It’s good to have foods that are high in:

• Dietary fiber
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Calcium
• Iron
• Potassium

But go easy on foods that are high in:

• Saturated fat
• Sodium
• Added sugars

Nutrition labels don’t list Daily Values for three nutrients: protein, trans fats, and sugar. (Though by 2018, food companies will be required to list added sugars and their daily values on the label.) Moderate amounts of protein are healthy. But too much sugar can cause weight gain and other problems, so in general, the lower this number, the better. And no amount of trans fat is good for you or your kids. 

Don’t Forget the Ingredient List

Any food that’s made from more than one ingredient has to list them. This list is separate from the Nutrition Facts chart. It’s important to read it through, because it can give you extra information, like whether a food has an ingredient your child is allergic to.

Ingredients are listed in order of the amount used in a food, with the largest amounts first. It’s smart to steer clear of foods that list sugar (including corn syrup), hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, and salt early in the ingredient list. That’s a sign that the food has more of them than other ingredients, and probably isn’t very healthy.

Ditto for the length of a list: As a rule of thumb, foods that have a shorter ingredients list with names you recognize (rather than long, hard-to-pronounce chemical names) tend to be better for you.

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