What's worse and what's best??

theatregoddess

I've been looking at the nutrition labels on everything I eat, watching my caloric intake, and trying to decide what makes one food item better than another. This is where I get stumped. I look at the amount of Carbs, the amount of Fats, the Calories, Sugars, etc, but don't know which of these I should be watching the most. In other words, is a snack with lower carbs better than a snack with lower fats? In what order of importance do these fall into? I know there is a huge controversy over Low-Carb diets VS Low-Fat diets, and both seem to have their share of pros and cons.

So please, could somebody tell me what I should be paying the most attention too? If you could list (Cals,Fat,Cholesterol,Sodium,Carbs,Fiber,Sugars,Protein, etc.) in their order of importance, that would be amazing. Thanks so much!

~Nicole

czewwhat

well, to put it simply, the best foods don't have labels. Fresh fruits and vegetables. whole natural grains and fresh fish poultry and meats. If you can't read the ingredients, or understand what it is, chances are it is not real food anyway!

Hope that is easy enough for you.

MissKim

THAT IS THE SMARTEST THING I'VE HEARD ALL DAY!

MacMadame

It's all a balancing act. There really is no "best" food. There is no food you could eat to the exclusion of all others and be healthy. Some choices are better than others, but even that depends on context -- what else you've had to eat recently, how you react to sugars, fats and protein, etc.

You want to shoot for certain values over the course of a day (or and average over several days). Everyone is going to have different values they are shooting for depending on goals and philosophy and what works for them.

For example:

My goals are:
1) Maintain my current weight
2) Eat enough protein to build muscles
3) Eat to fuel my endurance workouts
4) Limit sodium (it impacts my blood pressure)
5) Get enough fiber that my next colonoscopy finds no polyps or internal hemaroids.

To meet these goals, I am currently shooting for calories 1800, 30% protein, 40% carbs, 30% fats, as well as keeping my sodium under 2000, and eating at least 20 g of fiber a day.

I don't worry about sugar for a number of reasons, but for some people limiting their sugar is important. Other people will do less protein and more carbs. Some people limit their fats more -- my cholesterol is usually excellent so it's not a big concern for me. If you are trying to lose, you'll probably eat less calories.

And so forth and so on...

ivykivy

In addition to the advice above
As far as snacks get the real thing and eat less.
If you like chips buy a white potato and make your own.
Make cookies from scratch if you can.
Instead of prepackaged oatmeal buy old fashioned oats in the canister.
If you buy canned food choose no sugar no salt add or buy frozen instead of canned.

GreenEyedMonster

http://www.mypyramid.gov/

If you ask me that website is your most reputable source for an answer like this. I think it even has the option to customize your daily value based on your input. It may not be exactly the answer you're looking for but maybe it'll help.

Edit: Obviously it's going to depend on your particular diet but I think a majority of us are main counting calories. This site just kind of gives you and idea of where your calories should come from.

marm1962

I personally am not too sure how to rate them as in order of importance, but I do know that Cholesterol, Sugar, and Sodium would go at the bottom of the list.......The top three would be Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fats........not necessarily in that order though.