Little secret. Those of you that read my blog don’t always watch my videos on YouTube and many of my YouTube subscribers never come over to SarahFit.com. I feel like I have two children who I love dearly. You guys here on the blog tend to be more health conscious and aware of the latest trends. You know what chia seeds are and maybe have even tried a 3 day juice cleanse despite all those pesky nutrition experts telling you not to.

Did you know however that legally a nutrition label can be 20% off? So even if you count calories religiously, you may be 400 calories over or under at the end of the day if you aim to eat 2000 calories a day.

If that was not news to you, you probably won’t learn anything jaw dropping in my newest video. But for those of you that are new to the “know what you put in your body” thing, I think you will enjoy it. Watch the video below if you are confused by nutrition labels.

5 things everyone should know about nutrition labels

A couple questions from YouTube:

If you are trying to figure out how many calories, grams of fat, protein and carbs, use this helpful calculator that lets you choose from a variety of diets. I like the IIFYM breakdown which is based on your body weight and ideal body weight.  But you may prefer a low carb or 50/25/25 breakdown. Whatever you choose, there are really helpful numbers on that site.

I do NOT count calories because most of the foods I eat do not have nutrition labels. I find it annoying to have to figure out how many are in a salad that I prepare at home. I know everything in my meal is nutritious and clean, I don’t feel the need to know the exact macro-nutrient breakdown at this point. I know if I have enough fat and protein by looking at my plate. To maintain my weight this method is sufficient. If I want to lose a couple pounds for an upcoming shoot or something, I do count a couple times a week to keep me on track.

How much is too much sugar?

Well, I don’t think anyone ever got fat from eating fruit. If you eat a lot of fruit, it will look like you eat a ton of sugar. I believe that you should keep your ADDED SUGAR intake, i.e. white sugar, agave nectar, honey, etc to 25 grams. This number does not include naturally occurring sugar in things like fruit. This number is equivalent to 100 calories. The grey area included dried fruit like raisins and dates. These can spike your blood sugar like white sugar can and may be addictive. These should be limited and included in the 25 grams in my opinion. MyFitnessPal unfortunately does not know the difference so you must use your brain and not rely on technology here. To learn sneaky names for added sugars, check out this article from Mind Body Green.

Leave any additional questions below and I’ll do my best to answer them as always!