Do You Read Food Labels?

on April 29, 2009 at 7:00 AM

I went on my first diet at nine. Thanks to my early foray into healthy living, I can still recite how many calories a Snickers Bar has compared to two slices of wheat toast with peanut butter. Remembering the content on food labels is a scary, Rain Man-like syndrome I'll never shake. I honestly think the reason why I love going to bin candy stores is the fact that there are no labels to interupt my actions. For $10, I have a bag of unknown calories and thus mission oral fixation accomplished. If I eat three candy bars, I know very well what I'm doing is wrong. Innocence is bliss, no?

Maggie Vink at That's Fit wrote, "Does Nutrition Information Change Your Order?" When she substituted vegetables for fries at a restaurant, Vink thought she ordered a healthy meal. But when she got home and looked up the calorie content online, she realized she had just consumed 1,000 calories in one meal! Now she makes a point of checking the nutrition information when it's listed on restaurant menus or on health websites before she decides what goes into her mouth and what stays in her head.

Does reading the nutrition information influence what you consume? How so?

Filed Under: nutrition

Comments (12)

qtmomof2

on Apr 29, 2009 at 8:17 AM

Yup, I do. Before I had my gastric bypass we took a class on label reading. So my 30 minute grocery shopping turned into 2 hours. I pretty much eat the same stuff week after week so I don't check labels so much anymore.

Report this comment

mamak57

on Apr 29, 2009 at 9:09 AM

yes I look at the back label to see if the portion size merits teh waste of calories and how much assorted fats there are in the item.

pjacademy

on Apr 29, 2009 at 9:25 AM

Not for "diet" reasons.......just to not buy HFCS :)

singnstitch

on Apr 29, 2009 at 10:33 AM

I do for several reasons...first, I have two children with Celiac's Disease, so they can't have wheat, rye, barley or malt. Second, I don't wish to subject my family to MSG, or many other preservatives and additives. Third, corn syrup is horrible. So many things to look for and try to give my family my best so they can live happy, healthy lives without fear of obesity and diabetes (which runs in the family). Self-education is a must!

Annette4

on Apr 29, 2009 at 11:21 AM

I read them... not as much for caloric content, mostly for: sat fats/0 trans fats, no hydrogenated oils, no HFCS, stay away from dyes as much as possible and NO artificial sweeteners and I avoid MSG and now I'm on the look-out for lower sodium.

Not a lot of foods left to choose from when you eliminate those things on that list! You are almost safe in the produce section where there are no labels, but you gotta watch out for salmonella!

teamquinn

on Apr 29, 2009 at 1:16 PM

I don't read lables unless it is a new product. We tend to eat a lot of freash foods so not so much to worry about. The one thing I have been trying to keep track of for myself is portion size. I tend to overeat so I need to get a better hand on that.

Annette, if you wash your produce carefully you should have much trouble.

aurorabunny

on Apr 29, 2009 at 2:06 PM

Yup, every ingredient of every item that goes in my cart (except of course my usual buys that I've already read). I'm forced to because we only eat natural, organic foods and so many products that say natural or organic really AREN'T.

And I count calories so of course for my foods I'm looking at that too.

Daisysun

on Apr 29, 2009 at 7:12 PM

I buy a lot of fresh foods at the market, and try to purchase juice with no preservatives when I do read a label it is to see salt content or when applicable milk ingredients as my six year old is lower end lactose intolerant.