#307 How to Read Nutrition Labels

The FDA has announced that in 2021 there are changes coming to the way food is labeled in America.

Some of the changes include changing the serving size (they say nobody eats just 1/2 cup of ice cream), larger, bolded font for calories and a category of 'added sugars' helping people know the difference between sugars that naturally occur within the food vs. the ones that are added in.

The original idea of forcing food manufacturers to use food labels was transparency. It was assumed the more people that knew about what was in their food, the more they would be aware of what they were putting in their bodies and the better the decisions they would make.

But has that been the case?

The planned action and change has started a conversation and a debate about the whether food labeling has caused more harm than good with some research stating that food labeling, because of it's abstract terms, lack of public education and lack of over diet context, have done more harm than good.

What I Covered:

• How to read labels using Eat By Design as a starting point and context. I'm not saying this applies to you, but this is how I do it.
• The pros and cons of having labels and why reading them, even with a good amount of nutritional knowledge can be very difficult.
• Why I don't believe changing the labels, even to more 'realistic' measures, will have a positive impact on people's health.
• Some basics that, if you're going to read labels, you might want to watch out for.