As much as you can, buy fresh foods – meats and veggies. A good rule of thumb is to shop the outside aisles of the grocery store.

When you buy packaged foods, read the labels and know what’s in it. This includes things like cheese, lunch meat and pasta. If it comes in a package, read the label.

SERVING SIZE – will tell you how much is in a service and how many servings are in the container. Calories and Daily Values are given per serving.

CALORIES – typically women should eat 2,000 calories per day, 1,500 to lose weight, no less than 1,200 to stay healthy. Calories are listed per serving, so if the serving size is 3 cookies and calories are 100 per serving, if you eat 6 cookies, you’re actually eating 200 calories.

FATS – monounsaturated and polyunsaturated are healthy fats, limit saturated fats and try not eat any trans fats.

SODIUM (salt) – the dietary recommendation is less than 2300 mg per day, remember that the listed amount is per serving

DAILY VALUE (DV) – this is how much a person who consumes 2000 calories a day should include in their diet. Vitamins and minerals should have higher DVs; unhealthy fats, cholesterol and sodium should have lower DVs. (20% is high, 5% is low)

CARBOHYDRATES can be good or bad. It is recommended that we should consume 225-335 grams of carbs per day. But we should get most of our carbs from fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans.

Fiber can be digested by the body and doesn’t increase blood sugar, so you can deduct this from the total carbs.

Sugar includes both natural (from fruits or milk) and added.

Foods that are “sugar free” or “no sugar added” may sound healthy, but may include sugar alcohol. This should be included in sugar carbohydrates.

INGREDIENTS are listed in order by amount – the first is the highest and the last is the lowest.

Key things to look for:

• Fewer ingredients – a good rule of thumb is no more than 10 (not including spices).
• Words you don’t know – if you can’t pronounce it and haven’t heard of it, chances are it’s not great.
• If a product contains sugar, it should be listed close to last. Other names for sugar are sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, agave, honey, fruit juice, date sugar, rice syrup, fructose, dextrose, lactose, maltodextrin.