Have you ever wondered which product to choose over the other when you go grocery shopping? Feeling overwhelmed and confused over food choices is very common nowadays since we have so much to choose from. It becomes even harder when we are constantly bombarded with nutrition messages that make us question ingredients, calories, sodium, sugar or additives, etc found in our food.
One-third of consumer decision-making is based on packaging. Most of the time, we pay attention to the aesthetics of the package, “if it looks good, it must taste good”. However, checking nutrition labels so that you know what and how much you're eating plays a central role in making better choices about the foods you are buying.
The nutritional information found on a food label is based on one serving of that particular food. That is one of the most common mistakes people make when reading food labels. A food label may indicate that a food has 100 calories and only 5 grams of sugar, for example. But if you look at the number of servings, it may state three. That means that if you were to eat the entire package, you would be getting three times the amount shown on the food label!
Reading food labels accurately will make it much easier for you to compare foods and find the foods that have nutritional value. Remember that a healthy diet is crucial throughout your lifetime and paying attention to the content of our food products is a good step toward improving overall diet.
