Bariatric surgery has helped many people lose weight, but it doesn’t work all by itself – you need to be committed to making important changes in your diet to ensure you keep the pounds off and get the nutrition you need. Part of that effort involves reading food labels and understanding how each item fits into your daily diet. Reading labels sounds pretty straightforward, but sometimes it can be a little confusing. Here are three tips to help you understand food labels, so you can make the healthiest choices for your needs.



• Get an overview of nutrition information from the top of the nutrition label. Here, you’ll find serving size per bottle or container. Be sure to pay attention to the serving size – sometimes an item you think is a single serving turns out to be two or more, so adjust the amount you eat accordingly.
• Look at the nutrients and percentages. You may be surprised at how two similar foods stack up when comparing how many vitamins and minerals – and how much fat and sodium – each contains. Looking at the percentages will let you know how much of your recommended daily allowance you’ll be getting from each food you select. Just remember the percentages are based on a single serving. And be sure to look at the “daily diet” size; percentages will be based on a specific daily caloric intake – usually 2,000 calories per day.
• The recommendation in grams or percentage is designed for people with normal weight. We need to take in consideration the difference in people weight and medical problems.
• Don’t assume the lowest-fat alternative is always the healthiest. While you may be tempted to automatically choose the lower fat food, don’t overlook, the carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals (especially calcium and iron), protein and fiber content. Sometimes, a small increase in fat content is far outweighed by significant increases in these important nutrients.

Remember, your goal when choosing packaged foods is to maximize the good nutrients while minimizing the “bad” factors, such as unhealthy fats and processed sugars and starches.

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