Some of you may have seen my recent insta post: “Is it real food?” Again, this is the easiest and simplest question you can ask yourself before eating something. Food in its raw form will always have more nutrients and vitamins since it has not been cooked or processed in anyway. This is why it is so important to read nutrition labels before consuming or buying food as many packaged goods are super processed and packed with chemicals. This is also why I am a big believer in trying to cook at home as much as possible because you really don’t know what restaurants are putting in their food. Today my goal is to break down how to read a nutrition label in just 3 easy steps so you can confidently walk into any grocery store and be able to decide if the food is healthy or not.

Let’s go through an example with my favorite granola, Purely Elizabeth:

Step 1: Do you know what all of the ingredients are (aka can you even pronounce them)?

• Before I even look at the nutrition facts, I go straight to the ingredients. If you don’t know most of the ingredients, just put it back on the shelf. If you don’t know what they are, then your body definitely won’t know either. Therefore, it will take a lot longer for your body to digest as opposed to a food with real, whole ingredients.

Step 2: How many ingredients are there?

• My rule of thumb is to stick to at least 10 ingredients or less. The less the better, and if there are more than 10 ingredients, then make a judgement call based on step 1.

Step 3: Are there less than 9 grams of sugar per serving?

I’m sure you’ve heard at one point or another that sugar is evil (which I will confirm that this is true and most people are addicted in some way or another!) There are so many hidden sugars in our food and you’ll start to notice this as you go through the ingredients. Some of the most common ones are: sugar/sucrose, fructose, agave, cane sugar, honey, brown rice syrup, dates, maple syrup, corn syrup, blackstrap molasses, etc. (Click here if you would like to see all 56 names for sugar.) As a rule of thumb, I try to stick to 9 grams of sugar or less per serving, but again it’s more of a judgement call based on the first 2 steps and the type of sugar. Typically on-the-go bars will be a little higher around 14g or so, which is why I only eat them when I’m traveling or need a meal/snack in a pinch as they are easy to throw in my bag or suitcase.

This granola has real, whole ingredients (a total of 10) and there are only 6g of sugar per serving. In addition, it it sweetened with coconut sugar, which is the best type of sugar to use as it doesn’t spike your blood sugar levels like other sugars do!

This is one of my favorite things to teach clients and I’m happy I was able to share it with you too. Now that I have made nutrition reading less daunting for you, give it a try the next time you are in the grocery store. You’ll be surprised by the foods you once deemed “healthy”!

With Health + Happiness,

Jax