If you want to plan your meals, you need to know what you are buying. The label is today pasted on every package by law. So do not hesitate and read it. The following article will help you understand what all that information means and how it affects your diet.

Serving size: in European states it is usually 100 gr. But in some items this may differ.

Sometimes the serving size is that this food is usually measured by. For instance a cup of beans, a spoon of cereal, and so forth. It is not always the same amount you will eat. Do not forget to look at the serving size before you evaluate the nutrition facts given. If you eat double the serving size you will need to double the numbers when evaluating your consumption for meal planning purposes.

Nutrition facts usually include calories, total fat in grams (sometimes saturated fat), cholesterol, sodium, and fiber per serving. Sometimes there will also be listed a percentage of daily recommended values.

Calories count if you are trying to loose weight. You want to eat fewer calories than your body burns, this way you will loose fat reserves and weight.

Total fat tell you how much fat is in your food. This includes good and bad fats. So watch out for saturated fat values. Saturated trans fat are really bad for you. Liquid oils on the other hand are not. Our body does not need much fat, but it does need some fat that comes directly from our food. Do not eliminate ALL fat consume.

Sodium does not affect glucose levels, but it does affect blood pressure. Many eat much more sodium than they need and it is hidden in many salty foods such as pickles and bacon.

Fibers are the part of the plant we do not digest. They help fill us up and clean our intestines. So they are good to eat and good for a diet.

If you are counting carbs, then look at the grams of total carbohydrate and not only the grams of sugar. This is because carbs break into glucose in the body and there are also foods which contain other sugars than glucose – this will be noted under the carbohydrate count of these foods (milk for instance contains lactose witch is a different type of “sugar” than glucose) Sugar grams need to be counted as part of the whole carbs count.

Sugar alcohols (also known as polyols) include sorbitol, xylitol and mannitol. These are substances that are used much in sweetening processed foods. So if you see a Sugar-free label – watch out for these substitutes. The food may be sugar free indeed but it is not calorie or carbohydrate free. Diabetics need to watch out for these sugar-alcohols.

The ingredients are listed in descending weight. Watch out for the weight units (grams or MG or even micrograms) and don’t just look at the numbers.

Remember there are many regulations that the consumer is not aware of, that allow manufacturers to write, “sugar free” or fat free and the like on their products. Since you do not really know what this means, check the ingredient label before purchasing and do not take the manufacturers word for it.

The daily value on the packages is a percentage of the recommended quantity of a nutrient, based on a 2000-calorie diet. Use this value as an indicator if a certain product has high values (or low ones) of a certain nutrient.

Low is usually under 5%

Good value is 10-19%

High value is 20% and more.

Tips for diabetics:

A “free “ food is one that has less than 20 calories and less than 5 grams of carbohydrate per serving. These are usually the diet drinks and products containing artificial sweeteners.

A sugar free food is not always a carbohydrate food. Compare the carb count of the sugar free food to that of the standard product that contains sugar. If there is a big difference then the sugar plays a role in the carb count and you want the sugar free food. If there is no real differences then buy the kind you like most, even if it contains sugar – just watch out that you do not consume too much carbs per day.

No sugar products can still have high carbohydrate rates. So be careful and read the label properly.

Fat free foods can still contain many carbohydrates and may sometimes have even a higher carb count than the products they replace. Compare labels carefully before you buy.