Day 4: Read ingredients – I challenge you to open up your cupboards and read the ingredients lists on your processed foods. What surprises you? What ingredients are you unsure of? Comment in our Facebook Event with the ingredients you are surprised to find, want more information on or want to share with the group.
Nutrition Facts Table Vs. Ingredients List
Nutrition Facts Table
You can use a nutrition facts table to compare the serving size to the amount of food you actually eat. For example, the serving size of bread in a nutrition facts table could be 1 slice. But if you eat 2 slices, you need to double the amount of calories and nutrients.
Ingredients List
The ingredient list shows all the ingredients in a packaged food.
Ingredients are listed in order of weight, beginning with the ingredient that weighs the most and ending with the ingredient that weighs the least. This means that a food contains more of the ingredients found at the beginning of the list, and less of the ingredients at the end of the list.
Example: The ingredient list below is for bran cereal. The ingredient that is present in the largest amount is whole wheat, and the ingredient present in the smallest amount is minerals.
Ingredients: Whole wheat, wheat bran, sugar/glucose-fructose, salt, malt (corn flour, malted barley), vitamins (thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, d-calcium pantothenate),minerals (iron, zinc oxide).
Ingredients with many names
Sometimes nutrients like saturated and trans fats, sodium, and sugar appear on ingredient lists under many different names. Here's a list of the most commonly used terms.
Nutrient | Other names |
---|---|
Saturated fat |
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Trans fat |
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Sodium |
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Sugar |
Tip: A word ending in "ose" is usually sugar.
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I did a blog post a few months back about Purging the pantry and what ingredients to look out for as well as how the ingredients are listed and how to de-code the lists. Find my Purge the Pantry Blog post here.
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