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Don’t Let Food Labels Give You Indigestion

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Food labels can be so confusing that they give you indigestion. When you are cruising the grocery store aisles, you probably flip over a few items to scrutinize their nutrition labels. But do you understand what you’re looking at?
Reading Food Labels
The government is working on updating the label to reflect today’s nutritional concerns and include more realistic serving sizes. Until that happens, use these helpful tips to make informed food choices that contribute to a healthy, balanced diet:
  1. Nutrition information is provided for one serving of a food or beverage. Many products contain more than one serving. If a serving size is one cup, and you eat two cups, then you must double the calories, fat, sugar, and other ingredients to get an accurate estimate of how much you’ve eaten. If you’ve eaten a smaller portion than what is on the label, calculate accordingly.
  2. Pay special attention to the amount of sugars (including carbohydrates) in one serving. This is especially important if you have diabetes (or other health concerns) that require you to monitor sugar intake or the glycemic index of foods.
  3. Check out the quality of fats in a serving. Trans fats are labeled because they are known to contribute to “bad cholesterol,” which contributes to heart disease. Choose foods that are low in omega-6 fatty acids and high in Omega 3-fatty acids. Some foods, like nuts and avocado, have high fat content, but the source of fat is actually good for the body.
  4. Be aware that “0” does not mean zero! It means less than 5% per serving!
  5. In addition to understanding the nutrition label, take a look at the list of ingredients. If you cannot pronounce the words that are listed on a food label, it’s likely coming from chemicals and processed (unnatural) elements that are not healthy for the body. Some of the items you want to avoid include:
    • Preservatives including BHA, BHT, brominated products
    • GMO – genetically modified organisms, common in corn and soy derivatives
    • Dextrose
    • Xanthan gum
    • Hydrocarbons (pesticides PCB, DDE, DDT)
    • Soy and cottonseed oil
    • Dyes (e.g., yellow dye no. 5, tartrazine)
    • MSG – monosodium glutamate (common in canned foods and Asian cooking)
    • Food allergens – if you or family members have a known allergy to peanuts, wheat, soy, or gluten
If you are in a hurry and can’t take the time to read labels, be sure to avoid packaged (bag, box, or bottle) foods. Instead, buy fresh foods and “eat a rainbow everyday” (e.g., fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, fermented foods). Also, choose water, tea, or juices with no sugar added. It’s also a good idea to shop where you can trust the quality of brands sold.
Finally, pay attention to what’s happening in the news … in July 2015 the government proposed a new nutrition information panel for food labeling. The public is invited to provide comment.

Do you read food labels? Share in the comments below!

 

References:
  • David Katz, M.D. “Nutrition Detectives: Teaching Kids to Make Healthy Choices.” http://www.davidkatzmd.com/nutritiondetectives.aspx
  • Pizzorno, J.E. Textbook of Natural Medicine. Fourth edition. St Louis, Missouri: Elsevier Publishing: 2014.
  • United States Department of Agriculture. “Nutrition Facts Label.” Updated August 2006. http://www.choosemyplate.gov/sites/default/files/printablematerials/NutritionFactsLabel.pdf
  • United States Food and Drug Administration. “How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label.” Updated November 2004. http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/LabelingNutrition/ucm274593.htm
Photo Credit:
  • monkeybusinessimages/bigstockphoto.com
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. KalenaSpire only joins affiliate programs for products that Christine believes in and sincerely endorses for quality and efficacy.

About Christine

Christine Cherpak is a Functional Nutrition & Wellness Expert, and the founder of KalenaSpire, a holistic health coaching and private yoga practice that specializes in freeing people from chronic digestive discomfort. Christine supports her clients in understanding the root cause of their digestive discomfort, creates a custom plan to put them on the road to healing, and shows them how to make sustainable lifestyle changes so they can finally enjoy and elevate their lives.

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Alexandria Z., M.S.

Christine is my wellness goddess. Her amazing support, extraordinary expertise, and undeniable compassion invited me to a world of freedom from digestive discomfort that I didn’t know was possible. The whirlwind of bloating, constipation, brain fog, and digestive upheaval was consuming my life. Exhaustion and frustration were becoming my very existence. And then I met my health goddess! Christine’s astute listening and meticulously tailored guidance, transformed my thinking and whirlwind of digestive discomfort. She helped me achieve a state of equilibrium. The balance I now experience is the center of my wellness existence—the core of my life with digestive happiness.

 

Christine instilled in me the power to embrace the grace and strength of my very own body! She has taught me to internalize the boundless evidence of my body’s functionality to heal digestively. While working with Christine, my exhaustion, pain, and bloating were overshadowed with energy, digestive comfort, glowing skin, and knowledge. Her coaching raised my awareness of food sensitivities, and promoted better food choices, which led to better sleep, a stronger link to overall wellness, clarity in my thinking, and ultimately, more joy in my life.  Christine’s remarkable spirit of wellness will forever echo in my digestive wellness journey. I bestow upon Christine the well-deserved exceptional title, “my wellness goddess.”
2015-07-27T17:47:59-04:00
Christine is my wellness goddess. Her amazing support, extraordinary expertise, and undeniable compassion invited me to a world of freedom from digestive discomfort that I didn’t know was possible. The whirlwind of bloating, constipation, brain fog, and digestive upheaval was consuming my life. Exhaustion and frustration were becoming my very existence. And then I met my health goddess! Christine’s astute listening and meticulously tailored guidance, transformed my thinking and whirlwind of digestive discomfort. She helped me achieve a state of equilibrium. The balance I now experience is the center of my wellness existence—the core of my life with digestive happiness.   Christine instilled in me the power to embrace the grace and strength of my very own body! She has taught me to internalize the boundless evidence of my body’s functionality to heal digestively. While working with Christine, my exhaustion, pain, and bloating were overshadowed with energy, digestive comfort, glowing skin, and knowledge. Her coaching raised my awareness of food sensitivities, and promoted better food choices, which led to better sleep, a stronger link to overall wellness, clarity in my thinking, and ultimately, more joy in my life.  Christine’s remarkable spirit of wellness will forever echo in my digestive wellness journey. I bestow upon Christine the well-deserved exceptional title, “my wellness goddess.”