reduce the serving size to make the calories, fat, or sugar amounts look smaller.


Ingredients: Ingredients are listed from the largest quantity to the lowest quantity. Ideally you want foods that start with more natural substances like whole grains, corn, healthy oils (oils that have more nutrients not made from animal fat, i.e. olive oil, canola oil, flax seed oil, etc.), and overall food words that you would recognize to be FOOD. Enriched means bleached (and stripped of its naturally vitamins and minerals) and high fructose corn syrup is processed in your body as sugar.

Try to stick to natural foods if possible (i.e. produce, meats from the “meats” department, whole grains, dairy) Most of those are found around the outward section of the store rather than the aisles.

This information can be overwhelming when you’re first learning it. But as you get the hang of it you’ll start to just get it. I used to spend minutes looking at nutrition labels in the grocery store. Now it takes a quick glance for me to know whether or not I want it in my house. I hope this information is helpful to you.


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