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Sports Nutrition Newsletter #4
Deciphering Food Packaging
Most people are aware of which foods are generally good for you, and which are not so good for you. Going to the supermarket can be tricky though, as you face the overwhelming rows of different products, For.Every.Single.Item. Grocery shopping can take a very long time with all that reading! Without training and specific knowledge, and avoiding the persuasive marketing hype, trying to work out which items you should buy is not as easy as you think.
Food packaging and nutrition labels do provide a wide range of information to help make good food choices, however, they can be very confusing and difficult to decipher.
Being able to read and understand food packaging will help you identify what nutrients are in foods, in what quantities they make up, and hence work out if it is a good option for you, and also when the food item is appropriate for you to consume.
Supermarket shopping isles can be overwhelmingThere are a few ways that nutritional information can be displayed on the food packaging, so knowing where to look and what you can find, may make the trip to the shops a little less painstaking.
The nutrition label panel lists the nutrients contained in the food and their quantities, which is useful as an easy way to compare the nutritional profile of similar packaged foods. There is also an ingredients list, which is a list of all ingredients that are in the food, in order of most to least. You might also find different types of health ratings that can give you a very quick guide to the healthiness of the product. The least useful thing on the packaging would be the food claims, which highlight something about the food that would be appealing to consumers, but these are often full of hyperbole and not scientifically based.
Do you want to learn more about food labels? Download the worksheet below, and also see our food label page on Topend Sports.
I have created a food nutrition label worksheet to test how well you understand food packaging.
Here are the Latest Sports Nutrition Articles
Thanks for still being part of this sports nutrition newsletter family, and staying up to date with the world of sports nutrition and all that is happening on the Topend Sports website. Here are some of the recent additions to the website. If there is something in particular that you are interested in that we don't cover well, let me know.
- Athletes and Immunity
- Nutrition for Basketball
- Working with a Sport Physician
- Bovine Colostrum Supplementation
- How to Conduct a Supermarket Shopping Tour
Check out these pages and other great nutrition content on Topend Sports.
Want freebies? As a subscriber to this newsletter, you get access to all the available downloads on Topend Sports, such as the Fat Calculator Software to record and monitor body composition measurements. Check them all out here.
Stay safe,
Clare Wood (about me)
Related Pages
- Sign-up for the Sports Nutrition Newsetter
- Resources for the Sports Dietitian
- Nutrition for Disabled Athletes
- Sports Nutrition Home
- You can also sign up for the Topend Sports general newsletter
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
