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The No Diet Challenge: Step 4 How and Why to Read the Nutrition Label

 "Nutritious Apple With Health Facts" by Stuart Miles via Freedigitalphotos.net


There is much truth in what we learned back in middle school health class: labels on foods help us determine what's in them, and if they're healthy.

The First Tip on Reading Labels:

If it has a label, it's not the healthiest choice. 
  1. They are processed and packaged (to keep longer, preservatives are necessary)
  2. They have added ingredients you don't (or shouldn't) want in your/your children's bodies
  3. They have added ingredients to the product to make it taste better (depending upon who you ask, it's not better) 
Your job as a non-dieter (healthier eater) is to check the labels on things you want to buy at the store. Don't worry about standing in the aisle at the grocery store to do it. Feel embarrassed? Feeling like you're in the way?  Who cares; make people go around you because no one else is the wiser to find out what they are putting in their bodies.


Real Simple Magazine offers a few 'real simple' tips on what to look for. (They don't cover sugar, except for telling us that some no-or-low-fat foods have added sugar, which is good to know.)

A Few of Mayo Clinic's Quick Tips On Sugar. (Hint: flavored yogurt has more sugar than you want the kids to have and yes you should get the kids to drink water over juice- I know… that might take some time)

If you're in an older-generation category, as some grandparents might be, please read these rules.

Visit us next week for Step 5: Stop the Addiction (the sugar addiction that is); a real story from my house.

For steps you might have missed:

Step 1: This is Easy
Step 2: We Don't Own a Scale and Why Diets Fail
Step 3: BaLaNcE






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