Wake Up with ThriveAP and Fox and Friends This Saturday Morning!

I’m discussing my favorite thing of all time tomorrow on Fox and Friends…food! Most of us make at least some attempt to eat healthfully and the best way to decipher the nutritional content of your foods is packaging labels, right? Unfortunately that’s not always the case. “No added sugar”, “cholesterol free”, and “a good source of fiber” are common claims made on the labels of our favorite foods, but how do these assertions hold up?

In many cases these claims don’t prove accurate. For example, packaging stating “made with real fruit” doesn’t speak at all to the amount of fruit the product contains and often is made from fruit products different from the ones pictured on the label. Foods labeled “a good source of fiber” do indeed contain fiber additives, however these aren’t as good for the body as the natural stuff and may even prevent absorption of key nutrients in the digestive system. In most cases, reading a product’s ingredients is the best way to know what you are actually eating.

In an effort to clarify the often misleading claims made on food packaging, the FDA has proposed a revamped design for the 20 year-old nutrition label. The new label has adjusted serving sizes, closer to the amount people actually eat, and features calories and serving sizes prominently with a large font. Personally, my favorite change to the made-over label is the addition of an “added sugars” category allowing consumers to determine what percentage of a food’s contents are natural as opposed to added by manufacturers.

Here’s a sneak peek at the proposed new label and how it compares with today’s model.

I’m looking forward to quizzing the Fox and Friends weekend team to assess their savvy when it comes to misleading food labels. Play along with the gang at home in the 7 o’clock hour!