Nutrition 101: RDVs + Food Labels
Supporting our nutrition goals requires a general knowledge on many key components related to our food choices and methods, as well as how these choices impact the daily nutritional values needed to support a healthy body. As a sustainable nutrition approach, let's open our minds each month to the most important knowledge points for a variety of nutritional components.
Let’s review the Nutrition Facts Label (NFL) along with Recommended Daily Values (RDVs). When we know what to look for and understand the importance of the nutrients needed to support our daily activities, we are more likely to make the best choices with our chosen foods, recipes, and food preparation.
Important Education Takeaways
Avoid trying to count every listed value. Instead try to focus on just one or two components at a time.
Simplify the process by figuring out what pieces are most important to you.
Consider your medical conditions and health goals to help narrow down what to focus on.
Learn the basic components of the standard Nutrition Facts panel. These include the Serving Size, Servings per Container, and Percent Daily Values.
Serving Size: This quantity is determined by the food manufacturer. It may not be realistic compared to the amount of food that you actually consume. Try to be mindful of your portion by measuring or counting it out. If you happen to eat more or less than the listed serving size, you will need to adjust the nutrient values accordingly.
Servings per Container: This tells you how many servings are in the entire container of the food product.
Percent Daily Value: This tells you how much of a specific nutrient a single serving of that food provides. 5% or less of the Daily Value is considered low. 20% or more is considered high.
Get more of the good stuff, while identifying things you may need to limit! Consider the health benefits of the foods you are eating and choose foods that help you meet your individual needs.
This may look like focusing on some of values below:
Protein: Choose foods with more protein to help you achieve the goal of 20-30 grams of protein at each meal.
Fiber: Maximize fiber intake by choosing foods made with more whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables, beans and legumes, and other complex starches. Most Americans lack adequate fiber in their diets, falling short of the recommended 25-38 grams or more per day.
Vitamins & Minerals: Opt for foods with higher counts of vitamins & minerals, especially calcium, vitamin D, iron, magnesium, and potassium.
Saturated fats: Saturated fats are correlated with increased LDL (lousy cholesterol) and cardiovascular disease. Aim to keep saturated fat intake less than 10% of your daily calories and practice swapping them out for healthier fats such as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats instead.
Sodium: Sodium is used as a food preservative as well as a flavor enhancer. It is typically used in high amounts in heavily processed foods, convenience items, and restaurant meals. For most people, it is recommended to keep your sodium intake less than 2,300 mg per day.
Added sugars: Added sugars are used in many food products, even in foods that may not taste sweet. Added sugars can go by many names but they must be accounted for on the nutrition facts panel. The World Health Organization recommends limiting added sugars to 5% or less of our daily caloric intake, or less than 24 grams (6 tsp) per day. Excessive added sugar intake is correlated with increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer.
Don’t forget the Ingredient List. Just as important as all the numbers listed above is the list of ingredients in our food products.
These ingredients are listed in order of weight, with those in highest amounts appearing at the top of the list.
Try to keep ingredient lists short and recognizable and prioritize food quality over calorie content.
Be a savvy shopper by getting to know the label lingo. Some food claims are regulated, while many others may be nothing more than a clever marketing ploy.
A few key labeling claims to recall include:
Reduced: Must contain at least 25% less of specified nutrient than standard product.
Good Source Of: Must provide at least 10-19% DV of specified nutrient.
Low Sodium: 140 mg or less of sodium per serving.
Low fat: 3 g of fat or less (and not more than 30% of calories from fat for meals and main dishes).
Take your time at the grocery store to make sure you are choosing healthy foods that meet your desired needs.
Recipes
Recipe of the month: Food Truck Roasted Chicken
As always, this recipe is the showcase of our live taught, virtual cooking class. Our chef and registered dietitian bring the recipe to life as they walk you through food prep, swaps to meet dietary or taste preferences, plus tips and tools to support you being your own healthy chef at home.
Bonus recipe: Asian-Inspired Chicken Salad
From Jamie’s kitchen to yours, our monthly bonus recipes are published on our website and social media the 4th Wednesday of each month. We invite you to browse our recipe collection and come back often to find more flavorful and heart-healthy recipes.
We invite you to join us for the live taught, virtual nutrition classes each month to gather more information on our nutrition topics. This is also an opportunity to ask topic-related questions of our experts as well as connect socially with attendees for idea sharing. As a registered participant for our In the Kitchen program, you receive a few reminders ahead of each scheduled monthly classes, but here’s an easy to remember schedule: Nutrition Education (30-minutes, 2nd Wednesday, 12pm), Cooking Class (up to 60-minutes, 3rd Monday, 12pm).
Contributing author: Jamie Libera, RD, LD, CCTD, registered dietitian, Providence.