How To Read Food Labels: A Guide

How To Read Food Labels: A Guide

Food labels can cause a lot of confusion during a supermarket shop. Often, food companies use language that leads us to believe a food is healthy when in truth, it’s anything but. Knowing how to read food labels is important in order to ensure you’re making informed choices.

HOW DO YOU READ FOOD LABELS?

Here are our top tips for understanding what’s on your food labels, from getting to grips with serving sizes and ingredients to avoid.

BEWARE OF ‘A SERVING’.

Food manufacturers frequently give nutritional information per serving. However, often their idea of a serving size is far smaller than the serving size we would typically eat! This can trick us into thinking we are eating less calories than we actually are. Labels will also state calorie and nutritional values per 100g so focus on this instead. Learn what 100g looks like – this will give you a much clearer idea of how much you’re likely to be consuming.

UNDERSTAND THE INGREDIENTS

Ingredients are listed in order of quantity meaning those higher up on the list are present in the greatest amounts. Beware of foods with unhealthy ingredients higher up the list. As a general rule the fewer the ingredients a food has, the less processed it’s likely to be. Aim to avoid regularly eating foods with long lists of ingredients.

Read more: Ultra Processed Foods: What They Are And How To Avoid Them

AVOID INGREDIENTS YOU DON’T KNOW

Food manufacturers use a wide variety of undesirable ingredients in our foods. Ingredients used to enhance the look, taste and shelf life of foods may not always be good for our health. It’s a good idea to avoid buying foods with ingredients you don’t recognise. If in doubt, Google them.

NUTRITION INFORMATION

The nutrition information is the table of information normally found on the reverse of food packaging. It outlines the calorie, carbohydrate, sugar, fat, protein, fibre and salt content of foods. Reading this will help you to better understand what your food is made up of. Focus on foods that are higher in fibre and lower in salt and sugar. The NHS states that anything over 22.5g of sugars per 100g is a high sugar food (we would consider this very high). Anything under 5g per 100g is considered low sugar.

Read more: How Much Sugar Is In Your Food?

FOCUS ON THE DETAIL

Often the front of food packaging will use language to make a food sound more healthy than it is. Take for example the term ‘no added sugar’. This doesn’t mean that a food or drink is low in sugar! In fact, it may be quite the opposite. In the case of fruit juice high amounts fruit sugars are naturally present so it’s unnecessary to add in more. Focus less on the words on the front of the packaging and more on the detail in the nutrition information and ingredients list. 

GAIN CLARITY AROUND YOUR NUTRITION

We are a team of qualified nutritionists who specialise in weight loss. We understand the confusion that can arise when trying to stick to a healthy, balanced diet. Our job is to support you in gaining clarity on what works best for your body. We can support you in overcoming your weight challenges, achieving your ideal weight and maintaining it long term. To find out more about how we can help you, use this link to book in for a complimentary call today.

Read next: Can Your DNA Unlock The Secret To Your Weight Loss Success?



SARAH LAW

Sarah has worked with hundreds of clients over the past decade to help them live in a healthy body that they feel confident in.
Sarah spent a large part of her teens and 20’s as a professional dancer battling with orthorexia and an unhealthy relationship with food and her body. This created a desire to understand the human body more so she could finally cut through the confusion and end the cycle of yoyo dieting. This fuelled her passion to help other women do the same.

 

Sarah May specialises in supporting women who are struggling to lose weight due to underlying health issues. She’s helped many women manage their weight during and after the menopause, as well as clients with thyroid disease and immune system dysfunction. Sarah May loves food and sharing healthy recipes with her clients. Her aim is to ensure that clients don’t feel deprived and instead, achieve their weight loss and health goals in a positive and sustainable way.

 

To enquire about working with Sarah, please contact us.

AILSA HICHENS

 

Ailsa is one of our most experienced practitioners. She specialises in helping clients to lose weight, develop a healthy relationship with food and finally feel comfortable in their skin. Ailsa’s mission is for everyone she works with to enjoy the journey and that working with a nutritionist should not be a punishment, but your access to a new possibility.

 

Ailsa is not only an experienced weight loss nutritionist, she is also a skilled coach. She helps our clients overcome emotional eating, destructive habits and self-sabotaging behaviours that have prevented successful weight loss in the past. Ailsa has spent years in clinic working with clients who have experienced yo-yo dieting and have discovered that long term weight loss is not just about eating less until you can stand it no longer.

 

Working with Ailsa you will be comprehensively supported, not only in improving your nutrition and lifestyle, but also your eating habits and your relationship with food. When you work on all these elements together, the results can be truly astonishing.

 

To enquire about working with Ailsa, please contact us.

Test Nikki is our Practice Manager, managing our team of practitioners and heading up the day-to-day running of the business. Nikki is involved in the strategic development of our practice, coming from a strong business background in town planning. A Florida girl, Nikki relocated to the UK in 2014 with her husband and two children.

NIKKI ANDRIANI

 

Nikki is our Practice Manager, managing our team of practitioners and heading up the day-to-day running of th clinic.

 

Nikki is involved in the strategic development of our practice, coming from a strong business background in town planning.

 

A Florida girl, Nikki relocated to the UK in 2014 with her husband and two children.

STÉPHANIE ACHAR

Stéphanie is a skilled nutritional therapist and functional medicine practitioner with additional training in eating disorders, disordered eating and obesity. She believes that working towards both physiological and mental health is key in achieving optimum wellbeing.

 

Stéphanie’s personal experience of emotional eating and the ongoing struggle to find the right support led her to combine the science of nutrition with behavioural coaching to motivate and empower her clients. She specialises in helping people who struggle with their weight and their relationship with food. She helps them develop a healthier and more peaceful relationship with food and their bodies.

 

To enquire about working with Stéphanie, please contact us.

INNA WEARN

Inna is passionate about supporting women on their journey to improved health and wellbeing. She believes that the solution to effective weight loss does not lie in ever more restrictive diets, but a more sophisticated approach that optimises health and vitality, as well as promoting effective weight loss.

 

Working with Inna you will benefit from her in-depth knowledge of female health and hormones. She will support you in developing a healthy diet, lifestyle and mindset that ensures you reach your ideal weight and maintain it in the years to come.

 

Inna is passionate about food with a wide repertoire of delicious healthy recipes and meal ideas to ensure your weight loss journey is as enjoyable as possible!

 

To enquire about working with Inna, please contact us.

ANIA MASON

 

Ania is a firm believer that improving your health and losing weight should be a positive, empowering journey, not one centred around deprivation.

 

After being diagnosed with two autoimmune conditions in her twenties, Ania spent several years educating herself on the power of food and nutrition. She put it all into practise and changed her diet and lifestyle, reversing her endometriosis and thyroid disease. After experiencing such a significant improvement in her health, Ania had a big desire to help others. She embarked on a four year journey to study nutrition, graduating from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition with distinction.

 

Ania specialises in autoimmunity and works with clients who have underlying health issues preventing successful weight loss. Her expertise enables her to successfully support our clients with conditions such as hypothyroidsm (underactive thyroid), PCOS and diabetes. 

 

To enquire about working with Ania, please contact us.

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