Food labels - what to look for?

[hexi2]

Ok I asked this elsewhere but it seems to fit better here...

When shopping for things what should we look at on the labels eg: I have already made a decision to keep as preservative free as possible but when choosing products in comparison with others what should we do eg

Chocolate - do we go for the choc lower in carbs?/ fats? calories? or what?

Nuts - I checked out the crab content but they seem very low in carbs yet the doc says to think of them as carbs?

Soya Milk - do we go for the skinny version (fat) or check out the carbs

SO I guess in general it would help to know what/how we should be reading the labels and what is going to benefit us long term...too many choices I tell ya

[kagiesen]

I look for sugar first. To me thats' the most important, as that's the one that might trigger insulin.

Fat is second, but I am not too anal about it. If I have a small cappuccino or so, I even take full cream milk, as I don't have that very often.

I don't really need to look at the calories after that, cos if it's got either lots of sugar or fat, it's got calories, too. Also, I want to get away from calorie counting, as the maintenenance guidelines suggest.

I would not worry about traces of nuts etc. When Cohens talks carbs, he means rice, pasta, corn, legume, the likes, or a handful of nuts. Anything that has additives in it should be avoided, cos I reckon my body reacts with weight gain, whereas if I have meat and veg, even lots of it, and self-baked products, I'm fine.

We might move this thread soon to a section without diaries.

Katrin

[cherry59]

I too look at sugars then fats

I've lost track of calorie factors now but keep track more of carb content of food now

I try to keep carbs out of the weekly diet and just relax more on weekends

Cherry

[Lonniecee]

Carb and sugar content is my priority, then I compare the fat and if it is a choice of 2 similar products I'll go with the one with fewer calories, but as a rule I don't count calories. I have skim milk and still take hermasetas in my hot drinks. Diet coke is still my soft drink of choice esp if I'm having spirits.
Lauren