Making the right choices for a Healthy Diet

Without a doubt, the ideal diet is different from person to person.  However, on average, a healthy diet is one that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, seeds and nuts and fish and has low levels of food components which are harmful to your health such as other animal products, concentrated sweets, saturated fats, cholesterol, salt and additives, stimulants and alcohol. 

The whole natural and unprocessed foods, such as plant foods: fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, seeds and nuts contain not only valuable nutrients but also dietary fibre which has some remarkable healthy properties. 

A healthy diet should also include a suitable amount of protein.

A healthy diet should also include at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day. 

Reading food labels seem to be the most effective way of determining the proper type of food to be bought in the supermarket. They let you make sensible food selections.  With food labels, you can clearly understand the amount and types of nutrients that are provided in the item.

Usually, they contain the information on saturated fat, sodium, total fat, fiber, and cholesterol amount “per serving.”  Through the “Nutrition Facts” section in a particular item, you can determine the amount of serving sizes provided in that product as well as the nutritional value.

A typical consumer would definitely ask what those numbers mean to understand how it will affect his or her diet.  However, understanding and reading these food labels can be very confusing.

To further have a clear and more comprehensive understanding of the items stated in the food label, here is a list of things that you need to know:

1. Serving size

This is the primary item you will see in a food label.

The amount of servings stated in the food label refers to the quantity of food people usually consume. However, this does not necessarily mean that it reflects your very own amount of food intake, as most people are surprised to find that their idea of a single serving is actually two or three.

Moreover, serving size determines the amount of nutrients that enters the body. This means that if you will follow strictly what the serving size is, you will obtain the same amount of nutrients according to the serving size that was given in the label.

For instance, if the serving size says one serving size is equal to 57 grams, that would mean you have to measure 57 grams and eat that and you have just eaten one serving. So to speak, the amount of nutrients stated in the food label is the same amount that has entered your body considering the fact that you have just eaten 57 grams.

However, if you have eaten everything, and the food label says that each pack is equivalent to 4 servings, you have to calculate the amount of nutrients that have entered your body. This means that if the food label says 300 calories per serving that means you have to multiply it to four to get the total amount of calories you have taken.

2. Nutrients

This refers to the list of available nutrients in a particular item. It is also where the nutritional claims of the product based on the recommended daily dietary allowance are stated. Usually, the nutritional amounts are based on both the 2,500-calorie diets and the 2,000 recommended dietary allowances.

In order to understand the numeric value of each item, you should know that the “% daily value” that the food label indicates is actually based on how a particular food corresponds to the recommended daily dietary allowance for a 2,000 calorie.

If in the event that you have purchased an item that has a dietary allowance different from the 2,000-calorie diet, you just have to divide the stipulated amount by 2,000 and you will be able to identify the “%daily value” for the nutrients.

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