Understanding nutritional labels... PROTEINS

How did you do last week? Aren’t you impressed with the amount of sugar we often consume in instant food?

Fortunately there are new natural options that are as sweet but harmless to your body ...

We continue with proteins:

 

Few industrialized food contains enough of this nutrient and even less offer a good quality protein such as soy, cheese, eggs or meat.

To give you a reference, an average adult should eat about 60g of protein per day, which is 100-200g of meat, egg or cheese (much less than what we usually consume). 

Desserts don’t contain enough protein, but if you are used to buying one or more meals per day, choose those options that give you about 20-25g of protein per serving.

See you next week!

Reading labels in ten seconds... CARBOHYDRATES

The mistakenly called “enemies of your diet” and the reason for your cravings ... "carbohydrates".

This nutrient has been widely criticized in recent decades, however if you stop eating them, your body uses muscle tissue to get energy, so will you lose weight by losing tone and strength. Besides, carbohydrates are the most important fuel for brain function.

As you can see, nutrition fact labels divide the total amount of carbohydrates in two: sugars and fiber. 

Sugars refer to the amount of digestible carbohydrates that convert to glucose in your body. 

Fiber refers to the portion of carbohydrates which is not digestible but that helps the proper function of your bowel.

As I have written before, avoid food that contains fructose or HFCS as they have been increasingly associated with the epidemic of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

It is generally recommended that less than 10% of your diet is sugar, therefore a practical measure is to choose food that contains less than 50g per portion of sugar.

See you next week...

Do you REALLY know what you eat?

For those who did not read last week’s blog, we will learn a simple and quick way to read nutrition labels so we can choose the best food for our family.

This week we'll talk about Energy:

As you may have noticed, the amount of energy is listed at the beginning of the nutrition facts label and most of them specify the amount of calories per serving (which in most cases is less than half the package).

An average adult needs to eat 1500-2000kcal per day, so that each meal it is advisable to have 500-700Kcal (considering breakfast, lunch and dinner).

According to the above, you need to choose meals with less than 500Kcal per serving, if you're buying a dessert, avoid options that have more than 200Kcal per serving.

Try applying this on the foodstuff you usually buy and tell me how it went.

See you next week with "Carbohydrates"

READ LABELS in ten seconds ... and discover food liars.

Have you wondered lately if the "low calorie" or "slimming" food choices are truthful?

Many times we feel lost when trying to read the nutritional fact labels. In the supermarket we wonder how much is too many or too few calories?, Is 10 grams too many carbohydrates?, Should I choose no sugar or fat free? Are light foods actually healthier? ...

According to the law, every industrial product we buy, must contain a label describing the contents of ingredients, calories and nutrients.

I'll give you 8 tips to choose your food and make it more practical.  In order to make it easy, I have chosen OREO cookies.

First, check that the bag or box has a label that says "Nutrition Facts or Supplement Facts" on the back of the pack.

Find the part where it says "Serving Size". 

For our example, one portion means 4 cookies.  That means the calories and nutrients reported correspond to 4 cookies only, not the whole package.

Normally you will find 6 elements: Energy (Kcal), Fat (g) Cholesterol (g) Sodium (g), Carbohydrate (g) and Protein (g). 

The chart shows the total amount (grams) of each nutrient and compares it to an average 2000kcal diet (for an average adult).

If the food you bought is a dessert, each portion over 150 Kcal is equivalent to a homemade dessert, 3 apples, 2 slices of bread or tortilla.

• In Oreo cookies, 4 pieces provide 170 calories, WOW!

Choose foods with low cholesterol (less than 20 mg per serving).  In the average diet, cholesterol comes naturally from animal products, you shouldn’t add more to your diet.

• According to our label, eating Oreo cookies will not increase our cholesterol intake.

Avoid foods containing more than 140mg of sodium per serving.

• These cookies (and most industrialized products) are high in sodium (150mg).  If you have high blood pressure or water retention problems, these are not recommended.

With carbohydrates, try to choose foods that have at least some fiber (the recommended daily intake is 25-30g) they will make you feel satiated faster than the ones with sugar only. 

Avoid those that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  It has been described as one of the main causes of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in the world.

• Oreos have less fiber and provide 1g of fiber and 15g of sugar per portion, which is equal to 11/2 tablespoon of sugar. I think you should search for another dessert...

Often the amount of protein in this type of food is very low and of poor quality, they will not benefit or harm your health.

• Eating 4 Oreos only gives you 2g of protein.

Apparently our cookies failed the exam...

I hope these tips will be useful in your next visit to the grocery store. In the next few weeks you will learn how to find the true “Low calories” or “Light” products” and I'll explain in more detail so that you become an expert in choosing your food.

In order to keep a healthy weight... your brain has 4 secrets.

To all of those who took these small challenges with me: CONGRATULATIONS!

We managed 28 days (or more) of healthy changes. I hope you enjoyed the process and that these new habits remain in your daily life.

How many changes were you able to maintain? 
Which were your favorites? 
Did you experience something new? 
Did you improve your quality of life? 
Did you enjoy a little bit more daily activities?

Let me explain the reason of this challenge:

Did you know that our brain is able to control our weight?

There are several mechanisms designed to keep us in a healthy weight:

1. At the time you sit down to the table and see the food, your brain starts a countdown of 30 minutes within which you will feel real hunger.

2. At the end of the 30 minutes, when foods fills your stomach, you feel the first sign of being sated.

3. When food passes the first part of the intestine, the brain releases the latest sign of fullness.

4. If you obey the signs: eat when hungry and stop eating when you feel "full", you maintain a healthy weight, however, if you disregard it your weight will increase and this system loses it’s effectiveness.

That's why it is very important to take the time and space to eat, enjoy every bite and listen to your body so you stop eating when necessary, it will help you feel good, keep your weight and not starve during the day .

The next secret... enjoy your food and stay fit

For those who are new, we are taking small challenges every week in order to enjoy food more, eat better and why not? Eat a little less...

The purpose of this week is:

At dinner, plan a self-pampering night (alone or accompanied), light some candles, serve your food on the fancy china, take a seat and enjoy the moment.

Tell me how did it go? ...

A simple secret to make you feel lighter...

For those who haven’t joined, we are making small weekly changes in our habits which will help us to get away from the routine, eat healthier and feel better.

Last week we tried to eat with our eyes closed.. was food tastier? did you find new flavors?

The next seven days will be a challenge for all:

Try to sit down to lunch or dinner only when you feel really hungry, stay aware of the feeling of fullness and stop eating when you feel the first warning.

Remember: In order to enjoy much in life you don’t need to have too much...