Supermarket Survival Tips

If you are confused about which items are higher on the nutrition scale for optimal health, use these guidelines to compare with your food labels:

Calories per Serving
Active people need approximately 15-20 calories per pound to maintain their body weight. If you are inactive, you may only need 10-14 calories per pound of body weight. When evaluating the calories in a product, make sure to compare what the manufacturer calls a serving to what you call a serving.

Fat
A reasonable fat intake is 20-30% of your daily caloric intake (Read more on the importance of fat in a diet). This means your total diet should balance out to meet this recommendation. Check the following chart to find out your suggested range of daily fat intake:

Caloric Needs	Suggested fat grams (20-30%)
1200	27 - 40
1400	31 - 47
1600	36 - 53
1800	40 - 60
2000	44 – 65
2500	56 - 83
3000	67 - 100
3500	78 - 117
4000	89 – 133
4500	100 - 150
5000	111 - 167

Cholesterol
The recommended upper intake of this substance is 300 mg per day. Remember, cholesterol is only found in animal products, so, to limit the amount of cholesterol you consume, just choose more grain, fruit and vegetable products. Read more on cholesterol.

Sugar
A reasonable limit for refined sugar (not fruit or milk sugar) is 40-50 grams, or 10–12 teaspoons per day. Watch items like cookies, pastries, yogurt, and juice drinks. Check ingredient lists for added sugar.

Fiber
A healthy fiber intake is 25-35 grams per day. Excellent sources of fiber are fruits, vegetables and whole grain, bran and oat products.

Sodium
The recommended upper limit for sodium intake is 2300 milligrams per day (the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of salt). Check the sodium content of canned goods or highly processed items.

 

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