With childhood obesity on the rise, parents, schools -- even
whole communities -- are getting behind the movement to help young people eat healthier.
FDA nutrition expert Shirley Blakely, a registered dietitian and the mother of two
grown kids, says healthy eating at home and school
begins at the grocery store.
As you head down the supermarket aisle, Blakely says you
should zero-in on two things:
- the Nutrition Facts label -- tells the number of calories and percentage of a day's worth of nutrients in one serving
- the ingredients on the label of all prepared foods -- lists every ingredient that went into the product, with the predominant ingredient first, the next most prominent second, and so on in descending order
Checking ingredients
Ingredients in prepared foods are listed in descending order
of prominence. If the cereal your kids like has some type of grain listed
first, that's a good sign. But if fructose, high fructose corn syrup, or
sucrose -- in other words, sugar -- is listed first, you'd best leave that item
on the store shelf because added sugars are taking the place of other, more
nutritious ingredients.
And sugar isn't always an additive. Some foods -- fruits,
for example -- are naturally sweet without adding any sugar at all. If you
check the Nutrition Facts label on canned or dried fruits that have no added
sugar, you'll still see sugars listed. That's because the sugars in pineapple,
raisins, prunes, and other fruits occur naturally.
The same is true for fresh apples, bananas, melons, and
other items on your grocer's produce aisle, but they don't carry labels because
they're completely unprocessed. If you want to know how many calories or
nutrients they have, you'll have to look on the Internet or ask in the produce
section of your grocery store.
Read the label
Blakely also says parents and kids should pay attention to
portion sizes. Her advice: put just one serving on each person's plate. And
make sure everyone in the family knows how to use the Nutrition Facts label to
guide their food choices. Blakely says there are three things everyone should
check when they read the label:
- Serving size -- one container isn't necessarily one serving; make sure you're eating only one serving by measuring your food and eating it from a plate or bowl instead of out of the container.
- Percent Daily Value -- tells what percentage of the
recommended daily amount of each nutrient is in one serving of a food. Based on
the amount of each nutrient recommendation for one day, five percent or less is
low; 20 percent or more is high.
- Nutrients -- try to get 20 percent or more of protein, fiber, and some essential vitamins and minerals (such as vitamin C and calcium) in a single serving; but limit your intake of saturated fats and sodium to five percent or less per serving of food. Strive for 0 trans fat, or trans fatty acids -- this harmful fat raises your bad cholesterol (LDL) and lowers your good cholesterol (HDL).
Some big changes could be in store for the Nutritional Facts Label. ConsumerAffairs.com's Sara Huffman reported recently that the Institute of Medicine is recommending information that is more useful to food shoppers be placed more prominently on packages.
