Reading Food Labels
By Joanna Strong-Millsap

Manufacturers of snack foods and packaged foods of all kinds target teens in their advertising. Why? Most teens have very busy lifestyles with little time for food preparation. That, combined with the fact that they’re growing fast and in need of frequent meals and snacks, makes teens the biggest consumers of fast food and snack foods in our culture.

You can make informed choices for better health and academic performance though, and reading labels can help. The first thing to examine on a label is the list of ingredients. The healthiest snacks will have ingredients you recognize as food with names you can pronounce. If you can’t pronounce the name, why would you put it in your mouth? Some of the healthiest items include: nuts, fruits or fruit juices, raisins, milk, and whole grains such as rice, wheat, or oats. Keep in mind that ingredients are listed in order from the greatest amount to the smallest amount in a serving. The first ingredient listed is the ingredient in the snack which occurs in the largest amount and the ingredients at the end of the list may be present only in trace amounts. Therefore, in the healthiest snacks, the wholesome ingredients are at the beginning of the list.

There are a few key ingredients you should try to minimize in your diet. The first is corn syrup, especially the high-fructose variety. It sounds harmless enough; corn is healthy, right? But corn syrup is only the naturally-occurring starch in corn with none of the healthy nutrients, vitamins, or minerals. Worse yet, without the fiber of the actual corn, the syrup is nearly indigestible by the human body and can build up in the system as a toxin if large quantities are consumed. Better options when you are craving something sweet are items sweetened with honey, cane sugar or syrup, or fruit juices.

Other ingredients to avoid when possible are hydrogenated oils. Hydrogenated oils are molecularly changed oils that are toxic to the body. Any vegetable oil can be hydrogenated (infused with hydrogen, making the consistency more solid) to increase shelf life and help prevent spoilage. The most common hydrogenated oils are corn, safflower, soybean and cottonseed oils. But the consumption of hydrogenated oils has been linked to dramatic increases in the risk of coronary heart disease, breast cancer, other types of cancers and auto immune diseases as well as type II diabetes. Hardly worth the risks just for a product that won’t spoil until sometime next year. Will you really want to eat it after it’s been sitting around that long anyway?

After examining the list of ingredients, check labels for nutritional information. Note the serving size and the number of servings in the package. All measures in the nutritional information table apply to one serving. If, for example, a package of six cookies says “100 calories per serving,” but a serving is only one cookie, you actually hold 600 calories in that one, small package.

The current definition of a healthy diet includes no more than 30% fat, 20-30% protein, and 40-60% carbohydrates. Carbohydrate sources should be primarily high-fiber items such as vegetables, grains and fruits, and should minimize sugar and starch consumption. Examining the labels on packaged foods often reveals the exact opposite percentages, with fat being the highest percentage instead of the lowest. On top of that, the fat is often of the “saturated” variety- a direct result of the hydrogenated oils listed in the ingredients.

One last measure to check is sodium. Salt is a natural preservative and flavor enhancer, but too much salt in the diet can raise blood pressure, decrease overall body hydration, and increase the risk of heart disease and strokes. The recommended daily amount is 2,400 milligrams, or the equivalent of one teaspoon of salt.

The last thing to examine on food labels are the terms used to describe the item. Many of these terms can be misleading. An item that is labeled “fat free” might mean that additional synthetic emulsifiers, stabilizers, and flavors have been added instead. Many of these chemicals can not be processed by the human body and, like corn syrup, must be processed and eliminated from the body as toxins. The word “cocktail” on a juice label often means that sugar or other sweeteners have been added to water, with a small amount of actual fruit juice. A healthier option is a 100% juice blend that has been sweetened with naturally-sweet apple, pear, or grape juices. In juice blends, you get the benefits of naturally-occurring vitamins and nutrients from the fruits used.

For optimum concentration, performance, and overall health, your body needs fuel consisting of natural, wholesome food sources with the smallest amounts of synthetic or unnecessary additives possible. Reading labels carefully can assist you in eliminating unnecessary “junk” from your diet. And of course, many of the healthiest snack items are those which don’t require labels and fancy packaging: fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. Quality foods going into your body ensures high-quality output from both your body and your brain.