Low Carb Guide to Understanding Nutrition Labels.

Have you ever looked on the back of a food package, only to find ingredients you can’t pronounce and hidden sugars you didn’t expect? For success on your path to better health through a low carbohydrate, high fat nutrition plan, it’s important that you learn what to look for on packaged food labels.

First and foremost: the Ketogenic diet is not a low calorie or low fat way of eating. It is a low carbohydrate, high fat and moderate protein nutrition plan, so while there are many things to be aware of when reading labels, total carbohydrate content is the most important.

Let’s walk through reading a Nutrition Facts label, from top to bottom.

Here’s a label for some roasted almonds.

1. Serving Size and Servings Per Container

The first thing you’ll see is the serving size. This is the portion of that particular food that all the other numbers – grams of fat, protein, carb, etc. – are based on.

The servings per container is the number of servings contained in the entire bag, box, can, bottle, or jar. It’s important to know the serving size and how many servings there are per container so you don’t inadvertently go over your carb limit for the day. For example, for most nuts, a typical serving is one ounce.

For sliced deli meats, a serving might be 3–4 slices. Salad dressings are usually 2 Tbsp.; other condiments are just 1 Tbsp. per serving. Even if the carb count for one serving is low, the carbs can add up quickly if you eat multiple servings.

2. Calories

A ketogenic diet is not a low calorie plan. There’s no calorie counting. Instead, it’s far more important to keep track of carbohydrates.

Learn more about the low carb Ketogenic diet https://www.virtahealth.com/faq/ketosis-ketogenic-diet-faq

3. Total Fat

When you’re in nutritional ketosis, fat is fuel and with this high fat nutrition plan you need not fear fat or worry about counting fat grams – not even saturated fat. The amount of fat varies for individuals, but instead of counting grams of fat, it should be consumed to satiety. 

 Also, the type of fat matters; most should come from monounsaturated and saturated fat sources. Some labels break the fat down into different types of fat. Food sources of fat contain a mix of different fats, but here’s a general overview:

Saturated: found predominantly in dairy products (butter, cheese, cream) and other animal sources (beef, pork). Some plant oils, such as coconut and palm, are also rich in saturated fat. Read more on saturated fat here. To learn more please read The Sad Saga of Saturated Fat https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/the-sad-saga-of-saturated-fat/

Monounsaturated: found in olive oil, avocados, nuts, and also in animal sources (beef, pork, poultry)

Polyunsaturated: found in nuts and seeds, fatty fish, and vegetable oils (soybean, corn, safflower, cottonseed, sunflower)

Trans: found in vegetable shortening (Crisco), margarine, and mass-produced processed foods (cookies, crackers, muffins).

By eating a wide variety of foods, you will naturally consume a blend of all three natural fats: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. You should aim to get most of your fats as monounsaturated and saturated.

Despite consuming a higher percentage of your dietary intake from fat during a well-formulated ketogenic diet, the total amount of polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) that your body needs each day does not change. So consuming sources high in omega-6 PUFA like corn and soybean oils can result in an imbalance in the body and cause poor gastrointestinal tolerance. 

It’s fine to get PUFA from natural sources, such as fish, and nuts, and small amounts of vegetable oils in the form of dressings, mayonnaise, etc., are okay on occasion, like when dining out. (Alternatively, you may decide to take a small container of olive oil with you when you plan to eat out.)

At home be sure to stock up on dressings and mayos made with olive oil. Artificial trans fats should be limited as much as possible or eliminated altogether. They are not natural fats and are linked to an increase in the risk of heart disease. Learn more at https://www.heartandstroke.ca/get-healthy/healthy-eating/the-facts-on-trans-fats

Since they are mostly found in foods that do not fit into a ketogenic diet (packaged high-carb snack foods) your intake of trans fats will automatically decrease, but be sure to still pay attention to the amount on the label.

4. Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found only in animal products. Vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fruit contain no cholesterol. You do not need to count cholesterol. Research shows that, for most people, the amount of cholesterol in the foods you eat does not affect the amount of cholesterol in your blood.Egg yolks are welcome at the table again!

5. Sodium

We get sodium from some of the foods we eat and salt we put on our food. (This Blogger prefers unprocessed sea salt). Sodium is an essential nutrient, and very low-carb diets change the way the body holds onto sodium, so if anything, it’s important that you eat enough sodium, rather than worrying about too much.

Aim for 5g per day: 3g from food and salting your food to taste and an additional 2g from boullion. (Do not limit sodium unless you’re taking medication for high blood pressure or are told to do so by your doctor.)

To learn more about sodium go to

https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com/2019/09/20/managing-potassium-and-sodium-on-a-ketogenic-diet/

6. Total Carbohydrate

The carbohydrate count is given as total grams, and then broken down into carbs from fiber and sugar. Focus on total carbohydrate.

Sugar should be zero as often as possible (1–2g at most).

‍Fiber is a carb and should be included in your total for the day (initially 30g or less).

‍Again, pay attention to the serving size. Something might be low in carbs, but if you eat 3 or 4 servings, you can easily go over your daily limit.

7. Protein

Protein comes from both animal and plant foods and is very important for overall health to preserve critical structures and functions – like muscles, heart, liver, and practically every other part of the body.  Additionally, it helps keep you satisfied and is the building block that powers important chemical reactions in the body. Consuming enough protein every day is critical, but eating too much can interfere with nutritional ketosis. Read about how much protein you need in nutritional ketosis in this Blog Post https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com/2018/11/09/how-much-protein-do-you-need-in-nutritional-ketosis/

8. Vitamins and Minerals

Your individual needs are unique; you need not pay attention to the percentages given here. To make sure you consume enough vitamins and minerals, aim for 5 servings of non-starchy vegetables daily.

9. % Daily Value

These are percentages of nutrients based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. Because this is not a calorie-restricted diet, and you may be eating more or less than 2,000 calories, you need not pay attention to these percentages.

10. Ingredients

On food labels, ingredients are listed in order by weight – the first few ingredients are the main ones in the product, while the ones toward the end of the list are used in smaller amounts. Here are some key things to look out for:

Trans fats: These are chemically modified fats that come from vegetable oils and should be avoided as much as possible. According to labeling laws in the U.S., if a food contains less than 0.5g of trans fat per serving, the label can say 0g, so be sure to read the list of ingredients. You can spot trans fats by the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” with oils.

Sugar-free or Low-carb: Don’t be fooled by clever packaging and slick marketing. Packages that say, “low carb” or “sugar free” may have hidden sugars and many of these that calculate net carbs (the subtraction of fiber and sugar alcohols) are likely high in total carbs. Pay attention to the ingredients and the total carb content, even when the front of the package shows “low carb.”

Vegetable oils: Try to avoid or limit as much as possible foods that list corn, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, or safflower oil among the first ingredients. Opt for condiments and marinades made from olive oil. (Canola oil may contain small amounts of trans fats, which is harmful to health. Source: Is Canola Oil Healthy? https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-canola-oil-healthy)

Hidden sugars: Sugar goes by many different names, which helps manufacturers disguise the true amount of sugars and sweeteners in their products.

The many names of sugar include:

If you see any of these listed in the ingredients on a label, look to see if the total carbohydrate count is suitable. For example, many brands of bacon and cold cuts are cured with brown sugar or honey, but the amount of sugar remaining in the final product is very low.

As long as the total carbs per serving are 1–2g, that’s okay.The same goes for salad dressings – many perfectly good low-carb choices, such as ranch or bleu cheese, may have sugar listed in the ingredients, but the total carbs per serving will be just 1–2g.

Bottom line: Carefully read nutrition labels to limit your total carbohydrates and identify the right ingredients to help you successfully navigate your low carb, high fat lifestyle.

To learn more about how food affects blood sugar, watch Dr. Sarah Hallberg’s video here:

Dr. Hallberg on Carbs, Protein and Fat, and Their Surprising Impact on Blood Sugar (Ch 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESL3_7sdCwU

This Post has been condensed from: Low Carb Guide to Understanding Nutrition Labels https://www.virtahealth.com/blog/low-carb-guide-to-understanding-nutrition-labels

I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.

I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.

To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.

I thrive on feedback. Please let me know you are interested in the content by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.

If you wish to contact me by Email, please email lpolstra@bell.net

Live Long Healthy.

Regards,

Lydia Polstra

Keto: 15 Reasons Why You Are Not Losing on a Low Carb Keto Plan

Weight loss is not the best indicator of getting healthy. The healthy ketogenic diet plan is based on the principle that you have to get healthy first, and then you lose weight. 

Best Indicators of Health:

 • Energy level 

• No cravings 

• No hunger

Very Important – No Snacks.

15 Reasons Why You Are Not Losing on a Low Carb Keto Plan

Never Fear Cancer

Raymond Francis tells us how to Never Fear Cancer in his video. This is the transcript.

Hey everybody, this is scientist Raymond Francis. You know my mission is to help people like you get well and stay well.

Let’s talk about cancer. Cancer is a most feared disease because our doctors are clueless on how to cure it. After heart disease, cancer is the leading cause of death. It kills about 600,000 Americans every year. It’s outrageous that we allow this to happen.

About 90% of all cancers are caused by diet and lifestyle. Since diet and lifestyle are choices almost anybody can choose to prevent or reverse cancer.

You know if there is only two causes of disease: deficiency and toxicity. So to prevent or reverse any disease this is where the focus has to be.  Modern medicines focus on treating only the symptoms of disease with toxic drugs and surgery and chemotherapy and radiation is just badly misplaced and this is resulting in an epidemic of chronic disease and our high cancer death rate.

Conventional medicine offers only false hopes and high prices with it’s dangerous and ineffective treatments.

If you want to prevent or reverse cancer changing your diet detoxifying and supplementing are essential. So get all the bad foods out of your life. That is sugar, wheat, dairy, excess animal protein and all the processed oils and for that matter all the processed foods. Get them out of your life.Substitute fresh organic vegetables especially cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, cabbage, garden cress, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts and similar green leaf vegetables). Get exercise, sunlight, sauna regularly. Supplement with high-quality nutrients and these nutrients should include a good multivitamin, a vitamin C, vitamin D, essential fatty acids, selenium, glutathione, Co Q 10, curcumin, Quercetin (anti-inflammatory)and real olive oil.

Health is a personal responsibility and only you can prevent or reverse cancer.

Anyone wishing to accept this responsibility should read my book, Never Fear Cancer Again. High-quality nutritional supplements are essential since it’s no longer possible to get the nutrition you need even if you eat a good diet. The high quality brand I take is Beyond Health and if you want to learn more about how to prevent or reverse cancer get yourself a copy of Never Fear Cancer Again.   Thank you very much for listening. Have a super great day!

Here is the link to the book, Never Fear Cancer Again https://www.amazon.ca/Never-Fear-Cancer-Again-Prevent/dp/075731550X

The US link to the supplements is through Beyond Health https://beyondhealth.com/bh-supplements.html?limit=all

For Canadians, the same product is distributed under the name, Perque. Here is the link, hover over the Products menu for a list of supplements https://www.perque.com/products/

Raymond Francis, D.Sc., M.Sc., RNC has been called a “brilliant advanced thinker” and has been cited as “one of the few scientists who has achieved a breakthrough understanding of health and disease.”

Raymond is an internationally recognized leader in the field of optimal-health maintenance and a pioneer in transforming our failed disease-care system to a true health-care system.

He is a chemist by training, a graduate of M.I.T., a bestselling author, and a world-class speaker.

He has written five breakthrough books, the international bestseller Never Be Sick Again, Never Be Fat Again, Never Fear Cancer Again, Never Feel Old Again, and The Great American Health Hoax. Here is the link to The Great American Health Hoax.

Source: Never Fear Cancer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuH5sVn7U1M

I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.

I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.

To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.

I thrive on feedback. Please let me know you are interested in the content by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.

May you Live Long Healthy.

Yours truly,

Lydia Polstra

Email: lpolstra@bell.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2healthyhabits/

Blog: https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com

Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.

GAPS Part 3: Getting In Touch With The Body’s Wisdom. How Modern Foods Pervert the senses.

Dr. McBride says, we live in a world of huge amounts of nutritional information.

The following is a condensed transcript captured from the video.

She goes on to say, people are confused. What you have to understand is that your own body has been designed by nature through billions of years.

Your body is infinitely wiser and cleverer (than modern science) and it knows what it needs.

Mother Nature gave us senses. It gave us a desire for food. It gave us a sense of taste and a sense of smell, a sense of satisfaction from food. Mother Nature knows and your body knows the composition of foods on this planet.

So your body knows, at every moment of you life, what it needs and what composition of nutrients it needs right now. And it will give you a desire for food that has that exactly composition. So whenever you are ready to eat, just ask yourself a simple question: what would I love to eat right now?  And it will pop into your head immediately. You would know what you want to eat.

But before eating it, smell it first, taste it first. It would smell divine to you and it would taste divine to you, because that is what your body wants. And when you have eaten it, you will a satisfaction because that what your body will say, Ahhh, because I got what I wanted.

A couple of hours later your metabolism will change, … you will love to eat something else, because that food would feed your metabolism much better at that moment in life.

So it is important to listen to our senses and to develop them. The trouble is people disconnected themselves from their senses.

And they try to dictate to their body from their mind, because they have read some article somewhere, or they have seen the food pyramid or because they talked to some expert.

The trouble is that because people got disconnected from their senses quite a lot. The senses were perverted a little bit.

Take for example, a sense of smell, because people use so many synthetic odors now, all your washing powders and your perfumes and the air fresheners and all sorts of other smelly chemicals. They can alter your sense of smell because you got only so many receptors in your nose to smell.

And if you are using constantly a particular chemical, for example, if you are using a particularly scented laundry detergent, you are wearing the clothes all day long. You are sleeping on the bed smelling of the same thing. You are using the towels, which smells of the same thing, your receptors in your nose get all occupied by that particular chemical, so new potions of chemicals coming in, you don’t smell anymore.

You don’t realize how your clothes smell; you don’t realize how your bedding smells. And when you try to smell food you can’t smell it anymore because your receptors in your nose are occupied.

So it is very important to clear your environment of smelly things, particularly unnatural smells: chemicals smells, laundry detergent smells, and air fresheners and perfumes and deodorants and all sorts of other smelly things.

And it will take a week or two for your receptors in the nose to clean themselves up and then your sense of smell will return. It will serve you very nicely the way it is supposed to. And the way it was designed to in the choice of foods.

It is the same with the sense of taste. Processed foods have got chemicals added to them deliberately to make them addictive. There is a whole industry, within the food industry, which manufacturers addictive chemicals, because the manufacturers of food want you to get addicted to what they produce, to processed foods. And they alter your sense of taste in the mouth.

So when you stop eating processed foods your sense of taste returns.Return to eating only the food that Mother Nature provides, your true sense of taste will return. And it becomes the real true sense of taste that you are suppose to have.

There is an article that I have written on this subject called, “One Man’s Meat Is Another Man’s Poison”. And it is on my blog on the Internet called, http://www.doctor-natasha.com

This Part 3 of a 4 part series:

Here is the link to the 6 minute video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS4FFoz1xBo

 Here are the links to the past postings:

Part 1: Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) – What is GAPS?

Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) – What is GAPS?

Part 2: GAPS: Heal yourself with means natural means

GAPS: Heal yourself with natural means.

This week’s posting is:

Part 3: GAPS Getting In Touch With The Body’s Wisdom. How Modern Foods Pervert the senses. The full transcript was not published, I typed it up. Please email me if you would like a copy.

August 17^th, I will post:

GAPS Part 4: Dr Natasha Campbell McBride. Can you get your child off medication? What are the roots of good health?

Disclaimer: The content of this email is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.

If you are interested in following my postings, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available.

If you wish to comment or contact me please use this form using my email address, lpolstra@bell.net

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May you Live Long Healthy.

Yours truly,

Lydia Polstra

lpolstra@bell.net