🍟 3 Easy Steps to Understanding Your Food Labels

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3 Easy Steps to Understanding Your Food Labels

Ever noticed how food packages scream health from the shelves, with their vibrant colors and promises of 'all-natural' goodness?

But here's the kicker: sometimes, those same companies play a game of hide-and-seek with the truth, slicing and dicing serving sizes into almost comically small portions to make the numbers on the back look more palatable.

Understanding how to read food labels gives you something akin to x-ray vision, allowing you to see beyond the flashy packaging to what you're truly putting into your body.

Here's what to pay attention to:

• First up, carbohydrates. They're your body's primary energy source, but not all carbs are created equal. On labels, pay attention to total carbohydrates, which include sugars, fibers, and starches. Fibers are your friend for digestion and keeping you full longer, while sugars, especially added ones, should be avoided.

• Next, protein—the building block of your muscles. The protein content on food labels can help you ensure you're getting enough to support muscle repair and growth. This is especially important for those who are active or looking to build muscle mass. High-protein foods include meats, dairy, legumes, and some grains.

• Then there are fats, often misunderstood and wrongly vilified. Fats are essential for hormone production and nutrient absorption. Labels break them down into saturated, unsaturated, and trans fats. Focus on foods high in unsaturated fats (think avocados, nuts, and olive oil) and limit those high in saturated and trans fats.

Our advice? Make reading the food labels a habit. Always pay attention to the serving size and the macros on your labels. Turning this into a habit will teach your mind to detect bad and good choices automatically.

Does Coffee Count Toward Your Water Intake?

Have you ever wondered if your daily cup(s) of coffee or that mid-afternoon tea break could secretly be ticking off your hydration goals? We often hear from our clients, "Hey, Mike, if I'm supposed to down 3/4 gallon of water a day, can I count my coffee as water?"

Well, it's time to spill the beans: the answer, unfortunately and surprisingly, is no. Quite the opposite, coffee dehydrates our bodies.

Here's the deal: Coffee and tea, though full of water, also pack a punch of caffeine—a known diuretic. This means they can encourage your body to lose water, making them less effective at keeping you hydrated compared to good old H2O. And let's not even get started on Diet Coke and other caffeinated sodas; they're in the same boat.

Our advice? Focus on water intake separately. Do not count your coffee, tea, and diet soda intake towards it. And since we all can only take so much liquid, that means limiting other beverages.

Quote Of The Day

Roosevelt's words remind us that the foundation of success is often rooted in our mindset. The conviction that you can accomplish what you set out to do is not just a positive thought; it's a catalyst that propels you forward, overcoming doubts and obstacles.

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Publisher: Ryan Engel

Editor: Michael Pender