EVERYTHING
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“One night, my 3-year-old asked me if she could sleep in my bed. I told her no. She said, “That’s not fair! Why does Daddy get to sleep in your bed?” READ MORE
Health: In Shape
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Be aware of manufacturer ploys In need of a healthy snack other than dry Cheerios, I first began looking at food labels when my two children were toddlers. After scanning the sides of several products, I discovered a chewy fruit snack that wasn’t messy and came loaded with vitamin C. It was made with real fruit, too. My kids loved them. A few years later, I came across an article about the tasty treat. Its focus, though, wasn’t on the vitamin C contained in the popular snack. Rather, it was on the high amount of sugar, artificial flavor and the dyes used to create its appealing color. Like many before me – and many since – my food label-reading skills needed some work. “Food labels are extremely helpful, but they’re only helpful if you understand how to read them,” says Kathleen Rigol, a registered dietician at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange. Rigol and Cindy Marshall, a clinical dietician at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, offer these suggestions to help families avoid common mistakes when reading a nutrition fact panel. 1 Serving size The first area to check is the serving size. All the information on the label is based on one serving. Many times, though, the serving size shown is much smaller than what most people consume at one time. This is particularly true with products such as fruit juice and chips (who eats just three chips?). One popular, 20-ounce flavored beverage, for example, lists 2 1/2 servings per container. So, if you drink the entire bottle, you are consuming 300 calories and 75 grams of sugar rather than the 120 calories and 30 grams of sugar listed on the label. Ask yourself if the serving size stated is realistic. Many times, it will need to be adjusted. Marshall’s teenage boys, for instance, consume about three or four servings more of cereal in a single sitting than what is stated on the box as one serving. Remember to adjust the figures accordingly to get an accurate read. 2 Ingredients Often overlooked, but a great quick reference for shoppers, is the ingredients section. Look at first three or four ingredients. “If it looks like a healthy item or something you can identify, then chances are it’s going to be a healthy choice,” says Marshall. “If, however, it’s a list of chemicals or fabricated ingredients, the red flag should go up.” 3 Infamous titles Be aware of those infamous titles – low fat, low sugar – used by manufacturers to lure consumers. The majority of times the item will be higher in another area to improve the product’s flavor. Low-fat salad dressings, for example, are often extremely high in sodium, and low-fat desserts tend to be high in sugar and carbs. 4 Fad diets Shoppers will sometimes focus solely on a single item, such as carbs or fat, depending on the current diet they are on. As with infamous tiles, the entire label needs to be looked at. 5 Nutrient overload Parents need to be careful not to over-supplement their children with nutrients, vitamins and minerals with fortified products (i.e. orange juice with calcium or fruit snacks and juice with high amounts of vitamin C). Oftentimes they get enough of the item in foods, such as dairy products and fresh fruits and vegetables, where the nutrients occur naturally. “It’s kind of the same analogy as adding extra oil to a car engine that already has enough oil,” says Marshall. “It’s a waste and it’s potentially going to add some problems - gunk up the engine, so to speak.” As for those sweet fruit snacks? My kids, now 18 and 19, still love them. I don’t buy them anymore, but their grandma does. She recently – no joke – brought a jumbo pack to our house, along with some other items she had picked up at Costco. “I know how you read those food labels,” she said to me. “Look how healthy these are; they’ve got all these vitamins in them.” I never did figure out if she was serious or if this was another ploy to further spoil her grandchildren. She jumped to another topic too quick. |
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