Read Your Food Labels

This week we're focusing on packaged foods which is an area that I still mess up even after years of UnDieting. Where I trip up is grabbing a new item without reading the label, assuming that a single food item contains only that item - who would have thought they'd put nonfat milk powder in microwave popcorn!?

Ingredients are listed in descending order according to how much of each ingredient is in the food. The first three or four listed usually make up most of the product. One trick companies use to make a food appear to be healthier than it is, is to do things like use several forms of sugar so that an item appears to be low in sugar. So even if sugar is not one of the first three ingredients, the food can still be very high in sugar. Other names for sugar include dextrose, sucrose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, corn sweeteners, galactose, and maltose. If only one of these names appears among the first few ingredients on the label, or if several of them are listed throughout the label, this item is too high in sugar.

Another trick labelers like to use to make their product appear healthier than it really is, is to call it lean, low fat, reduced fat and less fat.  Less than what? Less than their previous product, or less than a pound of bacon? Ask the same question for all reduced claims (less sugar, less salt ...). Below is a label decoder that should prove helpful on your next trip to the grocery store.

Fat Free means that the food product has so little fat that it would not show up on your dietary screen (usually .5 gram per serving).

Low Calorie has fewer than 40 calories per serving.

Low Fat means 3 grams or less of total fat; "low-saturated fat" means one gram or less; low-cholesterol" means less than 20 milligrams; and "low-calorie" means 40 calories or fewer per serving.

Light has half the fat of the regular version of their product

Lean refers to meat and means one serving has less than 10 grams of total fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, and 95 milligrams of cholesterol.

Extra Lean also refers to meat. This means that one serving has less than 5 grams of total fat and 2 grams of saturated fat, and 95 milligrams of cholesterol per serving.

Less means there is 25 percent less fat, salt or sugar as compared to a similar product.

Reduced means the product was altered so that it contains 25% less fat, salt or sugar than the regular version.

Low Cholesterol foods have 20 milligrams of cholesterol or less per serving, and 2 grams or less of saturated fat per serving.

Low Sodium has140 milligrams or less per serving.

Very Low Sodium gives you 35 milligrams or less per serving.

These Items Are No-No's

Grains & Starches That Are Okay

Grains & Starches That Are Okay Once in a While

Things to Watch Out For

Step By Step

  1. Clean out your pantry. Give any unacceptable foods away to a food program in your church or community.
  2. Grocery shopping: it takes time to read labels while shopping, which is why I've started compiling an UnDiet list of supermarket foods. The completed list will be available sometime next year. Meanwhile I'll be inserting portions of the list in upcoming Step-By-Step issues. Either print it out to take to your local grocery store or use it to order your non-perishables on-line.
  3. If you want to start compiling your own list, make written or mental note of which products you've thoroughly examined. This will help your grocery shopping to go faster. I've made up a shopping list which I keep on the inside door of a kitchen cupboard. I check off items as I use them or as I'll need them for upcoming meals. Whenever I find a new packaged item I add it to the master list and print out new shopping list blanks.
  4. When you're ready to move onto the next Step click on over to Mini Workouts.

Tips

This is one of those tricks that you should only incorporate if you're into a reward and retribution system. If not then don't even read the following paragraph; just skip right to "Following Through".

Sometimes you need to cut that weedling "just this once" and "just this little bit" attitude off at the knees. One way is by telling yourself that when you go off the UnDiet, no matter how big or little you step outside the guidelines, you'll do a mini-workout, or two, or three. Decide ahead of time what your retribution will be and then stick to it. Not only does this serve to stay your hand from moving to your lips while clutching forbidden food, but it also helps to work off whatever forbidden foods end up in your system.

Talk Back

I'm working on setting up an UnDiet Blog but in the meantime I encourage you to respond to this Step with your questions, your challenges, your own tips and discoveries ... some of which I'll post as a help for all Steppers.

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last revised October 24, 2008
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