Oct 10
25
Today’s article is a continuation of recent one dealing with Food Labels. Don’t you just love questions and answers?
There are many parts of a food label:
- serving size
- servings per container
- calories or kilojoules
- calories or kilojoules from fat
- total fat
- saturated fat
- trans fat
- cholesterol
- sodium
- total carbohydrate
- dietary Fiber
- protein
What are the most important parts of the food label for a diabetic who has heart disease?
The medical doctors would have you believe that total fat and saturated fat would be most important. However, we’ve been brainwashed to believe that saturated fat is bad for us. It’s not. Saturated fat is a stable fat that does not oxidize in the body. It’s oxidized fat that causes problems in the body, including problems with cholesterol. Thus, trans fat would be one of the most important parts of the food label. Cholesterol would only be important if someone has a genetic disorder that causes extremely high levels of cholesterol.
The other parts of the label important in this case are Total Carbohydrate and Serving Size. This is for the same reasons I mentioned recently.
What are the most important parts of the food label for a diabetic who wants to lose weight?
Calories from Fat, Sodium, Total Carbohydrates, and Serving Size …
When you want to lose weight, you have to force the body’s metabolic pathways to switch to burning fat. This won’t happen if you continue to provide more fat in the diet unless total calories and total carbohydrates are low.
Sodium is also important because high levels … greater than 350 mg/serving will have a tendency to cause water retention, which will reflect a poundage increase, not weight loss. This is frustrating to a dieter.
Every dieter should always keep the Total Carbohydrates down to 15-20 grams per meal or less. If you don’t know the serving size, it’s too easy to overeat.
What are the most important parts of the food label for a diabetic who has a genetic predisposition for high blood fats?
This is the only case where cholesterol levels (and total fat) are important.
What are the most important parts of the food label for a brittle diabetic (a diabetic that usually has blood sugar levels that are uncontrollable)?
Total Carbohydrates, Serving Size, and Protein. Total Carbohydrates and Serving Size speak for themselves. If Protein is too low in the diet, basal metabolic rate falls to an all-time low and the blood sugar level becomes more unmanageable.
Food labels carry useful information to help you make choices about food but don’t be misled by labeling tricks and traps. The terms used are often misleading. For example:
- “light” or “lite” does not necessarily mean the product is low in fat or energy. It could be referring to the texture, color or taste of the product
- “no cholesterol”, “low cholesterol” or “cholesterol free” on foods derived from plants, such as margarine and oil, mean nothing because all plant foods contain pretty much no cholesterol. However, some can be high in fat and cause weight gain if used too generously
- a food that claims to be 90% fat free, really means it contains 10% fat … it just looks better being stated the other way around.
