It’s on the label

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Deirdre Postier, registered and licensed dietitian at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, points out things to look for on food labels.

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February 20, 2010

Local dietitian: Finding healthy food requires research

By Joe Malan, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle The Enid News and Eagle Sat Feb 20, 2010, 10:20 PM CST

ENID — Words like “organic” and “healthy” seem to be trendy subjects in society today.

But not all foods labeled healthy truly are, a local health professional says.

Deirdre Postier, registered and licensed dietitian at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, said there’s one key to making sure foods are healthy:

“Look at the label,” she said.

Labels will show exactly what is needed to keep track of things such as calories, fiber or fat intake.

Labels also show ingredients of foods, and that can help determine what truly is healthy.

Postier said bread is a good example. Some breads will say things like “7-grain” or “9-grain” to describe the number of grains in the bread.

But that’s not really what you should be looking for.

“It may say “7-grain” on it, but it’s not necessarily whole grain,” she said.

Whole grains include the bran, germ and endosperm parts of the seed. The nutrients in every part of the grain are an integral part of a healthy lifestyle, Postier said.

Another common misconception of “healthy” is juices that report “real fruit juice” or something similar.

But what you really want to see is the label read “100 percent fruit juice.”

A common phrase used on juice labels, “juice cocktail,” doesn’t mean it’s 100 percent juice.

In addition to “healthy,” organic seems a popular word these days.

Packaging on some meats may indicate they are organic, which means no special hormones were used in the animal.

Organic doesn’t necessarily mean healthy, however.

“Organic meat isn’t necessarily better than others,” Postier said.

What matters on meat is the label says 90/10, 85/15 or maybe even 73/27.

That ratio indicates the amount of lean meat to fat.

The higher the ratio, the healthier the meat.

For example, 90/10 is much healthier than 73/27.

So it doesn’t matter if a meat is organic, Postier said. It’s all up to the consumer’s preference.

Above all, Postier said, consumers need to pay attention to serving sizes on food labels.

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