A New Language: Reading Nutrition Labels to Find Added Sugars
Hi Byte Wellness Fam!
How you doing? No, really, how are you?
If reading this Self-Love Letter is any indication, you’re here, you’re hopeful. And, that’s something to be grateful for.
This week, in the Daily Wellness Text Chat we dove more deeply into how to be good to our bodies and mouths (limiting the added sugars in our sweet food and drink).
To that end, we added one more tool to the box: finding added sugars on nutrition labels.
Finding Added Sugars on Nutrition Labels
See, earlier this month we learned how to choose whole foods to sweeten food and drinks because they generally have a better effect on blood sugar than free and added sugars.
But, sometimes we buy food or drinks from the store that have had some level of processing. They aren’t whole foods themselves, but they might contain some whole foods.
If we want to compare the ways that these packaged products affect blood sugar, we check the Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL) using this handy database from the University of Sydney (in Australia).
How Much Added Sugar Is In The Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino?
Sometimes, our question isn’t “how could this affect my blood sugar?”. We just want to know “how many added sugars does this have?”.
That’s where reading the nutrition label comes in. You can find nutrition labels on packaged foods and drinks sold at stores.
You don’t usually find nutrition labels attached to restaurant food. But, get this…you can GOOGLE the nutrition facts for large restaurant chains.
Just look what I found when I googled this Caramel Frap from Starbucks (see pic): 60 grams of added sugars!
Make sure you watch the vid above to see how to find added sugars on a nutrition label AND how to find the nutrition facts for almost any packaged food online.
Don’t forget the discussion questions:
Discussion Questions
Was there a time when you didn’t pay attention to what you ate?
Be real here. When did you simply NOT CARE? Why and how did that change? The answer dials into your intrinsic motivation- your reason for wanting to be well.
If you’d like to share your answer, leave a comment below or email me. Would love to better understand what motivates you.
Happy Healthy Living,
Dr. Wuse