Living the Lifestyle: Thursday, 03/04/2021

misterhub

We meet here to explore, share, celebrate and (sometimes) agonize over how we do (or don't) incorporate weight loss guidelines into our daily lives. "It's a lifestyle, not a diet" is easily and often said, but sometimes not so simply put into practice.

This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion.

Monday - crewahl (Charlie)
Tuesday - whathapnd (Emmie)
Wednesday - newmantjn (Todd)
Thursday - misterhub (Greg)
Friday - Al_Howard

Today's Topic: Nutritional Labeling

How informed and educated do you consider yourself with regard to nutritional labeling? How much do you use nutritional labeling in making your food purchases and menu planning?

88olds

Rely on it everyday for a couple of things. Always have since starting WW.

The one thing I learned about NI is to look carefully at the serving size. Sometimes they try to suck you in with low calorie numbers by measuring an unreasonably small portion.

podkey

Yup I agree with 88Olds they do play around with "portion" size. I am aware of the labels but don't buy a lot of packaged foods except condiments.

newmantjn

I'm quite tuned into it, since I'm doing MFP and it is a calorie based thing. I look at each can/box etc. and figure out which unit I'll use to track what I ate.

Recently, @Al_Howard pointed out a screw up in MFP calories, but this was for a steak (no label). So that pointed out the necessity of confirming (or double confirming as my former Chinese work collogues would say), those values. I think the USDA is probably the go to site and other sites are fed from this.

imastar2

I pretty much read every label except my favorites. After reading these labels for years I agree they are quite tricky and sometimes down right deceptive. I mostly look at the the big 3 for me fat carbs and the biggest is sodium. I try to stick to around 1500 sodium but that can down right be challenging some days.

whathapnd

I mainly look at labels for allergy info. However, I'm currently experimenting with limiting added sugar and limiting carb amounts for a given meal, so I'm paying a bit more attention.

Flintwinch

I've been reading NI labels for a long time. Now that I follow the American Heart Association guidelines. I pay special attention to saturated fats and added sugars

crewahl

Well, here I seem to find myself at the minimalist end of the spectrum.

I’m FAR from having a blind faith in WW, but I do think that the process of staying within my points pushes me into a fairly healthy eating pattern. Given that, if I have to choose a new product I’m more likely to scan the bar code for points than to review the NI and enter it. I’m not looking to limit any particular line item from the NI, although I’m somewhat conscious of sodium. (My BP runs 140/90 in the doctors office and 125/75 at home.)

But once I select a product, I keep using it. I suppose it’s possible the pancake mix I use on Sunday mornings has reformulated over the past ten years, but I haven’t looked - I just use the same amount i used last week. Similarly, for points I just grab a fat free Greek yogurt from the list in the WW tracker rather than create one based specifically on the Market Basket store brand NI.

I guess I’d say in the absence of a specific health concern, I tend to be blind to the more granular levels of NI. This whole weight loss thing has to be simple in order to work for me.