Food Label Reading


The Eating Free online food record has a tool that will calculate the individual food freebies you ate according to the total grams of macronutrients per serving. Oftentimes the serving sizes on food labels do not follow the serving sizes recommended at Eating Free. There is not a standard for serving sizes and often times a serving size may be equal to more than one freebie.  Here is a quick way to figure out how many freebies a portion may be while shopping at your favorite food market.

Serving Size

Fats: 5g = 1 serving of fat

a.    Look for low fat products, low-fat means less than 3g per serving. Reduced fat means at least 25% less fat per serving than the original food. Fat-free means less than 0.5g per serving. 

b.    Saturated fat should be less than 1g per serving.

c.    Avoid Trans fats completely. Read the ingredients list for the word hydrogenated which means trans fats. The label may say zero trans fats if the product contains less than 0.5g of hydrogenated oils per serving. 

d.    Healthier fats are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated.

Total Carbohydrates: 15g = 1 serving Carbohydrates

a.    Dietary Fiber: Good fiber sources are more than 3g per serving. If greater than 5g of dietary fiber, it is considered an excellent source of fiber. Subtract the dietary fiber from the total carbohydrates listed. This is because we do not digest or absorb dietary fiber, so it does not contribute to serving sizes.

b.    Sugars: 15g = 1 serving Sugar; Look for products with less than 6g/serving.

c.    Look at the ingredients of the product to determine the source of Carbohydrates. Ingredients are listed from most to least. Types of carbohydrates are G&S, Fruit, Milk, or Sugar.

Protein: 7g = 1 serving of VLM

a.    The amount of total protein from labels may be coming from the protein content of G&S or milk products. So if the product is G&S or milk and the total protein is less than 5g/serving do not count it.

b.    Because you are counting the fats separately, you do not need to worry if the proteins are LM, MFM or HFM. Your total grams of protein will count as VLM.