Healthy Eating: Nutrition Labels

The Truth about Food Labels

The first step to eating better? Navigating the aisles of the grocery store

Label Lessons

The Truth about Food Labels // food label © Levi Brown

Image: Levi Brown
A hundred years ago, food was simple. People didn't worry about trans fats in their cheese crackers or artificial colors in their fruit snacks. (Search: The worst food additives) They didn't have to—they were eating real cheese and real fruit. And food companies used to focus more on making food than on enticing people to buy it. That's why supermarkets are so daunting today: It's easy to make a false move, even when you're trying to eat healthy.

But it’s time for a turnaround. "The front of a food package is real estate owned by the manufacturer, whose goal is to sell you something," says Men's Health weight-loss advisor David Katz, M.D., M.P.H. Flip the package over to find the information you need on the one part that's well regulated by the FDA: the Nutrition Facts label. (That’s not to say all packaged foods are bad though: for proof, add these 125 Best Supermarket Foods to your grocery list.)

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