ALOHA.com Nutritionist Offers Secrets To Deciphering Food Labels

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Understanding food labels can help you make wise choices―if you know what to look for.   Jillian Tuchman, MS, RD and nutritionist at ALOHA can offer tips on how to decipher nutrition labels so you can separate fact from marketing. 

Please find a sampling below…

  • If there's any oil in the ingredient list that has been "hydrogenated", run in the other direction: it's full of trans fats, even if the label says its trans-fat-free.
  • Below 0.4g per servings of trans fat doesn’t need to be stated, so if you enjoy multiple servings of something you might be eating a lot of trans fat without realizing it.
  • When it comes to grains (breads, pastas, etc.), make sure to choose a product with at least 3g of fiber per serving—this will help to mitigate the blood sugar response. 
  • Beware of the various words used to disguise added sugar: sucanat, evaporated cane syrup, dextran, barley malt...the list goes on.  There are close to 60 different names for sugars and sweeteners!  If you are hungering for something sweet look for natural sweeteners like maple syrup, honey and coconut.ALOHA Coconut is a great substitute made with single-source coconuts grown in Thailand.
  • If you see the word "enriched" before a grain (ex: enriched wheat flour), it signals that it's been refined. Avoid that—aim for products that list whole grains as ingredients. 

For more information follow this link and say Hello to Health! 

Images courtesy of, and with permission of, Aloha.com.