LIFE Health & Fitness Club

Do you know what you’re looking for?

With the massive selection of foods now on sale it’s not surprising that many of us get confused about the ingredients and the labels on most of these products.

Companies now put so many different ingredients into their foods to make them taste better its hard to know what’s what. I have never heard of half of the ingredients they use, let alone whether they are good for us or not.

So let’s explain a little about the labels and the ingredients to look out for.

Some things you should look at are:

• How much SALT & SUGAR they contain
• The total amount of FAT in foods
• How much of the total FAT is SATURATED FAT

The daily guidelines for these are listed below but should only be used as rough guides as each and every one of us are different.

##TABLE GOES HERE##

Daily calorie intake for:

• MEN approximately 2500 calories
• WOMEN approximately 2000 calories

So how much is A LOT or how much is A LITTLE?

Check the packaging of products then compare it against the table below. PREPARE TO BE AMAZED. For larger meals look at the amount per serving and for smaller things like crisps check the per 100g information (g = grams).

##TABLE GOES HERE##

SALT (Also known as SODIUM)Some manufactures call salt, sodium on their products. These are the same but sometimes fool us into thinking there is actually less in the product.

• 1g of SODIUM = 2.5g of SALT

Salt/sodium is a big contributing factor to health problems such as high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.

FATEating to much FAT can also increase your risk of coronary heart disease, lead to obesity and can increase the risk of certain types of cancer.

• Saturated fats can increase your risk of a heart attack and should be kept to a minimum or swapped for UNSATURATED FATS where possible.
• Unsaturated fats are important for proper brain function and to help protect against heart disease. They are usually found in fish, animal and plant sources.

Look out for products that claim to be low fat or compare themselves to other products as these can still contain a lot of FAT (check against the cut out table).

SUGAREating to much of sugary foods and drinks will usually cause you to put on weight. Sugary foods tend to have high calorie content and are usually found in foods that also have a high fat content. Excess sugar consumption has been linked to depression, impaired immune function, and, of course, weight gain, as the body can almost effortlessly convert sugar to fat. Check the labels as nearly everything contains sugar.

FIBREFibre has loads of benefits. It takes longer to chew therefore giving your stomach time to tell your brain when it’s full. It fills you up quicker and helps prevents some types of cancers. Fibre is found in FRUIT and VEGETABLES and whole meal products such as pasta and bread.