Heart HealthHow to Read Food Labels for Fat and Sodium
You know you should be reading food labels, but what’s the point if you don’t know what you’re looking for? Let me give you a few guidelines you can follow to make food labels work for you.
1. Select foods with less sodium than the following amounts per serving:
- Frozen or packaged dinners: 500 mg
- Microwave popcorn: 350 mg
- Desserts and cookies: 250 mg
- Cheese: 200 mg
- Chips, pretzels: 200 mg
- Bread, crackers, rolls: 140 mg
2. Select foods with less fat than the following amounts per serving:
- Frozen dinners: 10 g
- Cheese: 5 g
- Microwave popcorn: 5 g
- Lunch meat: 3 g
- Soup: 3 g
- Snacks: 3 g
- Bread, crackers, rolls: 3 g
- Frozen yogurt or sherbet: 2 g
Tired of changes that don't last?
Remember, when reading labels, look at the serving size. A serving size is not necessarily an entire can of food. If a can contains 3 servings and you eat the whole can, you need to multiply the sodium or fat per serving by 3. For example, I have a can of chicken noodle soup with 920 mg of sodium per serving and 6 servings per can. If I eat the entire can, I consume 5,520 mg of sodium (920 x 6).
If you want a refresher on how much sodium you need every day, review the post Reduce Salt to Lower Blood Pressure.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson, RD
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