Nutritional Analysis on the Fly (How to Read Nutrition and Ingredient Labels)

As someone who is also concerned about fitness, I make sure to know what I'm putting in my body by reading nutrition labels when I grocery shop. Educating ourselves is important because there's a lot of misleading information.

No Nutritional Analysis Needed

As a rule of thumb, I gravitate toward food without a nutrition label (ex: kale, apples, tomatoes). If you’re really concerned about tracking your macros, you can track more carbohydrate-rich foods like apples in an app such as MyFitnessPal or Lose It. I tell my clients not to worry about tracking low calorie foods like kale, though. It will just drive you crazy in the long run and make it less likely that you will keep up on your tracking.

Nutritional Analysis to Help Balance Calories In and Calories Out

When it comes to protein, grains, and dairy, I like to look at the label to see what I'm eating. One of the most important things to consider is how many calories I'm consuming per macronutrient (fats/carbs/protein). This determines how much intensity I need to bring to my workouts and what the results will be.

In general, low-to-medium intensity aerobic exercise burns fat, while high intensity exercise (weight lifting, springs, HIIT) burns carbs. If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right! It’s science, not a guessing game. Thank goodness! Here are some examples of what to look for.

Veggie Chips

Veggie chips may seem like a healthy option. They're made from vegetables after all!

But when you look at the label, you realize that a serving size (1 ounce) is actually much smaller than most people would eat in a sitting. Plus, veggie chips are high in fat and carbs--macronutrients you have to burn if you don't want them to be stored--while only having one gram of protein per serving. 4 grams of fat x 9 calories=36 22 grams of carbs x 4 calories =88 1 gram of protein x 4 calories = 4 calories

Boxed Rice

Again, this looks pretty healthy, and at about 1/2 cup cooked the serving size it pretty reasonable. However, the directions require that you add olive oil or butter during cooking. This adds a lot of calories that aren't shown on the nutrition label! 14 grams of fat x 2 tbsp = 24 grams of fat (24 g x 9 calories=216 calories ) 34 grams of carbs x 4 calories =136 calories 4 grams of protein x 4 calories = 16 calories

Energy in, energy out!

Reading labels can help you make informed food choices. Packaged foods and drinks—the types that come in cans, boxes, bottles, jars, and bags—have a lot of nutrition and food safety information on their labels or packaging. Look for these things on the food label.

Other Things to Look for:

Ingredient List

Ingredients are listed in order by weight. So there will be more of the first few ingredients than the last few.

Nutrition Information

Always check the serving size! As we saw with the veggie chips, the serving size was only one ounce, but a lot of people would eat much more than that in one sitting.

Daily Value

Daily Value (DV) is based on a recommended amount of nutrients. The DV tells you how much of the recommended amount is contained in one serving of that food. Most Americans eat too much saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars. The DV can help you compare products and make healthier choices, or adjust what else you eat in a given day to accommodate a food that's particularly high in one of these areas. By contrast, most Americans also do not get the recommended amounts of dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, and potassium. Compare and choose foods to aim for 100% DV of these nutrients.