Many pay no attention to the nutritional labels on the food they buy. Not paying attention the labels on your food can lead to consuming more fat and calories than you expected. In order to understand the food you eat it is important to take heed of the fat and calories listed on the food item. Whether you are dieting or not nutritional information should never be ignored. Many times, we are in too much of a hurry to check the label and just assume chips are high in fat or pretzels are low in fat. If you have dietary needs or you are a diabetic, taking the extra step of checking labels is especially important.
The first thing you need to look for on a nutritional label is serving size. Do not assume that a handy grab bag of chips or crackers is one serving. You may find yourself consuming two to four times the amount of fat and calories you intended. Did you know that an average serving of ice cream is a half cup? Did you know that most handy grab bags of chips are actually two servings? Cans of soup or those cans of spaghetti you feed your children are often two servings. The amount of servings dramatically impacts your diet. You need to compare serving size of your favorite snacks to know what the better choice is when you feel the need to munch. Also, keep in mind that you will also increase your intake of trans fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, if you eat double or triple the serving size. You will not have the ability to balance your intake of sugar or carbs without first checking the label.
After checking the serving size, you will also want to check how many calories come from fat. This is a detail that is often overlooked by dieters. If you eat a cup of food that has 250 calories with 120 calories from fat that means almost half the calories come from fat. Can you imagine the impact of over eating a food where almost half the calories come from fat? This is not a step to overlook if you are dieting. The higher caloric intake the more weight you will gain and this leads to obesity. Be vigilant and read your labels to understand what you are eating. You may be surprised that foods you thought were good for you are not or which foods you are actually eating too much of.
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