.The

Simple
Truth

The new food labels
are a healthy source
of information.

RUTHAN BRODSKY
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Vicki Gross discusses food
labeling with a client.

rocery shopping for foods
that are good for you is a lot
easier since the new food la-
bels appeared on processed
and packaged foods a cou-
ple of years ago.
The revised label pro-
vides relevant information that is ac-
tually useful because it focuses on
saturated fat, total fat, cholesterol, sug-
ar, dietary fiber, vitamins A and C, cal-
cium and iron — nutrients more
closely linked to health.
Linda Kuzin is zealous when it
comes to reading the labels on food —
and for good reason. Heart disease, di-
abetes and obesity are part of her fam-
ily medical history.
'When I grocery shop, reading a la-
bel on a package is part of my routine,"
says Ms. Kuzin of West Bloomfield. "I
want to know the total grams of fat,
salt and sugar in a serving are at the
recommended limits.
"It may take me five more minutes
in the store to read the labels and make
my decisions but the time is well worth
it. I work hard at staying healthy and

fit and try to be a role model for Abbey,
my 11-year-old daughter.
"Even when I cook I'm aware of
what I want to limit in our diets so I
take the skin off a chicken before
preparing it and serve lots of steamed
vegetables. "Abbey loves fresh salad,
is good about eating fruit and vegeta-
bles, and her idea of junk food is air-
popped unbuttered pop corn. So far,
it's working!"
Five years ago, diet-conscious con-
sumers like this couldn't count on food
labels for adequate and reliable nutri-

tion information. Nutritional infor-
mation was strictly voluntary, required
only when nutrients were added to a
food or when some nutritional claim
appeared on the label. Even then, the
information was difficult to find and
understand, and the print was often
so small that few could read the label.
Times have changed. As a result of
the Nutritional Labeling and Educa-
tion Act of 1990, regulations from the
Food and Drug Administration and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture
went into effect in 1994 calling for ex-
tensive food labeling changes so that
we could be more selective about what
we choose to eat. Today, the nutrition
information is in a bigger, more read-
able type and is required for all pack-
aged foods and some fresh foods.
Moreover, the required nutrition in-
formation is more effective because it
tells us at a glance how the food fits
into a healthy diet.
"I tell my clients to concentrate on
four items listed on the food label when
selecting a product," says Vicki Gross,
a clinical dietitian at Huron Valley
Hospital, Com-
merce Township.
"Reading every-
thing on the label
can be confusing,
but knowing the
serving size, the
number of calories,
the total fat and the
total carbohydrates
makes the selection
process less compli-
cated. This ap-
proach works well
for people who need
to lose weight or are
on a special diet."
According to Ms.
Gross, 10 years ago
there were 400
products labeled as
fat free. Today
there are more
than 16,000.
"Yet one-third of
all Americans are
considered obese,"
says Ms. Gross.
"Obviously, not
everyone is paying
attention to what's
written on the la-
bel. For instance,
someone could be
working on a low-fat diet but not real-
ize that the manufacturer added a lot
of sugar to make up for the taste.
"I advise clients not to look at the
number of calories from fat or the per-
cent of the daily value of fat but to
count the total fat content for a serv-
ing, keeping in mind that there are 5
grams of fat in a teaspoon of mar-
garine. That means you'd probably
want something less than that in a
product.
"When comparing two of the same
products, I also tell clients to select the

one that contains less saturated fat."
For clients on special diets, such as
diabetics, Vicki Gross advises count-
ing the total carbohydrates rather than
looking at sugar amounts.
"It's just too difficult to keep track
of all the sugar we eat because even
natural foods, such as an apple, con-
tain some form of sugar and there's
sugar in many dairy products," she
says. "Rather than try adding up the
sugar, diabetics can control their sug-
ar intake by counting carbohydrates:
15 grams of carbohydrates is equal to
one piece of fruit or one piece of bread.
"On the other hand, clients who
have heart conditions need to focus on
their sodium intake and make sure ifs
on the low side. A good rule of thumb
for this is to allow 500 milligrams per
entree and 250 milligrams per side
dish; that makes anything containing
140 milligrams or less as something
low in sodium.
"I also make sure my clients know
that anything with more than three
grams of fiber per serving is a good
source of fiber."
Katie Jacob of Birmingham doesn't
check the food labels for everything she
buys at the market, but she is careful
about buying the more healthy snack
foods for her four children, ages 10 and
under.
"If I'm buying cookies for the kids,
I'll compare fat grams and the amount
of sugar and look at the list of additives
on the food label," says Mrs. Jacob.
`Then I select the product with the low-
er amount of fat, sugar and additives.
I'd like to say I was selective in all my
purchases but sometimes ifs all I can
do to satisfy four very different ap-
petites so I concentrate on what they
eat for snacks."
According to Farmington Hills di-
etitian Beverly Price, `The good news
is that you can believe the claims you
see on the labels and you don't need
a calculator to figure out what's
healthy when you're at the grocery
store.
"For starters, serving sizes are now
standardized so that it's easy to com-
pare the nutritional value of similar
products. What's more, the serving
sizes are similar to the portions people
usually eat and are not =realistical-
ly small, so the manufacturer can't
make claims that aren't exactly the
truth.
"Even so, the mistake most fre-
quently made is not looking at the serv-
ing size that's listed on the label. People
may look at the figures, but then they
mistakenly relate them to the number
of cookies or the cups of pop corn that
they usually eat, rather than what's
listed on the label as serving size."
As a single male, Bernie Gold of
Southfield cooks for himself and often
reads the food labels. "The fact is I try
to stay away from canned products as
well as snacks, although I'm not much

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