Contrary to popular opinion (and Will Ferrell), elves eat more than candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.  And so should you!

In this week's blogs, we'll look at food – specifically at efforts to eat food that is both tasty and healthy.

Today, I want to start our discussion by talking about food labels.  Frankly, the vast majority of "information" printed on food labels is nonsense.  You'll see foods labelled "all natural" and "100% fruit" or "whole grain" that are actually incredibly over-processed and unhealthy.  In all likelihood, you'd be better off eating the label than what's inside the package.  (Unfortunately, that's only a slight exaggeration.)  Strawberry fruit snacks may include no actual strawberries.  That whole grain product may include more sugar than an ice cream cone. 

Start looking for good food by ignoring the front of the label.  The most important information is usually on the back of the label.  Even then, you need to focus in on two pieces of information.

The first important piece of information is the ingredient list.  Three things to look for.  First, are the ingredients real food (oats, milk, eggs, tomatoes) or chemical compounds?  The more real food ingredients, the better.  Second, the list typically shows the ingredients in order of volume.  The greater volume ingredients are listed first.  Are the large volume ingredients healthy?  Are they real food?  Third, are the ingredients what you'd expect to find in this product?  If you are buying instant oatmeal, oats should be the first ingredient, not sugar.  If you are buying ice cream, milk should top the list.  If you are buying strawberry fruit snacks, strawberries should at least get a mention!

The second important piece of information is the servings per container.  Yes, a label lists all sorts of nutritional values, from calories to fat and fiber grams to sodium.  But all of that is meaningless unless you know the serving size on which those values are based.  In some cases, the number of servings listed on the label bears no relation to reality.  A single can of soup may contain 2 (or more) servings.  That acceptable sodium content is doubled if you plan to eat the whole can.  That frozen pizza that looks like a single serving is actually three servings, so the calorie count has to be tripled — making it a far less attractive option.

Don't let yourself be fooled by the front of packaging.  Turn things around and make decisions based on facts, not marketing language.