OK, so I have already done a post on reading food labels.  If you have not read that, do so before reading this one, as this is a follow on.

So, when you pick up a product and turn it over, the first thing you need to look at are the serving facts.  One constitutes a serving size, and the second is how many servings are in an entire container or package.   This is sooooo important to look at to avoid a “calorie overload”.

For example, a bag of nuts and dried fruit (which seems like a great option for a snack) may have such a small serving size that a small bag provides six servings.  To you, by the size of the packet, it may look like one serving, but when you look closely, the label states it actually contains six servings.

With six servings per bag, a seemingly harmless 120 calories per serving snack ends up being a whopping 720 calorie snack if eaten in one serve.

For many years, before I read food labels, I would look for something “healthy” and see something like nuts and dried fruits and just eat the small packet and feel great that I was being healthy.  How wrong was I.  It is all about education, education so you can make better choices.

Reading food labels is not hard when you know how.  You will be very surprised by some things you are eating when you start doing this.

Now, for two simple things to look for.

1)      If a product gives more than 5 grams of fat per 100gram serving, it probably should be avoided.

2)      If the total grams of sugar per serving are greater than 20 per 100 grams serving the item should be avoided.

I want you to be able to make informed decisions about your choices.  If you can eat something that tastes as good as something else, why wouldn’t you want to choose the one with half the calories.  I can’t tell you the amount of things that I find that taste so similar but one brand will have half the calories of another.

So, follow those few simple steps and you will be making such better choices, shedding that weight you want to and feeling in control.

Yours in Health,

Rebel.

Me before losing 43 kilos/95 pounds and then after

Part of being successful on your weight loss journey is educating yourself to make informed decisions.

I get very frustrated in supermarkets because marketers are very clever.

Let me give you some examples of what I mean….

The term “Light”, can mean light in colour or light in flavour.   Light does not mean the product is “light” as in low calorie.

When I first started learning about food labels, I was amazed at what the terms could actually legally represent.

A company can write 50% less fat on a product, but that can mean 50% less fat than another product in their range, it does not  necessarily mean 50% less fat than any other brand.

Argghhhh, how are we supposed to win????

Then you read “99% fat free”and think great. You grab it off the shelf trying to do the right thing, however, very often the sugar content is high in these products.   Some 99% fat free yoghurts for example, have the sugar content of some chocolate bars.  So, if you see 99% fat free on something, check the sugar content. They do this to make the product taste good, because they want to sell the product so beware….

It doesn’t take you long to quickly look at a food label (once you understand their secrets).  Once you have done it once for a certain product, you then know which brand is the best option for next time.

Another thing to keep an eye on with food labels is the salt content.  Often foods our children LOVE have a very high salt content, which is not good for their health.

I am sure you have seen products that say they are 90% fat free.  We see the “fat free” and purchase the product, trying to do the right thing. If a product is 90% fat free, it has 10% fat and that is not a low fat product..

Marketers are taking full advantage of people wanting to eat low fat and are trying to entice people with “90% fat free type advertising”.  So we load up our trolleys with these products and think we are being “good” and just end up putting more weight on instead of losing it.

Another problem I personally had was because I thought I was eating “low fat”, I felt guilt free and ate more of whatever I was eating.   This was a huge problem as not only was I over eating, but the foods I thought were low fat, clearly were not. I was over eating on high fat or high sugar products and wondered why I was putting on weight.

If you really want to know what you are buying, instead of reading  shallow claims on the front of the product, flip over and read the label and make a wise and intelligent decision yourself based on the facts.

Yours in Health,

Rebel.

Rebel Before & After