So, you purchase a bag of Lay's potato chips and think to yourself, "Not bad, it only has 10 grams of fat and 140 calories," but you forget to check the trans fat or sodium count! You might be consuming more than 1000 grams of sodium and not even realize it.
There are several components to look for when gazing at labels such as saturated fat, cholesterol, carbs, polyunsaturated fat, calories, total fat, calories from fat, dietary fiber, sugars, protein and potassium. Before you begin to panic thinking, "how could I possibly check all of these?" there are places to go for help.
According to HuffingtonPost, If most of the fat content comes from healthy unsaturated fat, you're probably good to go. If the fat is mainly saturated and/or the product has any trans fat, put it back on the shelf.
Trans fat has been shown to increase levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol while decreasing levels of "good" HDL cholesterol--very bad. Excess sodium can raise blood pressure, which increases heart disease risk.
NHSNews says, the government, food makers and food retailers have agreed the new standardized front-of-pack labeling to help make it easier for people to make healthier choices about what they buy and eat.As part of the government’s efforts to improve health through reducing obesity levels, the Department of Health is working with food manufacturers and supermarkets through a program called the Responsibility Deal. This program aims to get business to reduce the amount of calories, salt and saturated fat in foods.
There's no need to panic while making a smart food decision because these lovely labels will be more understandable by December 2014.