Each time you go grocery shopping, you’re looking at the back of food cartons and cans to find out the nutritional value of the items you’re eating.
Understanding The Nutritional Facts
But what do all these nutritional facts mean, and how can you use this information to create a more well-balanced diet for yourself?
Here are some explanations of the descriptions on food labels that will help you plan your diet a little better.
If you see the term ascorbic acid on a label, this is form of vitamin C. This is also used as a preservative, so you may not want to consume foods that have too much of this, since ascorbic acid is not the most natural form of vitamin C.
Fruit juices, fruit snacks, and some gravy and rice mixes may contain this, but again, monitor your intake.
Of course, you’ll also be checking the nutritional facts for calories. You’ll want to make sure that you’re not consuming too many calories each day for your body weight, but you do need to make sure that there are enough calories in your body to give you energy.
Calories are actually a unit for measurement of energy, but make sure that you’re not consuming empty calories by consuming too much sugar or simple carbohydrates; that means reducing the amount of white rice and white breads and pasta that you eat, and keep your sugar intake reduced to fruits and some sugar-free snacks.
Other Nutritional Facts You Need To Look For Are…
Other nutritional facts you’ll want to pay attention to include the amount of vitamins in each serving of food that you consume. For instance, getting enough B vitamins throughout the day will help to reduce stress and increase brain power.
Ingredients like Folate, which is actually B9, can be found in foods like whole grains and broccoli, and pregnant women need to consume additional amounts of this to promote proper brain function in babies.
You’ll also need to make sure that you’re getting enough essential minerals in your diet. Iron is one of the minerals that many people don’t get enough of, but it is necessary because it forms part of hemoglobin, the part of the blood that carries oxygen throughout the body.
When you don’t have enough iron in your system, you may experience fatigue and low body temperature. Make sure that you read for nutritional facts on your fiber-rich foods to see that you’re getting the right amount of iron each day.
These are just some of the ideas we have presented for those needing to know how to find the nutritional facts on foods we buy, if you have some other ideas please post them below. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.