The Healthy Weight Loss Guide to Reading Food Labels

Have you ever been on a diet and found yourself being totally confused about how to read food labels? Not knowing this information could be the difference between weight loss success and failure. More often than not, people who are trying to achieve a healthy weight loss will not be able to do so just because they believe everything they read.

Most of us think that foods labeled "low fat" will help us lose weight. If this were really true, why didn't anyone from the fat free diet craze of the 1980's lose weight and keep it off? You may be shocked to discover that low fat foods may do the opposite. Yes, that is right! They can actually make us gain weight!

Since the driving force behind any weight loss fad is for the manufacturer to make money, low-fat labels purposely prompt people to overindulge in several different ways. I know you are asking yourself how such a farce can actually be allowed to happen, right? All I have to say to that is keep reading!

Reading Food Labels Tip #1: Portion Distortion
Most people believe that an appropriate serving size for low-fat food is 30 percent larger than the full-fat version. When this happens, nearly 50 percent more calories are consumed. No matter how much fat a product says it does or does not have, remember it is all about calories.

Think of it this way. Which is better for weight loss: 1,000 fat calories from butter or 1,000 fat calories from apples? Neither! They will both give you 1,000 calories. Granted, the apples will give you lots of other vitamins and minerals that will make you healthier than the butter will, but you won't weigh any less!

Reading Food Labels Tip #2: Ingredient Shift
Most of the time when fat content is reduced, carbohydrate and sugars are increased. What happens when carbohydrates and sugars don't get burned off? Your body turns them into fat so it will have a reserve of fuel. The bottom line is that you must look at all the ingredients, not just the big text on the front of the package that says NO FAT.

Diet soda is much more harmful to your body than regular soda because of the nasty ingredients they have to add to make it diet. This goes for NO CARB and NO TRANS FAT foods as well. If a company making a product feels that it needs to grab your  attention by promoting the latest weight loss fad in bold letters across the front of their package, chances are it probably is not a good choice.

Reading Food Labels Tip #3: No Label Is King
What kinds of foods do not come pre-packaged with a label full of ingredients? Fruits and vegetables. What kinds of foods are all natural and grown from the earth we live on? Fruits and vegetables. What kinds of foods do you know will help you lose weight even though you would rather grab the box of fat free Oreos? Fruits and vegetables.

Not that it needs to be said at this point, but if you can not determine if the label is saying something good or bad, put it down and head to the produce department. Fruits and vegetables are the most ideal foods you can eat for a healthy weight loss. What about protein, you say? Think soy. I lost 70 pounds and have kept it off for 15 years when I switched to a soy-protein based way of eating.

Label or not, the key to a healthy weight loss is living a healthy lifestyle. Making smart decisions about what you eat, as well as exercising every day, will allow you to lead a label free life. Smart is choosing to eat an apple instead of a donut. Smart is choosing to drink a soy-based protein shake instead of a caramel whip cream latte from Starbucks. Smart is drinking green tea instead of diet Pepsi.

Remember... for things to change, you have got to change.