Healthy Eating: How to Read the Nutrition Label

If you want to eat healthy food, you need to know how to read the nutrition facts label on the side of the box. Everything you need to know is right there so you can make good food choices.

The serving size is the first thing listed on the label. All the information below it is based on one serving size. So it you see 20 grams of sugar listed further down, that's 20 grams in one serving, not the entire box. And remember that your idea of a serving may be quite larger than what the company that produces that food thinks. Do only five chips make a single serving? Some food companies think so.

Check out calories next. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says an adult woman between the ages of 25 and 50 should get anywhere from 2,200 to 2,800 calories. For adult men of the same age, the FDA suggests 3,000 to 4, 4000 calories each day. Now, look at fats. Trans fats and saturated fats are the bad guys that can raise bad cholesterol and even lower good cholesterol. Check both. A product may boast that it has no trans fats, but does it have saturated fats?

Sodium, which is everyday plain salt, is listed. Try to get no more than 2,300 mg per day. Some snack food are filled with sodium. Look at sugar next, and limit your intake of food that is high in sugar.

Dietary fiber is another important one to check. You should get about 25 to 35 grams of dietary fiber each day. Buy bread and other grains that contain a decent amount of fiber.

The ingredients list can be overwhelming. What ever is listed first is the number one ingredient in that product. You'll likely see a lot of words that don't seem to have any relationship to food. These are usually preservatives. In general, a short list is better than a long one, because that means fewer artificial ingredients have been added.

Knowing how to read the nutrition label is one way of eating healthier. You can also try to stay away from boxed and canned goods. As a rule of thumb, try to do most of your grocery shopping in the perimeter of the store. Stay away from all those items in the middle that are usually full of artificial ingredients. A fresh apple from the produce section will never take the place of canned apples.