Label Reading Guidelines

The thing is, we don’t have to read the labels of everything we buy and eat. Most of our everyday foods (fruit, veggies, meat, dairy, wholegrains - bread, rice, oats) won’t have a nutrition label, or they will and instead you will need to look out for ‘lean’ cuts of meat, ‘brown’ looking bread and ‘light/ low-fat’ cheeses. 

But other foods that are more packaged, non-perishable and not always necessary in your diet, will require you to check the nutrition information panel and see if it’s something you can have daily as part of a healthy diet, or only sometimes and in small amounts.

These are things like breakfast cereals, muesli bars, canned foods, sauces, frozen meals, packeted snacks and some yoghurts.

Here is a 2-step process to help you determine if your regular trolley item is an everyday or sometimes food.

Step 1: Read the nutrition information panel

Check the fat, sugar and salt content per 100g and see where it fits in the following criteria

Step 2: Look at the ingredients

If the fat content is high – see if this is because the item is high in healthy fats (e.g. nuts and seeds) or unhealthy fats (e.g. processed meats or oil).

If the sugar content is high – see if this is because the item is high in natural sugar (e.g. fruit, dried fruit, dairy in milk, yogurt and cheese) or added sugar (this is tricky as a lot of food companies will try and disguise sugar by using other words e.g. anything ending in ‘ose’ such as dextrose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, or any syrups, malts or molasses).

See how you go in your next grocery shop, or even check your cupboards now to see if the foods you’re having are hindering your health goals and try to swap these out for healthier alternatives.

Happy label reading!