Poll of the Day: Do You Actually Read Nutrition Labels?

dendurgal
dendurgal Posts: 60
in Food and Nutrition
Time to 'fess up: We all know that it's important to be aware about what we're feeding our bodies, but do you actually take the time to read nutrition labels, look up calorie counts, and more?
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Replies

  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    Yes, all the time; generally to the annoyance of people I'm shopping with!
    Interesting to see that in some cases a 'basics' and mid-range product has matching nutrition, suggesting that the difference in price is the packaging.

    I'm mostly bothered by calories, but now making a bit more effort to get lots of protein in as I'm currently doing a lot of manual work.
  • danamarier
    danamarier Posts: 24
    I didn't use to but now I read the label on everything. Something that trips people up is when a package is meant to be one serving and the label shows a portion of what the package actually contains.

    Example- a 750 ml bottle of choc milk- the nutrition label shows the calories but for 375 ml. Often people don't read the whole label and when they see the calories on something like that, they consume the whole bottle/package thinking that it's not that bad.
  • predent
    predent Posts: 95
    Absolutely, much to my boyfriend's dismay. I also calorie count at restaurants and take forever to order :)
  • jtslim42
    jtslim42 Posts: 240
    Absolutely! I read the labels on EVERYTHING!
  • Brandon74
    Brandon74 Posts: 453 Member
    Yes, I actually do.
  • mama78loosinWeight
    mama78loosinWeight Posts: 130 Member
    Every time I pick an item up that has a label I read it. It is a habit that makes me put back food I think looks good ...A LOT.
  • jbootman
    jbootman Posts: 145 Member
    ALWAYS, anything prepared, I check sodium and sugar, and basic ingredients
  • maddymama
    maddymama Posts: 1,183 Member
    Yup.

    For a few reasons: #1- I hate hate HATE fake sweeteners, and it's not always apparent from the front of packages what certain items are sweetened with. I read carefully to make sure I can eat what I buy.
    Reason #2- My FIL has celiac and I usually need to double/triple check that I am not going to hurt him if I make dinner for my in-laws once or twice a week.
    Reason #3- I want to know what the ingredients are, and to get an idea of what is going on in the food.

    That said, I don't read every package on every item in the store. Just the stuff that is "new" to me that week, or the stuff I'm going to feed to my FIL. Most items are a repeat of before, and it's a matter of searching for the previously approved items.
  • magj0y
    magj0y Posts: 1,911 Member
    If it's something for me to eat, yes. If it's a paragraph, I put it back on the shelf.
    I recently started reading the nutritional value for meats. I'm glad/sad that I did! My favorite steak, actually the only steak I eat,
    has the highest calories! %70'ish per 8 ounce. (Though I never eat the strip of fat) the damned rib-eye is E V I L !

    I have cut way down on the processed foods I eat. The fam for some reason likes corn and mac n' cheese. I always pass that up.

    I've also started weighing/measuring meat, including chicken. I hate it, because it makes cooking less fun.
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,861 Member
    Not only do I read labels, I find them interesting. Weird I know.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
    yup, if I am not already really familiar with the product I look at nutritional info and ingredients. For things that are unlabeled, like fruits and veggies, I will actually stand there looking up the info on my phone!
  • Laceylala
    Laceylala Posts: 3,094 Member
    I'd say about 75% of the time I read the labels now. This is because for the past several years I read every single one. Now I get to where I pretty much know I'm either okay or not okay with buying the product based on past experience. If it is a new product, yes I absolutely read the ingredients before I even look at the calorie content.
  • grrrlface
    grrrlface Posts: 1,204 Member
    I read nutrition information and ingredients. I like to know what's in my food. :-)
  • Gizziemoto
    Gizziemoto Posts: 430 Member
    Yes. Never know when they will change something on you.
  • sbrooks0387
    sbrooks0387 Posts: 167 Member
    sure do. you only buy peas once that have sugar as the second ingredient before you start reading ALL labels. i usally don't worry about cal counts but am more looking to see sodium and what number ingredient sugar is and my son has a issue with some dyes in food so if buying something new i have to check for them.

    i stay away from high sodium foods and foods with sugar as a top ingredient.
  • TerrieBNLWECHANGED
    TerrieBNLWECHANGED Posts: 27
    Definitely... nothing sucks more than eating something the size of a dime and learning that it costs you half a day's worth of calories. :bigsmile:
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    Yup, every one.
  • xshortiex
    xshortiex Posts: 120 Member
    I do, actually, mostly to check calories and protein.
  • reojames
    reojames Posts: 96
    Yes, I do. But I pay more attention to the 'Ingredients' list. If there are more than a few ingredients that I can't pronounce, I'll find something else....
  • sfarrell1359
    sfarrell1359 Posts: 63 Member
    I do 1) I have celiacs so I have to read everything, 2) I don't like things with corn syrup and other unnecessary additives. Why should iced tea have high fructose corn syrup in it? You'd be surprised what are in things these days.
  • ammire82
    ammire82 Posts: 50
    I don't when I'm shopping but I do before I eat it. Then I go HOLY S&*T and eat it anyways, work around the cals for the day, and NEVER buy it again
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    Absolutely. I don't buy a lot of stuff with labels, but I compare at the store: and I enter all my own nutrition stats or use the site default (Admin-entered, not other member-entered) data for whole foods, so I know what the nutrition stats are in the foods I put in my food diary.
  • heddy90
    heddy90 Posts: 144 Member
    I started doing it a week ago, and plan on continuing!
  • peachyxoxoxo
    peachyxoxoxo Posts: 1,178 Member
    Considering this is a calorie counting website I would assume most people do. And yes I've payed attention to them for the last 5-6 years.
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
    I think I've looked up dang near everything I eat.
  • ssp1977
    ssp1977 Posts: 120 Member
    Yes, I do. But I pay more attention to the 'Ingredients' list. If there are more than a few ingredients that I can't pronounce, I'll find something else....

    Same here. I will check the serving size and then go right to ingredients.
  • embersfallen
    embersfallen Posts: 534 Member
    ALL the time...even when I don't necessarily want to. ;) My eyes go right to it now!! It's actually good though, many a time I have had a tasty *little treat* in my hand ready to put in my grocery cart... saw something horrifying on the label...and thrown that baby down! LOL! And I think in terms of * this would be a half hour or turbofire!...yuck!*. LOL.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
    All the time. Even on foods I have no interest in eating but am just curious.
  • aqm22
    aqm22 Posts: 153 Member
    Yup. Everything.
  • wildcata77
    wildcata77 Posts: 660
    Absolutely. I look for a variety of things, but the deal breaker if I am comparing like products is usually sodium.

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