How to Read Food Labels to Lower Your Cholesterol

Grocery stores are packed with aisle after aisle of different types and brands of foods. Most of these foods will have nutrition labels and a list of ingredients for you to read. Food labels can help you choose foods that are low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Claims like "low cholesterol" and "fat free" can be used only if the food meets legal standards set by the government.

Things You'll Need

• Reading glasses

Show More

Instructions

Read Food Labels to Lower Your Cholesterol

• 1

  Start with the serving size. At the top left of the food label, you will see the serving size and the number of servings per container. Serving sizes differ on each food label and may not equal the serving size you normally eat. If you eat twice the serving listed on the label, double all the numbers in the nutritional facts section.

• 2

  Calculate the calories and "calories from fat." This will tell you the total number of calories in each serving of the food and the number of those calories that are derived from fat. If you are trying to lose weight, the calories you consume count.

• 3

  Add up the total fat. Total fat includes fats that are good for you, like monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and omega-3 fats. It also includes fats that are not good for you, like saturated and trans fats (from animal or vegetable sources). Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can help lower your blood cholesterol and protect your heart.

• 4

  Find out how much cholesterol is in your food item. This will tell you how much cholesterol you get from eating one serving of the food. "Low-cholesterol" food has 20 mg or less of cholesterol and 2 g or less of saturated fat per serving.

• 5

  Identify the total carbohydrates. This number represents the total of all the different types of carbohydrates you consume from eating one serving of the food. The Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board recommends that between 45 and 65 percent of total calories come from carbohydrates.