Every box of food that you buy has a nutrition label on it. Use this guide to teach your child what those nutrition facts mean.
This guide will help you and your child learn how to read the nutrition label on boxes of food that you purchase. Why is it important to know what these numbers mean? If you are watching your child's diet, it will let you know many things you should be looking out for. Plus, it is just good to know what is going into your body and how it can affect you.
Print the sample nutrition label below as your guide while reading this article.
When you purchase food from the grocery store, unless it is fresh produce, you will see a label titled, "Nutrition Facts" either on the back or side of the box or package that you are looking at. Under that title, you will see what the serving size is and numbers of servings found in the package. This is the guide for the rest of the information below. All the numbers that we will talk about later are based on the serving size.
Next, you will see how many calories are in the serving size. For example, our label shows 250 calories for a 2.5 ounce serving when using just the dry ingredients or 290 calories if we prepare the product according to box directions. This section of the label also tells us how many of those calories come from fat. This is good information if you are trying to watch the fat content in your foods.
The next section shows total, saturated, and trans fats in this product, as well as how much cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, and other nutrients found in this particular food. The percentages that you see show how the content of this food compares and fits into an average 2,000 calorie daily diet. A good rule of thumb is if a % daily value is less than 10, the food you are looking at is low in that nutrient.
Next, you will see a section listing the vitamins and minerals contained in the food you have purchased or are looking at. Based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet, the percentage that you see next to the vitamin or mineral is telling you that if you ate the serving size suggested at the top of the label, you would be getting that percent of your daily need of that particular vitamin or mineral. For example, calcium is 10% when prepared according to directions. This means of the 100% daily requirement of calcium needed in a day, this product would provide 10% of that requirement. You would still need another 90% to complete your daily calcium requirement.
The last section gives you information for other amounts of calorie intake. For example, if you have a 2,500 calorie daily diet, than this section is showing you your total fat, cholesterol, sodium, etc., based on this new calorie daily diet.
Tips to Remember
- You can use the Nutrition Label to help avoid the foods you don't want in your diet, as well as to get more of certain nutrients that you need more of in your diet.
- If you eat more or less of the recommended serving size in the first section of a food label, remember to adjust the rest of the daily values accordingly.
- Kids come in all different shapes and sizes and the average amount of calories that school-aged children need ranges between 1,600 to 2,500 calories a day. This amount is based on your child's activity. Obviously, if your child is sedentary she will need fewer calories, while a very active child would need a higher amount of calories. Check with your pediatrician for more definitive answers.
