Judge a food by its label

Whether you are taking your lunch to work, going out to eat, or deciding what to buy at the grocery store, making wise food choices outside of the home is important to eating healthy. The best way to do that is to look for the ingredients list and the Nutrition Facts tables on food products. These give you a snapshot of the foods nutritional value and help you compare similar products to make informed choices.

There are some key pieces of information found on food labels that can tell you a lot about the foods you are about to buy.

• The ingredient list itemizes all the ingredients found in the product beginning with the ingredient used most. For example, if sugar is listed first, the food has a high sugar content.
• The Nutrition Facts table includes the nutritional content of the product by listing calories and 13 core nutrients. The % Daily Value tells you if there is a little or a lot of a nutrient in a food. It is based on a scale from 0% to 100%. For example, if a food contains 240 mg of sodium and your daily value for sodium is 2,400 mg, then this food would provide you with 10% of your days intake of sodium.
• Nutrient content claims highlight a nutrient in a product such as low sodium, fat or sugar.
• Health claims link a relationship between diet and certain diseases. For example, you may see a product that states a diet low in saturated and trans fat reduces the risk of heart disease.

Knowing how to read food labels is one of your first steps to making those wise food choices. Here are some easy steps to help you decide whether a food belongs in your shopping cart.

Step 1 Check the serving size: Look at serving sizes and compare products so that you can make the best choice. For example, a cracker box may indicate 10 crackers as a serving size, but another brand may use five crackers as a serving size. (Of course this could vary because of the weight and size of crackers.) If you eat the serving size shown, you will be able to figure out how many calories and nutrients you are getting.

Step 2 Get more of these nutrients: Look for a higher % Daily Value (25% or more) for nutrients such as fibre, vitamin A and C, calcium and iron.

Step 3 Get less of these nutrients: Look for a lower % Daily Value (10% or less) for nutrients such as fat, saturated and trans fat and sodium.

Step 4 Shop with ease with the Health Check logo: Health Check is a food information program developed by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The Health Check symbol on the package means that the product is a healthy choice because its nutrition information has been reviewed by Foundation dietitians and it meets specific nutrient criteria based on Canada's Food Guide. This makes shopping quick and easy.

Look for the Health Check logo in certain restaurants, too, including Swiss Chalet, Boston Pizza and White Spot. The Health Check symbol on menus is designed to help you make healthier meal choices when you are away from home. For more information on Health Check visit www.healthcheck.org.

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Try this months recipes. Not only are they easy to cook at home, but they make great leftovers for brown-bagging it to work:

Breakfast sandwich
Minestrone soup
Spinach and mushroom lasagna
Mmmuesli cookies

Posted October 2007.