How do I read a food label?

Reading a food label means looking for the words and numbers on the label.

Looking for the right words and numbers can be hard.

But you can learn how to read the parts that you need.

All food labels say how much

  • Fat
  • Carbohydrates
  • Sugar
  • Sodium. We call this salt.

Are in the food.

Your body needs different amounts of these things.

A food label tells you how much is in

 

  • A serve. the size of a serve changes for each food label.
  • 100g

Look at the column for 100g.

Look at the total fats. Try to pick foods with less fat. Like less than 10g.

Look at the sugars. They are under the carbohydrates.

Try to eat foods with less sugar.

You may need to eat sugary foods when your blood sugar is low.

Look at the sodium.

Try to eat foods with less sodium.

Like less than 400mg.

Healthy foods are low in fat, sugar and sodium.

Try to choose healthy foods.

If you blood sugar goes low, you may need to eat foods high in sugar.

You can use food labels to tell what foods are high in sugar.

A support person can help you.

You can use a food label to work out how much insulin to take.

A support person can help you.

This is general information. Talk to you doctor for information made for you.