Why Are Food Labels So Hard To Understand? Here’s Our Guide To Help You Make Informed Choices
Food labels aren’t usually the first thing we look at when we’re grabbing that jar of sauce quickly before dinner. However, they provide valuable information and it’s worth taking a little time to get to know how they work. That way, you’ll be able to scan labels within the blink of an eye and determine which products are right for you.
The biggest elements most food labels include are a nutrition facts table with serving size, calories and nutrients, and % daily value, along with a list of ingredients.
% Daily Value
5% or less of something is a little
15% or more is a lot
Nutrients you may want to limit
sodium
sugars
saturated fat
Nutrients you may want more of
iron
fibre
calcium
potassium
Created from a study at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Easy Platter assigns each meal an OWL (Own Wellness Log) score. All recipes are scored from 1–10 based on nutrition densities, the higher the score, the healthier the meal.
When broken down, some ingredients in meal kits don’t always measure up to similar recipes on the internet.
Hello Fresh pasta parmesan
Fat: 28 grams
Carbs: 93 grams
Protein: 28 grams
Calories: 730
Hello Fresh caramelized shallot risotto
Fat: 17 grams
Carbs: 74 grams
Protein: 13 grams
Calories 490
Easy Platter vegan cacio e pepe
Fat: 22 grams
Carbs: 18 grams
Protein: 19 grams
Calories: 333
For example, a vegan cacio e pepe recipe has an OWL score of 8, which is a high score. From the table above we can see it contains significantly less carbs than the Hello Fresh recipes, and more protein than one of the recipes. Even though the vegan cacio e pepe recipe isn’t a significant number of calories less than the other recipes, when you dive deeper into the label you can see where the calories are coming from.
Interested in incorporating OWL scores into your decision-making process? Head to the Easy Platter website and see how your favourite meals score.