Nutrition is the most important considering when meal planning for my family. Whether it’s a simple snack or a family dinner I want to ensure my boys are getting healthy, nutritious foods. While we try to eat fresh as often as possible we do eat packaged products as well. It’s important that we find balance to provide a variety of foods, nutrition and stay within the parameters of what my boys want to eat. With busy nights of after school programs and hockey it’s important that I know what we are eating and working to provide the best nutrition for my family.
Finding the Best Nutrition For My Family
I was excited to delve deeper into the world of nutrition and better understand the products we have in our house. I enlisted some helpers for this task.
When the boys and I sat down to analyze the packages we had in the house we found that some of our choices were not at all as nutritious as we thought they were! I enlisted two little detectives to investigate. My boys love crackers and cereal so those were a great place for us to start.
We found that the crackers we investigated had similar nutritional information but one had a serving size of 4 crackers and the other was 9 crackers. While they seemed similar at first glance, closer investigation showed that in fact the smaller serving was better in terms of fat percentage and the type of fat.
The cereal was equally as enlightening when we found that the nutrition information was almost exactly the same except one had a 3/4 cup serving size and the other had 1/2 cup. Both were high in iron and fibre.
Our investigation really highlighted the importance of serving size. A handful of crackers would certainly be more than 4 and I know I often pour more than 3/4 cup of cereal. Serving size, percent daily value and nutrients are all critical parts of the picture and something we often overlook.
The NFEC: “Focus on the Facts” was created to help Canadians use the Nutrition Facts table (NFt) to make informed food choices by starting with the Serving Size and then looking at the Percent Daily Value (% DV). When you understanding how to read labels and by using the Serving Size and % DV in the NFt, consumers can choose foods that have more of the nutrients they want like fibre and calcium, and less of those they don’t want, like saturated and trans fats and sodium. Knowledge enables you to make the choices you’d like to better understand the food you’re eating.
It’s easy to find the best nutrition for my family when I look at the Nutrition Facts table and follow these steps.
- Start with Serving Size, found under the header ‘Nutrition Facts’
- Next, look at Percent Daily Value (% DV) on the right side of the NFt use the % DV to see if the Serving Size has a little or a lot of a nutrient
- Remember that 5% DV or less is a little and 15% DV or more is a lot.
You don’t need a detective hat to understand the Nutrition Facts table on your packaged food but be sure to remember these tips to get the most out of the food you are buying for you and your family. Don’t forget to head over to FocusontheFacts.ca to enter to win a gift card.
Focus on the Facts Giveaway
One lucky Family Food and Travel reader will win a $100 Walmart gift card. Contest is open to residents of Canada 18+ and ends on March 15, 2017. Good luck!
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. As always, all opinions are my own.
I always see how much trans fat, those are the bad fats and I don’t want much of them at all
Yes Lynda, you are right about “trans fats” or hydrogenated oils. They don’t occur naturally. I always keep it simple and ask, “would this be something our hunter/ gathers ancestors would have found in the wild?
I always look at the calories and the sugar.
I always check the sugar and salt content
I always look at the fiber content. Its always great to get more in your diet. Thanks!
The part of the Nutritional Facts table that i pay the most attention to is salt because hubby has restrictions
I always check the carbs. and the slat content.
I usually pay most attention to the sugar content.
I pay the most attention to what kind of sugar in it and how much.
I think we eat sugar in everything and I don’t want my family eating that much.
I look for the calories. LOL
I look at the serving size and fats.
I look for the iron and salt the most. I have Hemochromatosis (iron overload) and have to limit my iron intake. I have osteoporosis and salt is not good for blood density.
I pay the most attention to the Sugars and Saturated Fats/Trans Fats section; I have found that a lot of food (and the manufacturers) uses these two items as fillers, to cover up taste of authentic foods. Sugars can be turned into glucose, affecting our nervous systems, transferring sugars to fats (and causing fluctuations in moods, body health). It’s in everything and we are consuming waaaay too much of it.
Depending on the type of food, I look at the Fibre, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron content next.
I look at the sodium and sugar intake because its important to know how much you are getting every day.
The sodium levels are what I pay the most attention to simply because so many items put way too much in.
Mostly trans-fat, sugar, and sodium. Probably the worst for your body.
I pay the most attention to the sodium, trans fats, and sugar content in foods because my husband has high cholesterol & blood pressure.
Look for trans fat.
I also check the sugar as we are trying to cut down on that
Calories and the sugar.
portion for the calories
The part of the Nutritional Facts table that I pay the most attention to is salt because I have high blood pressure
My eyes scan sodium and sugars first if its too high I put it back. Nutrients are very important and if there are few then again it goes back.
Usually the fats, good and bad.
The fats are the most important to me.
I am watching my sugar intake so I always check the carbohydrate amount.
The calorie contest because I like to see how many are in the item.
hard to choose just one. guess it would be added sugars
I concentrate more on the amount of calories, fat and sodium.
I pay most attention to sodium daily intake. I realise the negative cardiac affects of a high sodium diet. I have a family history of poor cardiac health and I want to avoid it as much as possible
Salt, saturated fats and sugars are what I pay attention to.
Besos Sarah
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I mainly check out the serving size then the fats, sodium and sugar content. I have high cholesterol so the fats are important. Sodium is bad for blood pressure so I don’t want too much of that and sugar isn’t a no no but I’m careful with how much I consume.
Calories because they are the easiest to track
I pay most attention to the sodium and the sugar content when I am shopping for items for my girls. When it has to do with items for my husband and I, I look at Calories and Carbs
Definitely the serving size & calories.
Sodium level, because our family is trying to cut down on the amount of sodium daily intakes.
I pay most attention to the salt and the sugar content in the nutrition facts table.
Ilook for trans fat, vitamins and sugar, my husband is diabetic so no sugar is a must.
I pay attention to the calories the most.
The serving size is really important because they are often much smaller than you’d think. I also pay attention to the amount of fibre, sugar and fat.
I am always looking at the fiber to keep us regular! lol
Protein because it’s good for you.
Sugar because it’s bad for you.
I am always looking at the sugar. I don’t like eating unnecessary sugar in what is supposed to be healthy food.
I check the salt content as my salt intake is high sometimes
We pay attention to sodium because heart problems run in my family.
I pay attention to the sugar because there is sugar in almost everything so I like to pick foods with less sugar, and I pay attention to the fats because we don’t want too much of the unhealthy fats in our diet.
I always look at the calories and fat. Just to make sure that products aren’t super fattening or unhealthy.
Lately I have been looking at the fibre content. I need to increase fibre in my diet.
I look at the serving size and the amount of sugar and sodium involved.
I pay most attention to calories and fat!
I need to gain weight
I’m on a high fibre diet
Trying very hard to reduce my sugar intake. It seems to be in everything. And the dreaded sodium too. I am a label reader from way back.
Sugar and salt content
I watch the sugar count because I’m diabetic and sodium because I’m a kidney patience
I watch the calories because I have gained a lot of weight the last few years.
I pay greatest attention to the fat content especially to the saturated and transfer fat components. I want to see good fats in the food that I serve my family not unhealthy ones.
I want to see how much fat and sugar is in the product and whether there is any nutritional value.
I always pay attention to the sugar content because sugar intake adds up with almost everything we eat so I like to choose products that don’t have a lot of it to begin with.
I pay the most attention to calories… even though I know it’s not the most important, I can’t stop
I pay most attention to calories and sugar because I think it’s important information.
I pay most attention to sodium and sugar. They sneak those in all the time!
I tend to check the amount of calories and salt.
I look at how much sugar is in per serving. My husbands side of the family has a history of diabetes so we want to be careful with our sugar intake, and we want to teach the kids to be aware of how much sugar is in their foods.
I look for the sodium contest and the trans fats.
I look for sodium content and the transfats. I am trying hard to keep heart healthy. Cardiac disease runs in my family.
I look for fiber content to stay healthy.
I look at calories and sugar first…things I try to keep low.
I look for fiber content
I look for the protein.
I look for the protein as I am trying to ensure I get enough protein in my diet.
I always look at the calories and sodium
trans fats
I pay attention to the calories as I am trying to lose a little weight
i look at calories and sodium content
I pay most attention to the saturated fats because they cause weight gain and an unhealthy heart.
I always look at the calories and the sugars
Sodium and sugar content Also I pay attention to fat content
The sugar transfat and the salt and also I look for stuff that I cant pronounce as I dont like eating chemicals
I pay most attention to the serving size, I feel reading that makes me feel that I am not giving or eating too much
I usually am looking at the fibre, we don’t get enough in our diets!
I pay the most attention to the sugar content (we are trying to consume less sugar when possible, and we all have a sweet tooth in the family so we have to be careful not to feed our cravings!), and the fat content (we don’t want to consume too much of the unhealthy fats).
I try to limit my trans-fat
Sugar % first as it converts to fat and fat % second for obvious reasons.
You can’t really get a full picture from focusing on just one part of the label so I think I do a pretty good job of looking at everything before making a purchasing decision on a new product.
I guess the biggest things I look at are the calories, grams of fat and fibre.
Thanks for the chance to win!
I pay most attention to the salt content, because I have high blood pressure.
I pay attention to the sugar content.
While I read the table entirely for information, I pay the most attention to the cholesterol listing because my cholesterol is high.
sugar for sure– I think the reasons are obvious
I like to pay attention to the Trans Fats and the Sodium.Those are two things that are bad for our health.I have some diabetics in our family so I look closely at these two.
I pay most attention to the sugar content because I tend to have high blood sugar.
Serving size and sugar, there is so much hidden sugars that we try to avoid.
I pay attention to the Sodium content since I am trying to follow a low sodium diet.
It used to be Calories or sugar but lately I also look for the serving size because it may sound good until you see the amount per portion!
I pay attention to the trans and saturated fats as that stuff is not good.
i really pay attention to how much sodium is in things
sugar and other ingredients. Im celiac.
I look at the sugar and salt amounts.
I always check for the amount of sodium and sugar intake because its important to keep a healthy lifestyle.
I pay the most attention to the serving size because it really changes everything if you aren’t aware of the serving size.