Dieting for Life
Calories-Counting Calories Info
Calories, Weight Loss & the Nutrition Label
Calories and Calories from Fat
Calories provide a measure of how much energy you get from a serving of this food. The label also tells you how many of the calories in one serving come from fat. In the example, there are 250 calories in a serving of this macaroni and cheese. How many calories from fat are there in ONE serving? Answer: 110 calories, which means almost half come from fat. What if you ate the whole package content? Then, you would consume two servings, or 500 calories, and 220 would come from fat.
Eating too many calories per day is linked to overweight and obesity.
The Nutrients
The nutrients listed first are the ones Americans generally eat in adequate amounts, or even too much. They are identified in yellow on the chart as Limit these Nutrients. Eating too much fat, saturated fat, Trans fat, and cholesterol, or sodium may increase your risk of certain chronic diseases, like heart disease, some cancers, or high blood pressure. Eating too many calories is linked to overweight and obesity.
*Note: Health experts recommend that you keep your intake of saturated fat, Trans fats and cholesterol as low as possible as part of a nutritionally balanced diet.
Get Enough of
These
Americans often don't get enough dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron in their diets. They are identified in blue on the chart as Get Enough of these Nutrients. Eating enough of these nutrients can improve your health and help reduce the risk of some diseases and conditions. For example, getting enough calcium can reduce the risk of osteoporosis, in which bones become brittle and break as one ages (see calcium example on next page).
Remember: You can not only use the food label to help limit those nutrients you want to cut back on, but also to increase those nutrients you want to consume in greater amounts.
Continue Reading About Nutrition Labels
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