What Top 3 Stats Do You Focus on When Reading Food Labels?

RaspberryTickleChicken · February 2015

Just out of curiosity, I was wondering what top three items do most long-term maintainers hone in on (with food labels) when trying new things or tweaking current food repertoire?

In order of priority, I look for:

Total Calories from Fat (esp. Sat or Trans Fat)
Sugar
Carbs vs Net Carbs

kimny72 · February 2015

I am not quite at maintenance yet (so close!) but I don't foresee my answer to this question changing... First calories, second protein. That's pretty much it. I would then glance at the ingredients list just to see what I'm getting into!

By the way, congrats on that loss! 38 lbs on your height must have made such an improvement in how you feel. And you look great :drinker:

Ms_Enzo1313 · February 2015

Hi there! I now read all the labels

I look for Sodium/Saturated Fat and Fiber content. I am trying to add new foods into my food options so I look for food that are higher in fiber but that also taste good.

kristen6350 · February 2015

Basically I look for Calories and how much I can eat per serving because I'm a bulk eater. I'm happier eating things I can eat tons of for lower calories.

jane837 · February 2015

- Calories, because that's my primary goal each day
- Protein, because I often don't eat enough every day unless I put some thought into it, and I want to build muscle
- Sugar, because I find that I feel better when I eat less of it.

PRMinx · February 2015

Calories, protein, carbs.

jrline · February 2015

calories, serving size, servings per container

diannethegeek · February 2015

Calories, protein, serving size

HeySwoleSister · February 2015

Calories, Protein, Calcium per serving. Then I fuss with serving size, just to give all 3 context.

cwolfman13 · February 2015

It kind of depends...it depends on how that meal is going to be worked into the rest of the day; I take a pretty global view of my diet and don't worry so much about individual food items or meals in isolation.

Mostly I just look at calories, the servings size, and servings per

Praying_Mantis · February 2015

Ingredients
Calories / Serving size / servings per container
Protein

Sugar
Fiber

PRMinx · February 2015

PRMinx wrote: »

Calories, protein, carbs.

Yeah, I look at serving size, too. Context is important. So, calories, protein, serving size.

OldWomanRuns · February 2015

I start with total calories and serving size for those calories - then sodium (high blood pressure) and sugars. But, I have also learned to look at the ingredient listing to see how many different "ose" there may be and if they are artificial. Have a bad reaction to most all of the artificial sweeteners. Am working on being whole food/non-processed - not there by any means - but, working on it.