- Nutrition Facts
I was recently invited to a webinar put on by Food & Consumer Products of Canada about family nutrition and most importantly – how to read nutrition fact labels (example over there on the right).
It’s important to take an extra minute, while you are doing your grocery shopping, and check those nutrition facts to see if what is in your hand is the best food choice for your family. Just yesterday, I had two different granola bar boxes in my hand at my store (yes, two in one hand bc the other was holding baby’s leg to ensure he didn’t climb out of the cart!)…anyway – those two different granola boxes had two very different sets of nutrition facts. One was super high in saturated fats with no vitamin percentages at all (big 0%!) the other was lower in sat. fats and had vitamins…I chose the latter of course. But had I not read the nutrition facts…and had just gone by the product image on the front of the boxes…both looked equally healthy. Check the fact label people!
How do I read Nutrition Facts? If the percentage is under 5 it has very little of what you need nutritionally. If it has a percentage greater than 15 it has a lot of the nutrition you need. 
Use the Canada Food Guide (see chart above or download a full copy free HERE) to help make smart decisions about what foods to buy and serve your family. Honestly, I have a colour copy of the food guide taped inside my cereal cupboard for quick reference for me (and the kids).I was provided product samples for hands-on experience of reading Nutrition Facts. The opinions in this post are my own.
Nutrition is vital, especially for growing child, no doubts about that. We found Canada Food Guide very helpful. Unfortunately, kids love junk foods and it is hard to read every label. It is not that bad to “treat” your kids once in a while. However, it is important to try to maintain balanced diet.