Best Teen Diets Nutrition Blog: Grocery Shopping

Teens Health - MyPlate Food Guide

9:23 AM

Shopping Tip: Store Price Secrets Decoded

8:00 PM

This post isn't about managing weight and it isn't a new recipe we came across, or even about how to keep your skin healthy with real food. Instead, we are looking at something we thought you'd all find a bit fascinating, much like our Whole Foods Insider Tip (if you missed that one, search for #ShoppingTip on our Facebook page). We are most interested in the grocery stores (Costco & Target), but in case you are in the back-to-school shopping mode, there are some others thrown in there too.

Why do the prices at retailers like Costco and Target usually end in .99, but occasionally feature a quirky 7 or 4 for items in the clearance section? Obsessive shopping experts and store employees have been leaking the “secrets” behind these price-tag code numbers — which can help consumers tell the difference between a so-so sale price and an unheard-of bargain.

Word of how these pricing systems work has been spreading for years, via sites like Consumerist and personal-finance expert Clark Howard’s appearances on HLN. Some of these handy decoders obsessively focus on the pricing system ins and outs of an individual retailer, such as Costco or Target, while others round up pricing decoders for multiple retailers.

Lifehacker recently put together one of the more comprehensive sale-price decoders, and newspapers like the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel published their own versions listing the pricing codes of retailers ranging from Gap to Staples.

By comparing the price-decoding info in circulation five or so years ago with the codes zipping around the Internet lately, it looks as if retailers haven’t changed their systems at all. Going forward, as more shoppers get more of a clue about whether or not an item on “clearance” is actually a good deal, will stores keep using the same systems? Or might they mix things up to keep shoppers on their toes, and more in the dark? It’s hard to say.

But in light of how common it is for stores to try to manipulate shoppers into buying endless can’t-pass-up deals, it’s pretty easy to imagine a scenario in which a store starts messing with the numbers and codes on price tags with the hopes of convincing consumers that they’re getting monster discounts when the truth is something else.

For now at least, the consensus says that when a price tag ends in something other than .99, it’s a safe bet that the item is below full price. Beyond that, each store has its own quirky pricing system, often with some weird exceptions and caveats. Here’s a quick cheat sheet to tell if you’re getting the best price possible at a few very well-known stores:

BJ’s
Regular price: ends in .99
Cheapest price: usually ends in .00 or .90

Costco
Regular price: ends in .99
Cheapest price: ends in .97 (or sometimes .88 or .00)

Gap, Old Navy
Regular price: varies
Cheapest price: ends in .*7

Sears
Regular price: ends in .99
Cheapest price: ends in .88 or .97

Staples
Regular price: price tag has letter A, I, or P
Cheapest price: price tag has letter C or F

Target
Regular price: ends in .*9
Cheapest price: ends in .*4

Original Source: "Decoding the Secret Language of Price Tags" by Brad Tuttle, Time Magazine

Best Teen Diets recommends healthy well balanced eating that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat or fat-free dairy. We offer nutrition information for teens, parents and educators that emphasizes the importance of healthy eating for teens. For more information visit www.bestteendiets.org

Breakfast

Picking Between Cereals: More Fiber, Less Sugar

8:00 PM

Fad Diets

What "skinny" and "healthy" are saying to us

8:31 PM

Have you been hearing what we've been hearing? "Skinny" is the new "low-cal" and "healthy" really means "okay to eat more". Huh? Let us explain.

"Skinny"

The word "skinny" is being used on food products more recently to appeal to customers who are looking for healthier, waist-friendly choices. But whether or not they are actually healthier or waist-friendly is up for question. "It personifies food and makes it more endearing and doesn't have the negative connotation that the word 'diet' has," says a consumer-research psychologist and professor. It allows for guilt-free indulgence as part of a maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The co-founder of SkinnyPop (pictured above, center) uses the word 'skinny' to give the impression of "few ingredients, better-for-you and a lifestyle".

We took a look at the "Multigrain Skinny Buns" (pictured above, right) and compared them to Oroweat's "Healthy Multigrain" sliced bread. The nutrition facts of one bun and one slice of bread are nearly identical. The difference is only one gram of sugar, one gram of protein, and 5 mg of sodium. That means you could make a sandwich on a whole skinny bun (top and bottom) or make half of a sandwich (one slice of bread) and the result would be essentially the same. Not to mention, the buns list "enriched wheat flour" at the top of their ingredient list while the bread lists "whole wheat flour". You know what that means... The buns are not actually whole wheat but the multigrain bread is!

"Healthy"

'Healthy' is another term to consider. A study published in this month's International Journal of Obesity looked at how much people eat according to the label "healthier". They found that people served up a larger portion of 'healthier' coleslaw than the "regular" coleslaw even though both versions were the same number of calories. People also felt less guilty about having the 'healthier' version, which would explain the larger portions.

The take-away message:

The words "skinny" and "healthy" are just terms that are being used to try and get us to buy into a product. Don't give these products special treatment and assume they are what they say they are. Look at the label as you would any other product and see what about it is different from the "regular" version. When we become aware of the words that surround us in the grocery aisles, we can then decipher for ourselves what is "healthy" and what is trying to be.

Related: "Reading a Food Label", "Controlling Portion Size"

Articles referenced: Advertising Age, "How 'Skinny' Became the Hottest Phrase in Marketing" by E.J. Schultz and "People choose larger versions of 'healthy' food" by Keri Grens

Best Teen Diets recommends healthy well balanced eating that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat or fat-free dairy. We offer nutrition information for teens, parents and educators that emphasizes the importance of healthy eating for teens. For more information visit www.bestteendiets.org

Grocery Shopping

15 Fresh Brown Bag Lunch Ideas

4:46 PM

If you're a parent of school-age kids, you're probably no stranger to brown bananas and smashed sandwiches aging in the bottom of your child's backpack. By the end of the school year, most kids are tired of eating the same bag lunch day after day at school. Even peanut butter and jelly sandwiches can grow old.

Summer brings a change of weather and daytime activities. Why not change what you pack in your children’s camp or summer school lunches?

These 15 kids’ lunchbox ideas are based on four key elements. Use them when you fix your summer lunches, too:

15 Fun Lunchbox Ideas for Kids

Try these menu items to jazz up bag lunches.

Pasta Lover's Lunch Salad. Pack a cold pasta salad and a plastic fork, and your pasta lover will love you, too! Make the salad with lean meat or low-fat cheese (so it has some protein), lots of vegetables to boost fiber and nutrition, and whole wheat or whole-grain pasta. Toss everything together with a light bottled vinaigrette made with extra virgin olive oil or canola oil.

Mediterranean Pita Pocket. Fill a pita pocket with falafel balls and some homemade or store-bought hummus. Some falafel balls come cooked and ready to add.

Fruit and Cheese Plate. Fill a divided plastic container with assorted cubes or slices of reduced fat cheese, easy-to-eat fruit such as apple and pear slices, grapes, berries or melon and whole-wheat crackers.

Peanut Butter Fun Pack. Make a peanut butter fun pack by spooning two tablespoons of natural-style peanut butter in a reusable plastic container, along with whole wheat crackers or whole wheat pita pocket wedges and raw vegetables such as celery, zucchini, or jicama sticks.

Everything Is Better on a Mini Bagel. Whole-wheat bagels are a wonderful foundation for hardy sandwiches that stand up to being in a backpack or locker all morning. Start with one regular or a few mini bagels. Add tuna or lean, roasted, and sliced turkey or roast beef. Top it off with reduced-fat cheese and fresh tomato, onion, and Romaine lettuce or sprouts. Two mini bagels can supply 6 grams of fiber to the meal.

Celebrate Lunch Salads. A plastic container can hold the makings of a delicious salad lunch. For a Cobb salad, fill it with spinach or chopped dark green lettuce, chopped hard-boiled egg, light cheese, and/or lean ham. Or toss in the ingredients for a Chinese chicken salad: dark salad greens, shredded chicken, shredded carrots, sliced green onion, and toasted sliced almonds.

The salad will stay fresher if your child adds the dressing at lunchtime. Put a light dressing into a small container, buy packets of light dressing, or use extra packets of dressing left over from a fast-food meal.

It's a Wrap! Wraps are a nice change of pace from the usual sandwich. Use a high-fiber multigrain flour tortilla, available in most supermarkets. Spread on mustard, hummus, light salad dressing, or green or sundried tomato pesto. Then fill 'er up with chicken Caesar salad or assorted lean meats, cheese, tomato, sliced onion, and shredded Romaine lettuce. Just roll it up and wrap in foil. Kids can eat it like a burrito -- by unwrapping it on one end and working their way down.

Noodle Soup Cups. Many schools offer a hot water dispenser so older kids (or young kids with assistance) can add hot water to packaged noodle soup cups. Even the more healthful soup options can be high in sodium, however, so you may not want to pack them in your child’s lunch more than once a week.

Some brands are lower in sodium and fat, and higher in fiber, than others. The nutrition label tells the story. If your child has access to a microwave, you can pack one of the more healthful microwaveable individual soup containers now available from major brands.

Veggie Sushi. Not all kids will go for this, but some children really like seaweed-wrapped sushi rolls. You can now buy pre-made sushi at many supermarkets. Choose sushi that is filled with veggies (such as avocado and cucumber) so there's no chance that it will get a little "fishy" in your child's backpack.

Fun Fried Rice. When made with eggs, tofu or chopped lean meat, and lots of veggies, cold fried rice can be a satisfying noontime treat. Make your own using brown rice. Or set some aside for the next day when you get take-out Chinese food for dinner.

Talk About Taquitos. Taquitos are easy to eat and easy to pack. In the morning, lay a few bean and cheese frozen taquitos on a small sheet of foil. Pop them into a toaster oven to crisp them up. Wrap them up in the foil and slide them in your child’s lunch bag. For a vegetarian option, bean taquitos are available in some stores.

BBQ Chicken Sandwich. Your child can assemble a yummy BBQ grilled chicken sandwich fresh at lunchtime. Just pack a grilled, boneless, skinless chicken breast with some lettuce and sliced tomato in one baggie and a whole-wheat bun in another. Add a packet of BBQ sauce and it's good to go.

Muffin Mania. Muffins can add flavor and flair to a bag lunch. If you bake them ahead and keep them in the freezer, you just have to pull out one or two in the morning. By lunch, they’ll be soft and ready to eat.

There are a few tricks to improving the health value of muffin recipes. Substitute in whole-wheat flour for at least half of the flour in recipes that call for white flour. Incorporate other whole grains when possible. Add in summer fruits such as berries or peaches or vegetables like corn or grated zucchini, when appropriate. You can also cut back on the sugar called for in a recipe when you add in fruit. Switch in smart fats (such as canola or olive oil), when possible, and reduced saturated fat options (such as reduced fat cheese).

Tasty Spanakopita Triangles. These spinach-filled filo puffs are vegetarian finger food that’s fun to eat. Some stores carry frozen spanakopita that you can bake in the morning or the night before and pack in your child’s lunch. Read the label to find a brand that's got plenty of vitamins A and C, plus iron and calcium.

Soy Much for Sandwiches. For a change of pace, make soy the center of your child’s lunch. There are more and more great-tasting soy-based products available. For example, specialty grocery stores carry meatless corn dogs. To prepare one for a bag lunch, heat it up in the microwave in the morning. Remove the wooden stick, crisp it up briefly in the toaster oven, and wrap it in foil. Meatless versions of chicken nuggets are also available and can be prepared just like the corn dogs. The trick is finding a brand your child enjoys that isn’t too high in sodium.

Tasty Side Dishes

Add some of these to round out your child’s lunch:

Fruit cups (with no sugar added)
Applesauce in flavors such as pomegranate or cranberry-raspberry (also with no sugar added)
Nuts or seeds in a shell (if age and allergy appropriate), such as walnuts, pistachios, peanuts, or sunflower seeds
Raw veggies (ready to pack) such as carrot sticks, sugar snap peas, celery, or jicama sticks
Cheese sticks -- available in 2% sharp cheddar, part skim-milk mozzarella, pepper jack, and more
Healthy snack bars (individually wrapped) with 3 or more grams of fiber, less than 10 grams sugar, and no more than 1 gram saturated fat
Yogurt in individual containers (keep it cold by packing them with a reusable ice pack or a small water bottle that has been frozen.)

Related: "Brown Bag Lunch Ideas"

Original article, “15 Fresh Brown Bag Lunch Ideas” by Elaine Magee, MPH, RD

Fruits Veggies

How can I make healthy choices if I don't cook?

9:28 PM

The options in our modern grocery stores allow many healthy choices for those who don't like to cook or who lack cooking skills or equipment. Generally, ready-to-eat foods purchased at the grocery store cost more than if the same ingredients are purchased and prepared at home. However, these ready-to-eat foods do cost less than if purchased in a café or restaurant. Convenience usually comes with a price -- whether it is money, time or quality of the food.

From the produce section:
Choose foods that can easily be eaten raw. Bananas, apples, grapes, oranges and baby carrots are five of the easiest to prepare or carry along in a lunch bag or briefcase or to have as a snack.

Green and red leafy lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, red peppers and tomatoes are other good vegetable choices; a low fat salad dressing could be a dip with these.

Baking a small white potato, a sweet potato, a yam or a piece of winter squash in a microwave for 5-10 minutes provides a hot dish with very little effort.

Frozen vegetables such as peas or green beans are also a good investment. Frozen vegetables are also easy and fast to cook in the microwave or on the stove top.

Almost all fruits in season are good choices since they require no cooking and little preparation.

Fruit juices, such as orange juice, or the blended juices like banana-orange-pineapple, are tasty and convenient. Be sure they are labeled 100% juice for the best nutrition.

From the dairy section:
Choose cow's milk or a fortified soy milk beverage with at least one meal every day.

Choose low fat milk, low fat yogurt or cottage cheese

Low fat cheeses, like individually wrapped string cheese.

Low fat soymilk fortified with calcium, or other soy milk products, can also meet the need for calcium and protein.

From the meat section (and protein rich foods)

Choose protein rich foods that are low in fat, or from which the fat can be removed

Make a salad into a meal by adding low fat lunchmeat, hard-boiled egg, cooked shrimp, canned tuna, cooked chicken, garbanzo or kidney beans.

A roasted chicken from the deli is a good choice if the skin is removed before eating.

Fresh fish can be baked quickly: choose thin fillets like sole and bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes for each half-inch of thickness.

Peanut or other nut butter is a convenient protein source if you can afford the extra calories from the peanut or nut oils.

Canned salmon is a healthy protein choices and ready-to-eat.

Pregnant women should avoid deli meats, hot dogs unless they are heated and soft cheeses.

To get your grains:

Whole grain cereal, hot or cold, is a good breakfast when paired with fruit and cow's milk or a fortified soymilk.

Bread can become a sandwich, or be eaten alongside of a salad or soup. Choose a whole grain bread or roll.

Tortillas, fat free refried beans, some chicken and chopped tomato and lettuce are an easy meal, which becomes a treat with some salsa.

Pocket (pita) bread can become a handheld meal when filled with an assortment of foods from salads to meat and cheese.

Ramen noodles can be the basis for quick soup: add frozen vegetables and some cooked meat or seafood to the liquid, or stir in a beaten egg during the last few minutes of cooking.

Deli sections:
Deli counters are a tempting place to shop. Make healthy choices by avoiding salads held together with mayonnaise or sour cream.

Look for salads with a variety of vegetables.

Lean meats like turkey breast are a good choice.

At salad bars, choose dark green leafy lettuces and spinach.

One portion of a main dish like lasagna can be made into a meal with a side of raw vegetables like carrots and celery. Low fat frozen entrees can be served in the same way.

To access the original article: "How can I make healthy choices if I don't cook?" by Seattle & King County

Best Teen Diets recommends healthy well balanced eating that includes fruits, vegetables,whole grains, protein and low-fat or fat-free dairy. We offer nutrition information for teens, parents and educators that emphasizes the importance of healthy eating for teens. For more information visit www.bestteendiets.org

Food Labels

Grocery shopping for more money

8:00 PM

Grocery shopping is a hard job. You have to provide healthy foods that your family likes, find the time to shop and prepare the foods, and stay within a budget. Wow! That’s a lot to think about.

Using the unit-price label can save you a few cents on each item. This can add up to big savings on your total food bill.

For example:

If you saved 7¢ on every ounce of cereal you bought, and you bought

a 24-ounce box of cereal each week, you would save $87.36 a year just on

cereal!

7¢ savings per ounce x 24 ounces of cereal x 52 weeks per year = $87.36 saved per year

If you think about it, we use unit pricing all the time. For example, we decide where to buy gasoline based on the price per gallon, we buy produce based on the price per pound, and fabric is purchased based on the price per yard. These are all unit-priced items.

A Closer Look
So, where are unit-price labels found? Unit-price labels are usually found on the store shelves below the food items. A unit price makes it easier to compare prices to find the best buy. It also makes it easier to compare the cost on different size packages.

Take a close look at the unit-price label below:

Let’s Go Shopping
Let’s do some shopping using the unit-price label. Compare the two unit-price labels below.

Look at the unit price. Snappy Rice costs 13¢ per ounce and Crackly Rice costs 20¢ per ounce. That means if you buy Snappy Rice instead of Crackly Rice, you will save 7¢ on each ounce of rice. Therefore, Snappy Rice is the better buy or value.

But, if Snappy Rice is a better buy, why does it cost more than Crackly Rice?

Even though the total price of Snappy Rice is more than the total price of Crackly Rice, you get twice as much rice when you buy the box of Snappy Rice. Notice that Crackly Rice is a 12-ounce box and Snappy Rice is a 24-ounce box.

Questions
To answer questions #1 and #2, use the following four unit-price labels.

1. Which macraroni is the best buy or value? (Hint: compare the unit prices)
a. Cowboy Macaroni
b. Cowboy Macaroni and Viking Macaroni
c. Acme Macaroni

2. Which box of macaroni costs the least?
a. Viking Macaroni
b. Pilgrim Macaroni
c. Acme Macaroni

Happy Shopping!

Answers

1.b — Cowboy Macaroni and Viking Macaroni — At 6¢ per ounce, Cowboy and Viking Macaroni are the best deals. In other words, you get the most ounces of macaroni for the money you spend when you buy either Cowboy or Viking. Cowboy Macaroni is cheaper than Viking Macaroni because it is a smaller-sized package not because it is not a better value.

2.c — Acme Macaroni — The total price of Acme Macaroni is only 96¢. This is less than the other three brands. Acme Macaroni costs the least because it is the smallest package, not because it is a better buy or value.

Find it: "Nutrition on Your Own: Smart Shopping Saves Money Using Unit Price Labels" by the Texas Department of Health

More: "Choosing the Best Deal" interactive video on how to get the best deal using unit prices.

Best Teen Diets recommends healthy well balanced eating that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat or fat-free dairy. We offer nutrition information to teens, parents and educators that emphasizes the importance of healthy eating for teens. For more information regarding healthy teens visit www.bestteendiets.org

Fats

Why can't we meet the guidelines?

8:00 PM

Food Labels

Mark Bittman Proposes a Better Food Label

5:58 PM

Food labeling is kind of a messy issue right now. On one side you have advocates of “Right to Know” fighting for GMO-containing products to be labeled as such. On the other side you have soda companies and fast food restaurants digging in their heels to fight laws that would require further nutrition information posted on vending machines and menu boards.

From this perspective, it seems there’s plenty of push and pull in this important debate. The worst part, however, is that the consumer is caught in the middle with the simple desire to know what’s in the food they buy and to feel good about what they put in their bodies.

While the discussion of food labeling may have multiple sides and a variety of opinions, an editorial piece by Mark Bittman published in The New York Times Saturday shined some much-needed light on the topic and offered a simple solution: Make labels honest, easy to read and understand, and useful to the health-conscious consumer.

Bittman’s idea of a “dream food label” is no longer just a dream. The NY Times writer and health advocate has been working with Werner Design Werks in St. Paul, Minnesota to develop a new template for food labels that would essentially remove the less-important items on current food labels and add useful information to help the consumer answer the simple question, “Is this product honestly healthy?”

The proposed label would consist of a color-coded bar based on a 15-point scale. If the food’s ranking falls between 11 and 5, it would be green; between 6 and 10, yellow; and between 0 and 6, red. The ranking is determined by three key factors: “Nutrition,” “Foodness” and “Welfare.” Nutrition is based on but not limited to the amount of sugar, trans fats, fiber and micronutrients the product contains. For example, a product such as soda would be given a zero in Nutrition while a bag of fresh spinach might receive a 5.

When ranking a food based on its “Foodness,” this essentially means it’s being assessed on whether or not the product is real or fake. The assessment would be based on if the product is made with things like bleached flour, yeast conditioners or preservatives. For example, a candy bar would be likely to receive a zero rating, whereas fresh fruit would receive a 5.

Lastly, the “Welfare” ranking of the product is based on the treatment of the workers and animals involved in production, and its impact on the earth. Some of the questions Bittman suggests this ranking might answer include: “Is environmental damage significant? Are workers treated like animals? Are animals produced like widgets?” ‘Yes’ answers to all of these questions would put the ranking near a zero. However, if the workers and animals involved in production were treated fairly and the product didn’t cause significant waste or environmental damage, the ranking would be closer to a 5. This illustration from The Times provides a great example of how various foods would stack up using the new system.

Bittman believes this new labeling system would be a key tool in the fight against obesity, allowing consumers to make more conscious decisions about the food they consume. Beyond just knowing whether or not a food will make us fat, Bittman contends that the addition of “Foodness” and “Welfare” raise the bar even more, alerting consumers to things like whether or not the food was produced in an environmentally conscious way and if it contains pesticides.

As reported by The Times, the possibility of this style of labeling actually being implementing is closer than we may think. For instance, a traffic-light labeling system almost passed in Britain this summer, and the U.S. Institute of Medicine has proposed a similar system outlined in this report.

If adopted, there’s no guarantee that this label would reverse or even have an impact on the obesity epidemic in our country. However, it would be big step in the right direction, finally holding food producers accountable for the quality of their products and informing consumers of what’s in the products they buy.

While Bittman admits the rating system is not a simple one that can be easily applied to all foods, he argues it’s not impossible. If it meant a healthier nation and the availability of more whole, healthy and honest foods, we think it would be well worth the effort.

Find this article at Diets in Review

Read "My Dream Food Label" by Mark Bittman in the New York Times

Best Teen Diets recommends healthy well balanced eating that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and low-fat or fat-free dairy. We offer nutrition information for teens, parents and educators that emphasizes the importance of healthy eating for peak performance. For more information regarding healthy eating for teens visit www.bestteendiets.org

We want to know: Do you agree? Would this type of label make a difference for you when you shop? How many different types of labels have you seen in the store trying to teach you about the good in a product? Tell us in your comments or Tweet @Best_Teen_Diets

Grocery Shopping

Food Labels (Video)

3:04 PM

Grocery Shopping

Smart Grocery Shopping

12:30 PM

Grocery Shopping

Reading a Food Label

2:08 PM

"Junk" Food

Basics of Food Labels

10:28 AM

Your Cheat Sheet to Good Eats

Labels give you information that can help you decide what to choose as part of an overall healthy eating plan. Checking the labels on foods can alert you when a food is high in something like sugar so you can be prepared to make tradeoffs.

So who decides what information goes on a food label? In the United States, it's the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). These agencies require that all food labels show the same nutrition and health information. This allows consumers to compare different foods and make the choices that are right for them.

Making Food Labels Work for You

The first step in making food labels work for you is to look at the entire label. If you focus on only one part — like calories or vitamins — you may not be getting the full story, like how much sugar or fat is in the product. Here are some tips to help you get the big picture on food labels:

Serving Size

Always start with the serving size amount. That's because all the information on the rest of the label — from calories to vitamins — is based on that amount.

Take note of how much a serving is (e.g., 1 cup, 8 oz). Sometimes a serving size will be way less than you're used to eating — like only half a cup of cereal.

The label will also list how many servings are in the package. Even things that seem like they'd be a single serving, such as a bottle of juice or packet of chips, may contain more than one serving. If you eat or drink the whole thing, you're getting more vitamins and minerals but you're also getting way more calories, sugar, fat, and other stuff that you might not want.

Calories

A calorie is a way to measure how much energy a food provides to your body. To get a rough idea of how many calories you need to eat each day, check out the personalized plan calculator on the U.S. government's ChooseMyPlate website.

The calories from fat number tells you how many calories in that serving come from fat. For most people, about 30% of all the calories they eat in a day should come from fat. So if you eat 2,000 calories a day, about 600 of these calories should come from fat.

Percent Daily Value

These percentages show the amounts of nutrients an average person will get from eating one serving of that food. For the purposes of food labels, the government chose an "average" person as someone who needs 2,000 calories a day.

But obviously some — like those who are growing rapidly or very athletic — will need more calories than 2,000 a day. And many will need less. The percent daily value information can be complicated. But one thing it makes easy is showing at a glance if a food is high or low in a particular nutrient. Here's how:

· If a food has a daily value of 5% or less of a nutrient, it is considered to be low in that nutrient.

· A food is a good source of a nutrient if the percent daily value is between 10% and 19%.

· If the food has 20% or more of the daily value, it is considered an excellent source of that nutrient.

Fat

Total fat shows how much fat is in a single serving of food. Although eating too much fat can lead to obesity and health problems, our bodies do need some fat every day. Fats are an important source of energy and provide insulation and cushioning for the skin, bones, and internal organs. Fat also distributes and helps the body store certain vitamins.

Some fats are better than others. Unsaturated fats, which are found in vegetable oils, nuts, and fish, are often called "good fats." Both saturated and trans fats are considered "bad" because they can increase a person's risk for developing heart disease. These types of fat are solid at room temperature (picture them clogging your arteries).

Sodium

Sodium is a component of salt. Almost all foods contain sodium because it adds flavor and helps preserve food. Processed, packaged, and canned foods usually have more sodium than freshly made foods. Small amounts of sodium keep proper body fluid balance. Sodium also helps the body transmit electrical signals through nerves. But too much sodium can increase water retention and blood pressure in people who are sensitive to it.

Total Carbohydrate

This amount covers all carbohydrates, including fiber and sugar. The best sources of carbohydrates are fruits and vegetables, along with whole-grain foods like cereals, breads, pasta, and brown rice. Most of your daily calorie intake should come from carbohydrates.

Sugars are listed separately under Total Carbohydrates. Checking sugar quantities on labels can be really eye opening. Often there's way more than you'd expect. For example, sometimes manufacturers cut back on fat but add sugar to keep a food tasting good.

Fiber

Fiber is not digested and helps keep your digestive system healthy. Fiber can also help reduce cholesterol levels. Best of all, fiber has no calories and it can help you feel full. So check the label and pick foods that have at least 3 grams of fiber per serving.

Protein

Most of the body — including muscles, skin, and the immune system — is made up of protein. If the body doesn't get enough fat and carbohydrates, it can use protein for energy. So be sure the foods you eat give you some protein.

Vitamins and Minerals

It goes without saying that you want to choose foods that are high in a variety of vitamins and minerals. Some vitamins — like vitamin C — are water soluble, which means that the body can't store them so they need to be consumed daily.

Food labels can't tell you what foods to eat — that's your decision! But they can help you find foods that taste good and treat your body right

Excerpts taken from “Food Labels” by Teens Health reviewed by Mary L. Gavin, MD. Read more

WINForum and Best Teen Diets recommend eating a healthy well balanced diet including foods from each food group. We offer nutrition information that emphasizes the importance eating well to be healthy. For more information visit www.winforum.org and www.bestteendiets.org

Teens Health - MyPlate Food Guide

How MyPlate Works

Shopping Tip: Store Price Secrets Decoded

Picking Between Cereals: More Fiber, Less Sugar

What "skinny" and "healthy" are saying to us

15 Fresh Brown Bag Lunch Ideas

How can I make healthy choices if I don't cook?

Grocery shopping for more money

Why can't we meet the guidelines?

Mark Bittman Proposes a Better Food Label

Food Labels (Video)

Smart Grocery Shopping

Reading a Food Label

Basics of Food Labels

Making Food Labels Work for You

Serving Size

Calories

Percent Daily Value

Fat

Sodium

Total Carbohydrate

Fiber

Protein

Vitamins and Minerals

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