The Tea with Tina
The Tea with Tina is going to be your new favorite weekly chit-chat that will feel like a good, juicy sit-down with your BFF. This podcast isn't your average (and boring) radio talk show-styled podcast. We dig deep, get personal, and have lots of fun along the way. Hear some relatable stories and a different perspective on various topics from health and fitness to pop culture. I am Tina Wieland, a certified fitness trainer and nutrition coach. Grab your caffeinated drink of choice, get comfortable, and be ready to hear the TEA.
The Tea with Tina
235 | Decoding Nutrition Labels: Navigating the Truth Behind Food Claims for a Healthier Lifestyle
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Unlock the secrets behind nutrition labels and become a savvy shopper armed with the knowledge to make healthier choices! On this episode of Tea with Tina, we dissect the intricacies of serving sizes and reveal why weighing your food in grams offers a more precise picture of your diet. Prepare to be surprised by how common marketing labels like "organic" or "gluten-free" can mislead, giving processed foods an undeserved healthy halo. We'll discuss real-world examples, such as Pop-Tarts and Oreos, to help you navigate these deceptive practices and remind you to check if nutritional info applies to the food's current state—cooked or uncooked.
We also cover the transformative power of mindful nutritional tracking. Learn how a good food tracker can help you align your daily intake with your health goals, ensuring you get enough fiber and protein, especially if you're an active individual. Discover the importance of accurately identifying essential vitamins and minerals, such as calcium and iron, and why you should avoid self-diagnosing deficiencies. We'll guide you through scrutinizing ingredient lists for quality and authenticity, highlighting misleading practices like the use of apple juice in fruit beverages. Plus, we explain how percent daily values often cater to sedentary lifestyles and might not suit everyone. Empower yourself with the insights to make informed, balanced food choices for a healthier lifestyle.
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Welcome to the Tea with Tina, your favorite podcast, where we talk all things health, fitness, lifestyle, and maybe a little bit of tea gets spilled. We chat all about this in a super casual environment, so grab your beverage of choice, sit back, relax and enjoy. Relax and enjoy. Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Tea with Tina podcast. On today's episode, we're going to be chatting about decoding nutrition labels.
Speaker 1:What makes a food healthy? I've been noticing this as a trend in nutrition in general and I don't know if it's just maybe the rise of, you know, processed foods. You know things that aren't, you know, grown fresh from a farm or like meat, meat, breads, fruits, veggies, the simple stuff, right. A lot of stuff is packaged now and even if it's healthy or claims to be healthy, it's still like processed, right, and a company makes it and they want your money, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I think it can make it really confusing as into what is healthy. You know, I'm seeing organic Doritos, I'm seeing gluten free Oreos and people are thinking like, wow, it's gluten free, it must be healthy, it's organic, it must be healthy. It has a green leaf on it, it must be healthy. And we're not really looking at the facts. We're more so getting caught up in the marketing and how it's described. But how it's described and what it actually is can be two very different things.
Speaker 1:All right, so let's get down to the facts here of your nutrition labels and what actually makes a food healthy. All right, so number one is serving size. So this is an important one. Why it matters? The serving size is a foundation of the nutrition label. All the nutritional information is based on this amount, so pay attention to how it compares to what you actually eat. Right, this can go both ways. Maybe a portion is way larger than what you plan to eat, but you kind of try to measure it anyway Because you're like well, it'll be easier, but like, can you just split it in half? Can you do the math? I will tell you a little trick to this is, you know, if it says a cup for anybody who tracks macros the most accurate way versus like in parentheses it'll show a number in grams. Like, let's say it's a cup or 100 grams, all right, so if you got a measuring cup and you scooped out a cup of whatever this was and then you actually weighed out 100 grams, the two numbers may be different. Okay, because a cup is more of an estimate. It's not precise, but if you weigh this item out, you're guaranteed to get the exact amount. So that's why, weighing in grams most oftentimes you're going to see grams or ounces, um, for whatever the food is, that's how you're going to be the most accurate in whatever the nutrition label says, right, um, and we've also seen where you know pop tarts, for instance. Right, this is a big one.
Speaker 1:When I was growing up, you know, a serving size is one pop tart. I don't know if this has changed because I've not eaten pop tarts, for instance. Right, this is a big one. When I was growing up, you know, a serving size is one pop tart. I don't know if this has changed because I've not eaten pop tarts in a while, but a serving size is one pop tart. But they give you two in their little foil package and if you ate one, you know the other one's gonna get stale. So you just eat two. And then you're eating 400 calories. Or oreos, you know. You're like, oh, there's only two Oreos for a serving. That kind of sucks. I'm going to be eating like 10 of these, you know. And you don't think about it because you see the initial serving size and you don't do the math. Or maybe you don't want to do the math and that happens.
Speaker 1:I've also seen serving sizes that are super complicated. Popcorn is the perfect example. Have you ever looked at the serving size of popcorn? Now? The serving size of popcorn now like pre-pop popcorn is fine, like skinny pop and stuff. They're usually pretty good. But if you use like real popcorn it'll be like an eighth of a cup unpopped and it'll show you the calories and then it'll say like three-fourths cup popped and then it'll show like with salt or then it'll show the whole box like that's where it gets confusing. I hate when they have like the unprepared versus the prepared.
Speaker 1:A little side note on that whatever nutrition information you're seeing is in the current state. I did do a podcast episode on this. But whatever nutrition info you're seeing is of the current state, so something needs to be cooked. It may lose water, causing it to weigh less, so it will change the nutrition information, or it may hold on to water, like pasta noodles, for instance. It'll absorb water or rice, causing it to weigh more and change the uh nutrition information.
Speaker 1:But you also have to make sure that you know. You look for the cooked information because you got to see the conversion, that you know you look for the cooked information because you got to see the conversion right. Like, if you measure out half of a cup of rice, okay, and that's all you're cooking, I would track it as half a cook, a half a cup uncooked, because when you cook it, let's say it turns into one cup, it's not going to change calorie wise because it just absorbed water so it's volume expands, if that makes sense. But that's another way that people can kind of get messed up, because they're maybe looking at the uncooked version, but then they're, they're measuring it out and it's like what? So it just gets, it gets confusing, right. So whatever you're seeing is the current state, even with raw meat and everything like that. They're telling you the current state, okay. They're telling you the current state, okay. So that's number one. Number two is calories. Calories indicate how much energy you're going to get from a serving, because a kilocalorie, k calorie is the same as one calorie. That's a measurement of energy, while everyone has different caloric needs.
Speaker 1:Being mindful of your intake is essential for weight management and it's true that goes back to calories in, calories out, being aware of what's truly in our food. Again, this comes down to reading the labels, actually measuring things out, because you can eyeball stuff, thinking Like peanut butter. Maybe you think you're getting a tablespoon, but it's actually like two or three tablespoons, because you get a heaping tablespoon. And that's where the misinformation comes in and there could be some things that you're under eating on that you think that you're eating enough and that can cause you to be hungry because you think you're eating more than what you actually are. And then you have all these cravings and you're starving and you're like I don't understand, I'm eating what I should be eating, but it's not right. So that's why it's important to again track our food, weigh our food, measure our food, know what truly like.
Speaker 1:I want you to go and look at the experiment for all of you. I want you to go and get a tablespoon of peanut butter, again referring to the grams in parentheses. If you have a food scale, weigh it out, okay. Weigh out your serving of peanut butter in grams and I want you to stare at it. That is a true serving right, that mind-eye connection versus what you would do. Maybe even weigh out what you would think a tablespoon is and see how off you are. If you don't have a scale, you could always get like an actual tablespoon measurement and like flat, level it, flatten it and that's like how much a serving of peanut butter is quite depressing, but it's a good visual right. And imagine if you do that multiple times over the day, over weeks, and you wonder why you're not losing weight. Yeah, um, another thing three nutrients to limit. So that's another thing that's great to look at.
Speaker 1:On nutrition labels, um, some popular ones would be saturated fat and trans fat. So high amounts can increase the risk of heart disease. So aim for foods with lower values, especially if maybe it's hereditary runs in your family, maybe you have certain risk factors, your doctor told you to decrease it, things, things like that. Then we have sodium. Too much can lead to high blood pressure. Now there is a lot of mixed information out there. They're doing some studies that are showing that eating more sodium can actually be beneficial.
Speaker 1:Believe, if you are, uh, not super athletic and sweating profusely, um, or doing like long endurance runs or like crossfit or working out for 90 plus minutes, you probably just need the recommended level of sodium, unless you have like low blood pressure or something like that, or something medical. Um, so I would just try to aim for, like the normal amount okay, as long as it's not an issue, you probably don't need to worry about it and also make sure your electrolytes are balanced. You're drinking enough water to compensate for the sodium and whatnot. And then we have added sugars. Um, again, sugar isn't the enemy, but these contribute to empty calories, right, doesn't really add much for us. Like, like a soda with 70 grams of sugar in it. It's like no nutritional value. You're just sipping on it, doesn't keep you full or anything. Uh, but we want to look for. Less than 10 percent of your daily intake comes from added sugars, right? So just some things to think about. And then these are going to be maybe different per person. Maybe some people look at cholesterol as well to limit. Uh, there could be a ton of different things. Maybe you're I, you know, I don't know. I don't know. Now I'm thinking, I'm kind of blanking here, but those would be the ones that, again, if you're looking for anything, pay attention to those.
Speaker 1:And using a food tracker is going to be your best option, because it can tally up your total based off what you log, and you can kind of look and see what your total is for the day versus what your goal is right, and then you know, on the opposite end of the spectrum, we do have nutrients to emphasize. So things like fiber, right. Generally, we want anywhere between like 20 to 30 grams of fiber a day. Females tend to be 20 to 25 grams and males tend to be like 25 to 30 grams. Um, but again, depending on the person, you might find that you function better with slightly higher, uh, but at least I would say at least 20 grams of fiber a day, and you're gonna get that from you know, whole foods, whole grains, fruits, vegetables. Some foods might have it artificially added in there as well, not saying that it's bad, they just added it. You can also go for a fiber supplement.
Speaker 1:Then we have protein. We love protein. We're in our high protein era. I'm so happy that this is a trend because it's great for you. But protein is essential for building and repairing tissues and let me tell you, most people I know are not getting the right amount of protein. I think the USDA recommends like 60-ish grams of protein for the average American. So this is probably somebody who doesn't really work out who's sedentary right? They don't take people who are working out. If you're working out, it needs to be much higher. I would recommend at least 100 grams. Even for the smallest person, 100 grams. If you're working out, it's important. Then we have vitamins and minerals. Again. There's so many of them, so just check for key nutrients like calcium, potassium, iron, vitamin D. These are all super important.
Speaker 1:And, of course, you know, don't try to self-diagnose. If you're deficient on something, test, don't guess. You can ask your doctor for blood work. You can order some yourself off of a website like Ulta Labs and get the blood work done just to see where your levels are at, and then, if it's low, you should supplement. Because if you don't check and you just assume, you could run the risk of over supplementing, which can have its own host of problems. So you know, just make sure to eat balanced, but try not to overdo it or underdo it.
Speaker 1:Number five we have an ingredient list. This one's important too. So the ingredient list reveals what's really in the product. Ingredients are listed from highest to lowest quantities, so something that I like to see. That's funny. Me and my husband often do this, like certain foods. You'll see that they'll put oh, this is a good one, juice.
Speaker 1:Okay, look at different juices. It could be cranberry juice, whatever, but guess what? Most of them lead with apple juice as the first thing, even if it's not like what it's marketed as, but it will mainly consist of apple juice. How crazy is that Right? So if you wanted something that's maybe more authentic, um, like real cranberry juice, look for it where cranberry juice is first. Um, I've seen this with like maple syrup as well. Like it might be weird. Like fillers and stuff are first over the maple syrup. So just make sure the actual ingredients you want are first or towards the beginning, versus like processed stuff, sugars, fillers, all that stuff that tends to mean that it's going to be better quality.
Speaker 1:Um, even like olive oil. Uh, I know, not necessarily it's an ingredient list, but something to pay attention to. I believe California olive oil Um, the one that's a hundred percent California olive oil, because it's better quality. The bottle is like $20 versus the one where I think it's like 20% California olive oil and it's like 80% Italian olive oil and it's like $10 because Italian olive oil is actually lower quality. California is actually higher, so it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that's why ingredient list is important. That way you can see what it's made of if there's any preservatives. You know you obviously want like a shorter list in there. Make sure way you can see what it's made of If there's any preservatives. You know you obviously want like a shorter list in there and make sure it's more whole things. It's simple Um, and if not, you can always make it yourself, right Cause then you can control what goes in there. Um.
Speaker 1:So yeah, then number six we have percent daily values, and this is actually gonna be the last one on our list here. Um, percent dv is how it shows up on the label, but why it matters. This indicates how much a nutrient in a serving contributes to a daily diet. Now, keep in mind, they base this off of the uh, usda guidelines and I don't know if they do this anymore. I remember they used to show what the numbers were on the uh label itself. I don't think they do that anymore. Like they would show you for a male and a female um, like the calories, the protein, carbs and fats, like the daily recommended values. You can look it up online as well. Um. But again, I don't think these are great. These aren't great.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's a good starting point, but again, they're basing it off of, like a very sedentary person, um, who probably isn't active. When you're trying to be active, your body does need more resources and the composition is usually a little bit different. Um, like, I think their protein is just too low. Um, calories are kind of high. Like they want a 2000 calorie diet not everybody, you know. They're not basing off height, activity level, all that, all that stuff, so use it with a great assault.
Speaker 1:Certain things like like saturated fat and things like that where it's like, hey, you know, you need to limit it. I do like to look at that. But I laugh when, like something's like, oh, it's 120% of your protein daily value, and I'm like, oh, this isn't even close. This is like half of my protein daily value. So, like, just be aware. But I think it'd be helpful for things that, like, everybody should kind of like limit where it's like a set thing and it could also be a good indicator of like, how much of that thing is in there. Like, even if you know protein, if you're like, wow, it has 120% protein. Like you want a higher percentage of protein, right For your daily value.
Speaker 1:Fats, you might want less carbs. Carbs, again, if carbs is like, oh, this is 50% of your daily carb intake, even if it's not your personal goal, you're still gonna be like, wow, that's still a lot right. So, again, keep in mind of that and use it. And again, if you use a food tracker, if you track your food and macros, it's gonna actually show you a pie chart, like it'll show you. You know, based off what you ate, today, 20% of your calories came from protein, or 40% of your car or food came from carbs, and you can set those goals and you can have a target to reach through and customize it to you. Okay, but again, it's still a good indicator, I think, to see like what it is in general, like 5% or less is low and I'd say 20% or more is high. But again, take it with a grain of salt, okay, but you know?
Speaker 1:Just some closing thoughts. Reading nutrition labels can help you make smarter choices while grocery shopping. By focusing on serving sizes, nutrient content and ingredients, you can definitely better navigate the aisles and select healthier options. So definitely, next time you go shopping, take a look at those nutrition labels. You'd be surprised what you find in there Added sugars, saturated fat, protein, things that are organic but like a gluten-free Oreo is going to have the same amount of calories as a regular Oreo Okay, it's not healthier. Probably the same amount of sugar too. So you know, just be aware, be mindful and be a more conscious consumer. Alright, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode and I will catch you in the next one. Bye for now.
