Trying to find food that’s delicious and good for you can be a challenge, especially if you’re not sure what to look for on a nutrition label.
But that nutrition label is a powerful tool. Even with so much healthy marketing on the front of a package, you can use the nutrition information on the back to help you sort out which foods actually supports your health goals.
Once you know how to prioritize the information on the label, navigating food choices isn’t as intimidating as it may seem.
Nutrition tip of the day: When looking at a nutrition label, check this first
When looking at a nutrition label on food, registered dietitian Natalie Rizzo says she looks at the ingredients list first. Then she checks the amount of added sugar in the product.
“That gives me a fast snapshot of the overall quality of a food and helps me find products I’ll actually enjoy eating,” says Rizzo, who is also TODAY’s nutrition editor.
Why it matters
The ingredient list “tells me what’s actually in the food before I even look at the numbers,” Rizzo says. “I want to see recognizable, whole-food ingredients near the top of the list. I look for foods like oats, beans, whole grains, nuts or fruit, rather than a long list of refined ingredients and additives.”
She’s also not a fan of the taste of stevia or other non-nutritive sweeteners, so she looks to the ingredients list to quickly weed out products that contain them.
And the added sugar numbers further help break through “healthy” marketing claims, she says.
“Many packaged foods can seem healthy based on front-of-package claims, but the ingredient list and added sugar line often tell a different story,” Rizzo explains.
“For some foods, like yogurt, I expect the ingredient list to be fairly short, but the nutrition facts panel tells how much added sugar has been mixed in.”
How to get started
Nutrition labels can be confusing, but once you know how to read them, they actually make eating so much simpler.
If the ingredients and added sugar look good to you, here are a few other things to keep in mind when selecting a food, Dr. Ian Smith told TODAY previously:
- Serving size, which is what all the other numbers on the label are based on.
- Calories. If you’re working with a daily calorie goal, this will help you stay on track.
- Protein. Aim for at least 20 grams at each meal.
- Fiber. Try to get at least 25 grams of fiber every day.
And when it comes to added sugar, less is generally better. As a rule of thumb, Smith recommends choosing foods that have no more than sugar at 6-7 grams of added sugar per serving.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
