Why nutrition labels are important

Nutrition labels are important

Nutrition labels are important

A common misconception is once you go vegetarian or vegan you will start losing weight. Generally, that statement is untrue. If you are eating processed foods all the time or incorrect portion sizes your weight will stay the same or go up, especially if you aren’t active. My goal in becoming a vegetarian was to have a healthy diet and once I learned how to eat properly a side effect was losing weight.

I started looking at the back of food packages to look at the ingredients list. I wanted to make sure there weren’t any meat or meat by-product ingredients. In doing this I noticed two things; one meat and meat by-products are put in things you would never think of ex. Jiffy cornbread mix (Jiffy has a vegetarian version, I later found out) and the second thing I noticed was recommended serving sizes and percent daily values.

Now of course I had noticed the nutrition labels before but I never really paid attention to them. The individual serving size gives you the portion of the food you are supposed to eat. Turns out I was always eating more than the recommended serving size which caused me to go over the daily recommended value in most cases. For example, the recommended serving size for eggs is one. One egg gives you approx. 60% of the daily value of cholesterol. I always ate two eggs which means I was going over the daily recommended value for cholesterol by 20%. Now if cholesterol isn’t an issue for you that’s not a big deal, but for me, it was something to consider.

It’s amazing how you can consume too much sodium, cholesterol, saturated fats, and sugar without even knowing it. Just by reading the nutrition label and ingredient list you can change your health. So now I try to cook the majority of my food in its least processed state, incorporate more whole foods, use the recommended serving sizes, and if the food is processed make sure the ingredient list includes whole foods like raw sugar instead of corn syrup.

Next time you go grocery shopping take a look at the nutrition label before you drop that can of soup in your cart. You can thank me later.