Sport Food labels - Confused

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goal2befit

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About 6 months ago I started having some minor health issues and was told I needed to start eating properly. (Needed to get more fiber in my diet) Little by little I have made changes. Hopefully by doing a little bit at a time, I will be prone to keep it up. I started reading the nutrition labels and thought I had a general idea but now I'm not so sure. I was really only looking at the fat, cholesterol, and fiber. But after reading a reply I got from another post about lowering my carbs and upping my protien, I am now looking at those as well. Today it took me two hours to grocery shop. I made two choices today that hopefully are better for me.
1) I bought brown rice instead of white. I bought 4 boxes of "Near East" whole grain blends - roasted garlic. It has 220 cal, 45 cal from fat, 2 g fat, 0 Sat/tran fat, 0 chol, 570 mg sodium, 41g carbs, 5g fiber, 6 g protien. Is this healthy? Is 41 g of Carbs high for a cup of rice?
I also bought Uncle Ben's Whole grain brown rice and that has 35 g carbs.
2) I bought a lot more produce than I usually do and my grocery bills showed it. (MUCH higher.)
I am finding it confusing because I am trying not to eat anything out of a box but the stuff that says it's healthy - Is it really?
Hope you understand my post because after typing all this, I'm confusing myself. LOL
 
When shopping at the grocery store, a good rule of thumb is to buy foods that are as unprocessed as possible (i.e. as close to nature you can get). Unfortunately you don't have your serving size listed, but from the looks of it, it looks like the rice was processed to add that roasted garlic flavor (hence the additional sodium/fat). Long grain (unconverted) brown rice is what you want to have - NOT the instant or any other quick rice - long grain takes about 30-45 minutes to cook, but it's well worth it. In that sense, I'd guess the Uncle Ben's you have is the healthier choice.

For a 1/4 cup (42g) serving, the brown rice I have is:
Calories: 150
Calories from fat: 10 (6.67%)
Sat Fat: 0g
Trans Fat: 0g
Sodium: 0g

Total Carbohydrates: 32g (11%)
Dietary Fiber 1g (4%)
Sugars 0g
Protein 3g (6%)

And as for the produce - good on ya - it's more expensive yes, but your body will love you for it.
 
What is the name brand of the rice you quoted the nutrients on? It figures that it's not healthy, I made that rice tonight and I loved it - my husband hated it. He isn't a rice eater but every now and then I make it. (The serving size was for one cup.)
 
The one I quoted was Wegmans Long Grain Brown Rice. Since you're in NY there may be one near you. Although, your serving size says 1 cup - mine says 1/4 cup. If I understand it right, a cup of the Wegmans rice would give you 600 calories as opposed to the 225 for yours, which seems kinda odd.
 
Ok - I found the nutritional information for Near East product you have - it looks like it is a combination of long grain brown rice, pearled wheat and bulgur wheat. The serving size is about 56g (compared to Wegmans 42g), which makes the Wegmans serving about 75% of the Near East serving. Multiplying the 220 by 75% comes out with 168 calories per 42 gram serving, with 33.75 calories from fat (probably because the Near East adds some olive oil to the preparation). So although you're only 18 calories higher per serving, the Wegmans rice has 6.67% of its calories from fat, whereas the Near East has about 20% per serving.

And from reading on the web, brown rice only has the outer hull removed, and keeping the brown bran layer intact. White rice has this bran layer removed so as to speed up cooking time.

Incidentally your instinct in staying away from boxes is a good one in this case - I always try to buy my rice bagged as there's a greater chance it's unprocessed that way.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for responding again and for taking the time to look into that for me. The box really had me fooled with all it's hype saying 100% natural and had the seal saying Excellent source of Whole Grains. It's still a boxed food. I don't have a Wegmans by me but I do have a health food store just down the street. I went in there maybe 2 years ago when I was going to try to eat healthier and saw the prices and walked out. I am now a little older and wiser and realize that my health is more important than a few dollars. I will take a walk to see what they have. Thanks again.
 
goal2befit said:
I am now a little older and wiser and realize that my health is more important than a few dollars. I will take a walk to see what they have. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Yeah but by the same token, why spend more money than you have to - check your supermarket first and see if they have any plain brown rice in a bag. Hopefully they do and you can avoid health food store prices.
 
what is a good # to have for proteins and for carbs in each serving......I"m starting to read labels a little more now too, but they are foreign to me, lol....i dont' even know what is a high or low number, thanks......!
 
The best way to avoid this confusion is NOT to buy packaged garbage and eat foods that only contain one ingredient each.

Apple, Strawberry, Broccoli, Squash, Carrot, Chicken, etc. You don't have to count calories or fiber grams or anything else if you eat the right stuff in the right portions.

A serving of anything is about what can fit in your hand so eat a meal of one protein like a chiken breast or a couple 3 oz extra lean turkey burgers a serving of fruit and 2 servings of vegetable at every meal (ideally 4-6 times a day) and you won't have to read the labels any more.
 
Stingo - I checked out the site and it was very helpful. I never knew what the DV% was and now I do. That will definately help me when comparing one type of Yogurt to another. etc. I usually just go by the calories, fat and fiber content but now realize that I better start looking at all the other information. Thanks again.

Skull Pilot - I am the queen of eating boxed food. Correction, I was the queen of eating boxed food. I have changed my diet a lot in the last 6 months. My goal is to not eat anything from a box and I will get there. Thanks for your post.
 
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