How To Read The Nutrition Facts

When we buy food or drinks packaged / processed, definitely there are a white label containing food nutrition data or called "nutrition facts". Currently, food manufacturers is required to include a list of food ingredients and nutrition facts in their products. Nutrition Facts provide information about food ingredients, herbs and chemicals in its food. The nutrition listed,written in sequence, according to weight. The most widely used nutrients listed first and the least written last.

I have many friends who asked me about how to read the "Nutrition Facts" data correctly. Indeed, there are still many people who do not know how to read the nutrition facts correctly. In fact, for those of you who want to start running a healthy lifestyle, it is important to know the nutrient content in the food, to make better decisions about the food we buy. Here I describe an example of how to read a nutrition facts:

1. Usually at the top of the nutrition facts, presented information serving size and serving per container. Serving size will indicate the portion or serving size recommended, while serving per container is the maximum amount of serving size. If you eat more or less than the recommended serving size, then the information on the nutrition label should be adjusted for the amount of nutrients you consume. For example, if you eat 2 times a portion of the serving size, the nutritional value of the information is also multiplied by 2.

2. In this section, the information included total energy (in calories) in one serving of food. Calories shows a measure of how much energy you get from a serving of food. Remember, that the number of servings you consume determines the number of calories you eat, if you eat 2 x serving size, the number of calories is also multiplied by 2. To determine the size of the high-calorie foods or not, can use the benchmark; 40 calories is low, 100 calories is moderate, and 400 calories or more is high.

There are also included calories from fat shows how many calories from foods that come from fat. Each gram of fat is worth 9 calories, you should consume a maximum of 3 grams of fat or 30 calories of fat per 100 calories of food.

3. This section contains the main information content in foods, such as fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, fiber, sugar and protein. Beside it, there is a measure of the amount of nutrients in grams. And next to them again in the size of the data contained percent, percent of the data here is the percent of the total 2000 calories. For example, 50gram carb calories will meet the needs of 17% of 2000 calories. In general, the nutritional value of 5% is considered low, and a value of 20% is considered high.

• Total Fat, shows how much good fats and bad fats. Good fats are: monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat, while bad fats are Saturated Fat and trans fat. Optimal fat intake of no more than 3 grams per 100 calories, and daily intake of bad fats should be no more than 10% of your daily calorie intake (less than 1 gram per 100 calories). When comparing foods, look at the amount of total fat, saturated fat and calories in each serving. Choose the least.
• Cholesterol shows how many total cholesterol, which consists of good cholesterol (HDL) and bad cholesterol (LDL) in every serving. Consumption should not exceed 300 mg per day. Choose a product that at least the amount of cholesterol, and 0 is better.
• Sodium (natrium), it would be better if the sodium consumed, no more than 2,400 mg per day. Choose a product that at least the amount of sodium.
• Carbohydrate, it includes simple carbohydrates and sugars, complex carbohydrates and fiber. I recommend to choose high fiber carbohydrates, try to consume 20 and 35 grams of fiber per day. The higher the fiber content of a food product, the lower the sugar content.
• Protein, this content is also one that should be considered in addition to carbohydrates and fats. if you buy dairy products, it would be great if the milk is high in protein and low in fat and sugar.

4. In the fourth section contains additional nutrients besides the main nutrients, namely vitamins and minerals. From here it is also the one you can tell if the food you choose poor nutrition or not. You also need to make sure the food you buy is not only contain of fat, carbohydrate or protein, but also contain vitamins and minerals that are useful for the body.

Yes, that's a brief explanation on how to read the nutrition facts. But indeed the majority of food products tailored to the needs of 2000 calories, while we have different calorie requirements vary. For that please adjust your dose your nutritional needs according to your calorie needs. And to see the content of the food that is not packaged, you can look at a page table of nutrition. Because knowing the food you eat, is your outset to be healthy. Hopefully useful :)