Forward this email to your team so they can benefit from the tips, tricks and resources.
What do nutrition labels tell us?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires all packaged foods and drinks to have nutrition labels.* The labels are divided in to four elements — serving information, calories, nutrients and the percent daily value or %DV. Understanding how big a serving size is, how much energy you’re consuming in calories and the nutrients you’re getting empowers you to make good choices.
Serving information
This will tell you how many servings are in each package. The calories, nutrients and daily percentage of those nutrients are based on a single serving of that item. If a package contains four servings total and you eat all four servings, you will need to multiply the calories, nutrients and daily percentage of those nutrients by 4 to figure out how much you’re consuming.
Calories
A calorie is a unit of measure for energy. The number of calories tells you how much energy you’re consuming per one serving of that item. The daily recommended intake of calories varies based on age, sex, height, weight and level of activity.
Nutrients
This is a breakdown of what’s in a serving of that item based on key nutrients that we should consume more of and some things we should consume less of. It tells us the total grams of:
Fat, including saturated fat and trans fat
Cholesterol
Sodium
Carbohydrates, including dietary fiber, total sugars and any added sugars
Protein
It also tells us how much vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium are in a single serving.
The nutrients we should get less of are saturated fat, sodium and added sugars. Saturated fat and sodium are linked to cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure, and added sugars make it difficult to stay within the number of calories you should consume daily.
Percent daily value (%DV)
The FDA says this is the percentage of the daily value for each nutrient in a serving. The daily values are in grams, milligrams or micrograms. The daily values tell us the amount of nutrients the average person should consume or not to exceed each day.
The %DV shows how much a nutrient in a serving of a food contributes to a total daily diet, and helps you determine if a serving of food is high or low in a nutrient.
5% DV or less of a nutrient per serving is considered low
20% DV or more of a nutrient per serving is considered high
Choose foods that are:
Higher in %DV for dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium
Lower in %DV for saturated fat, sodium and added sugars
Weekly weight-loss meditation
Take a moment to embrace and accept yourself exactly as you are. Acceptance of Self is a meditation that focuses on cultivating self-acceptance and compassion.
Weekly Blue Cross Virtual Well-Being℠ sessions
Join Cindy and Marissa for Walking Speed: The Sixth Vital Sign as they discuss the scholarly review on how walking speed has the potential to predict health status, overall functional decline and mortality.
Our suite of resources at bcbsm.com/yourhealth will help you and your team reach your goals with:
Healthy recipes, weight-loss focused meditations, videos from dietitians and health coaches, and off-the-shelf challenges you can use as a team
Competition information, including the team leaderboard, FAQs and the weight-loss submission page
Record this week’s results
Make sure you record your team’s weight-loss progress by 5 p.m. today at bcbsm.com/yourhealth. For the most accurate results, we recommend your team members weigh themselves on the same day and around the same time each week.
*Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network don’t own or control this website.
We’re happy to help you with any questions or concerns you may have. Please reach out to us here, and someone from our team will reach out to you directly. If you would like to directly speak to a customer service representative, please call the number listed on the back of your ID card.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
