Reading Nutrition Labels: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

The nutrition landscape in the US has become increasingly complicated in the past century, to say the least. From disinformation to omitted information, and faulty “science,” the truth is hard to come by. 

As I continue to fine-tune my own coaching methods I find myself saying the following phrase, “In the world we live in today…” followed by some statement about what we need to be aware of when choosing the foods we put in our mouths every single day. 

So, again, in the world we live in today we need to have an understanding of what we’re actually looking at on the nutrition label of the foods we want to consume. I will always recommend choosing foods that DO NOT have food labels. A pound of ground beef, a dozen eggs, or a pack of bacon needs no nutrition label, they’re single ingredient foods. 

Single ingredient foods should comprise 90% of our dietary intake. Period. 

Nutrition labels are more commonly found on processed foods, and” food-stuff.” The Oxford Language Dictionary defines food-stuff as “a substance suitable for consumption as food.” Hmmm.. a substance suitable for consumption?

The US FDA regulates nutrition labels. In this article I’m going to share with you what you need to know about the nutrition labels on the foods you’re eating: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

Nutrition labels provide information on the serving size, the specific amounts of macro and micro nutrients, as well as the caloric value. They show the ingredients, typically listed from main ingredients used in greater quantities to the lesser ingredients like spices, added flavors, colors/dyes, preservatives, and emulsifiers. 

Daily Recommended Values are also displayed on nutrition labels. DRV’s are based on a 2,000 calorie daily intake. 5% or less is considered “low” while 20% or more is considered “high” per the FDA website.  

Photo: FDA nutrition label from the FDA website.

The Bad

The values we see for macronutrients in grams are rounded down. Food manufacturers are not allowed to round up to the nearest whole number, as many of us were taught in high school. 

For example, if there is 0.9 grams of protein in a serving of a specific food, the nutrition label will read 0 grams of protein. Regarding servings per container, if there are 3.32 servings per container we will see that number rounded down to 3. Regarding calories, if the food item has 5 calories or less it’s rounded down to 0. And so on. 

I can’t help but wonder how this inefficiency manifests in the Standard American Diet (or SAD diet, per the US Dietary Guidelines) where the average intake of processed carbohydrates make up 65% or more of an individual's dietary intake. 

The Daily Values (DV or %DV) are “the recommended amounts of nutrients to consume or not to exceed each day. The %DV is how much a nutrient in a single serving of an individual packaged food or dietary supplement contributes to your daily diet.” Per the FDA website.

Unfortunately, the %DV shown on nutrition labels is a minimum requirement, not a target, and not optimal. Why are we not shooting for optimal intake levels?

The DV for protein is 50 grams per day. When I coach my clients I recommend about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, or 1.6-2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight. In the US today, the average American consumes roughly 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, and that's a high end estimate. More than 40% of Americans do not get their DRV of protein, and again, that’s based on a minimum requirement. 

The Ugly

The FDA notoriously allows the use of certain ingredients that are commonly banned in other countries due to their toxic and carcinogenic properties.. Introducing the Generally Recognized as Safe list, or GRAS list. 

The GRAS list includes “any substance that is intentionally added to food is a food additive, that is subject to premarket review and approval by FDA, unless the substance is generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use, or unless the use of the substance is otherwise excepted from the definition of a food additive.” Per the FDA’s website..

What does that mean? It means that food manufacturers can use toxic chemicals, like the known carcinogen Red 40,  in small amounts because the FDA says they are “adequately safe.” Are you comfortable feeding your family “adequately safe” foods? Beef, butter, bacon and eggs for me, please!

While the FDA does have a banned list of food additives, there are many substances that are still used in foods today that need to be reevaluated. 

Photo: Pickled Ginger, taken by me.

Main Takeaways

By choosing whole foods like animal meat/fats and products, whole plant-based foods that feel good in your body, you can cultivate greater control over what you eat, and therefore how your health manifests. 

There’s a great quote I heard from a business mentor, “Show me your refrigerator [and pantry] and I’ll show you your health.”

Remember that your nutrition strategy should:

1. Be the one which you can be consistent

2. Gets you the results you are looking for

3. Allows for the expression of the healthiest version of yourself

Don’t settle for anything less!