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The Top Ten Things to Know About Nutrition and Type 2 Diabetes
HbA1C (Hemoglobin A1C) / Blood glucose Average
Goals for Better Health and Nutrition
Reading and Understanding Food Labels
Diabetes Control Quiz

Reading and Understanding Food Labels

Serving Size - You must look at serving size first! It is the most important item to look at on the food label because all of the additional information about that product is for one single serving. Often our idea of a serving is larger than the food label's representation of a serving. Determine what a serving is according to the label and then what portion you generally consume.

Example: Fred eats 35 potato chips. He wants to know the calories for them. He looks at the Nutrition Facts and finds that each 10-chip portion has 100 calories. Fred then divides 35 (the number of chips he ate) by 10 (the number of chips in one portion) and gets 3.5 which means he ate 3.5 portions of chips. Finally, he multiplies 3.5 times 100 (the number of calories in one portion) and determines that he ate 350 calories.

Servings per container - Sometimes it is not so easy to determine how to calculate a serving. Perhaps the serving is 3 ounces and you do not have a scale that weighs food. Instead, you can use the servings per container and divide the entire product into the number of servings the product provides.

Example: If a package of pretzels weighs 8 ounces and does not tell you how many individual pretzels this is, divide the package evenly into 8 plastic snack bags. This is also a good technique to keep you from snacking from the whole bag of pretzels.

Calories - If you are watching your weight, the calories you burn must exceed the calories you consume in order for you to lose weight. It is easy to overlook the calories of snack foods, condiments like mayonnaise, cooking oils and margarine, and even breath mints (if you consume several per day). Match calories to portion size to be sure you are assessing your caloric intake correctly.

Calories from Fat - This area of the food label can cause great confusion. The American Heart Association recommends that fat should make up no greater than 30% of your caloric intake. Many people try to apply that rule to individual items. They forget that many fat free and very low fat items easily balance out some higher fat items in your diet. Still this category can be illuminating.

Example: While cheese is an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D, some cheeses have a very high fat content. A 1-ounce portion of Havarti cheese has 120 calories and 99 calories from fat. That means that 83% of the calories in Havarti cheese are fat calories (99 divided by 120). This just helps you to know that when you eat this, it is more like eating fat than protein.

% Daily Value - The percentages down the right side of the Nutrition Facts label are based on a 2000-calorie diet. Use them as a general guide to see if a food has a high amount or small amount of a nutrient. When you are attempting to lose weight, you are often trying to keep your calorie intake under 2000 calories, so these references do not apply to everyone.

Total Fat - This tells you how many grams of fat are contained in one serving. See our "Calculate your Fat Gram Allowance" tool to determine the amount of fat that is healthy for you.

Saturated Fat - The amount of saturated fat that you consume directly affects your cholesterol and artery clogging potential. See our "Calculate your Saturated Fat Gram Allowance" tool to determine the amount of saturated fat that is healthy for you.

Cholesterol - With the exception of egg yolks, liver, organ meats and shrimp, which are high in cholesterol, it is unlikely that you need to look at this part of the food label as long as you are watching your saturated fat intake. That is because except for those food items, the balance of foods that have high cholesterol content, also have high saturated fat content. Watch saturated fat intake and you can ignore cholesterol on the food label.

Sodium - If you have high blood pressure, heart disease or retain excess fluid, it is important to control your sodium intake. Most Americans take in more sodium than they require, so watching your intake is a smart move. The % Daily Value represents a recommended sodium intake of 2400 mg. Use this value as a means of judging the sodium level of a serving.

Total Carbohydrate - Carbohydrates should make up at least 50% of your caloric intake. Keeping your carbohydrate consumption the same each day can have great benefits if you have diabetes. If you do not have diabetes, this line on the food label is of little value.

Dietary Fiber - Fiber is a very important line on the food label. The benefits of fiber are numerous. The goal for fiber intake is 25 - 35 grams daily. Use your label reading savvy to get plenty of fiber.

Sugars - This is a confusing part of the food label. The value refers to both added sugars as well as naturally occurring sugars. As you can see from the example, milk appears to have a high sugar content, but all of the sugar in milk is the naturally occurring lactose. It is also important to note that the sugar content is part of the total carbohydrate content. Even if you have diabetes, this line is of little value to you. The "Total Carbohydrates" is the line that will most help you control your blood sugar, not the specific sugar grams.

Protein - Unless you are on a protein-restricted diet for kidney or liver disease, it is unlikely that you need to watch protein in your diet. Most people get more protein than they need and many, including athletes, are under the incorrect assumption that they need large quantities of protein. All foods with the exception of fruits and fats have some protein with animal, dairy and egg products having the most protein. Even vegetarians generally get enough protein from the beans, lentils, nuts and legumes that they consume.

Vitamins A and C, calcium and iron - Use the vitamin and mineral content to find a variety of foods that add up to 100% of these nutrients.

Food Label Nutrition Terms

Important Notes:

Be sure to read each food label carefully to determine the exact portion size. Without knowing portion size, you will be unable to use the additional nutritional information.

Products claiming to be "sugar-free," may have an abundance of carbohydrates and it is the carbohydrates that most affect people's blood sugar.

A product that is low in of free of one nutritional component is not necessarily a healthy food or a low-calorie food.

A "reduced" fat, sodium, calorie product may still have a high amount of fat, sodium or calories if the original product was high in these attributes.