In the battle to lower cholesterol, one tool stands head and shoulders above the rest - the 'Nutrition Facts Label' which is printed on every food container. Properly interpreting the values listed will help you select the proper foods, portions of food you can eat, and what foods to avoid.
Start with the 'Serving Size' which is listed under the title. Serving sizes are standardized so that you can compare similar foods. They are listed in familiar units i.e. cup or ounces, and next to this in parentheses is listed the weight in metric units (grams). Make a note of the serving size because all that follows uses that as a reference.
Next is the 'Servings per Container'. At this point you might ask yourself, "How many servings am I consuming?"
The next line lists the "Calories" per single serving. The calories provide a measure of the amount of energy you will derive from eating a serving. This is very helpful information if you are watching your weight.
Note that the Calories listing is based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. So 40 calories would be considered low, 100 calories moderate, and 400 calories or more is high.
The next five lines make up the 'Nutrients Section'. Consider these listings as a warning because eating too much saturated fat, cholesterol and trans fat lead to heart disease. Eating too much sodium increases the risk of getting high blood pressure.
At the top is 'Calories from Fat'. This is a very important piece of data for people wanting to reduce their cholesterol, since saturated fat is the primary entry way for cholesterol into the body. For convenience at the end of each line is a column '% DV' which lists the percent of the daily value based on a 2,000 calorie/day diet.
The next two lines further define the kind of fat i.e. 'Saturated Fat' and 'Trans Fat'. Taken together these are called 'bad fats' and their consumption should be limited. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that 'bad fats' should be less that 7% of the calories of the daily diet. So pay particular attention to the %DV values next to these two lines.
The next five or six lines is considered the 'Get Enough of These Nutrients' section. Listings here start off with 'Dietary Fiber'. Most Americans don't get enough of these nutrients such as 'Dietary Fiber', Vitamins A, and C, Calcium, and Iron. Eating enough of these nutrients every day should improve your health and decrease the risk of getting some chronic diseases and conditions.
So look at this section in a positive light as opposed to the previous section which had a more negative tone. Daily values here you'd like to see in the higher percentages. In most cases the higher the value the better.
Last is the 'Footnote Section'. This is a listing of the Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet and also on a 2,500 calorie per day.
Listed are the Daily Values in grams(g) or milligrams(mg) for total fat, saturated fat, Cholesterol, and Sodium; these values are the maximum and eating 'less than' the value listed is encouraged.
The value for Total Carbohydrate is for a balanced diet. The value for Dietary Fiber is an 'at least' value - eating more is desired.
The percent of daily values is computed from the values in this table. For example the 'Nutrition Facts' label I have shows Total Fat as 12g or 18% of the daily value. Dividing the 12g by 65g (maximum daily value) yields a value of 0.1846 which is rounded down and converted to 18%. The value for Sat Fat is 3g, dividing this by the daily maximum value listed in the above table - 20g yields 0.15 which converts to the 15% of the daily value listed in the table.
Studying and understanding the "Nutrition Facts' label on food containers can help you decide which food to buy, how much of it, and how good is it for you. These tables are very enlightening and taken together are a powerful tool in the battle against heart-threatening cholesterol.
Tim Lazaro is a competitive, masters runner who writes on issues related to health, natural-food diets, and aerobic exercise. He employs the life-style changes and diets that he writes about. He has lowered his total cholesterol and lost weight using these cholesterol-lowering methods.
Download his Free guide here: waystoloweryourcholesterol.com/SqueezePages/FiveSecrets.html Five Secrets to Lowering Cholesterol.
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