Two registered dietitians on what to read before a packaged snack goes in the cart, and the brands they buy for their own kids. Packing a lunchbox snack shouldn’t require a degree, but the snack aisle makes a decent case otherwise. Labels promise real fruit, no artificial anything and a good source of something.
The truth is, most of it is noise. The part that matters is on the nutrition label. For a run of dietitian-approved lunchbox snacks you can buy and pack as-is, we asked two registered dietitians who shop that aisle for a living what they actually look for.
Robin Barrie Kaiden, MS, RD, CDN, CSSD and Lauren Manaker, MS, RDN, LD, both do the same thing with a new product before it goes in the cart: They turn it over and read. Here’s what they’re looking for, and the snacks they reach for without overthinking it. Kaiden scans the label’s ingredients first.
She wants simple, real-food ingredients and the least processed option available. There’s a practical reason to start there, notes Manaker. Ingredients appear in order by weight, so the first few make up most of the product.
The claims on the front get much less of their attention. Even the regulated claims are narrower than they sound, explains Manaker. The label lists added sugars and total sugars separately.
Total sugars include the naturally occurring sugars in ingredients like fruit and milk, says Manaker. Added sugars are the ones put in during processing, and those are the numbers to take into consideration. The targets for added sugar are lower than most parents expect.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
