Festive Friday discusses new food labeling

By Alice Wadley Staff Writer

Festive Friday is back after a summer break. Barbra Jones, gave the helpful tips for the month. September was National Family Meals month. It is important to take time to eat meals as a family. Children who have consistent family meal time: Eat an overall healthier diet, consume more fruits and vegetables, maintain healthy body weights, perform better academically and develop larger vocabularies.
Children are less likely to: Engage in risky behaviors including tobacco, drug and alcohol use, struggle with eating disorders and experience depression or low self-esteem.
Parents who engage in family meal times: Have overall healthier diets, enjoy strengthened family bonds, spend less money on food by eating at home more frequently and are able to be a good role model for healthy eating habits.
Christine Jensen explained the new food labels. The food labels are reviewed every five years. The main changes for the labels are the nutrients and how they are listed. The format will have a larger font and the calories will be in bold writing. The serving sizes will be more realistic. For example, a 12 ounce can of soda will be a full serving size.
The labels will include all added sugars. The labels will have to include potassium and vitamin D, vitamins A and C are no longer required but can be listed voluntarily. The calories from fat have been removed from the label.
The goal is to encourage Americans to adopt science-based recommendations and improve how they eat, reduce obesity and to prevent chronic disease such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
A key recommendation is to develop a healthy eating pattern by eating a variety of vegetables, dark leafy greens, legumes and other vegetables. Eat fruits, especially whole fruits. Grains, half of which are whole grains. Fat free or low fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese or fortified soy products. Eat a variety of protein foods including seafood, lean meats, eggs, legumes, soy products and nuts and seeds. Oils including those from plants, corn, canola, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean and sunflower seed. Oils are also present in nuts, seeds, seafood, olives and avacados.
A healthy eating pattern limits, saturated fats and trans fats. Added sugar should be less than 10 percent of your daily calories. Limit your sodium intake, less than 2,300 mg per day. A healthy eating pattern represents the total of all foods and beverages consumed. Nutritional needs should be met primarily from foods. Healthy eating patterns are adaptable. Regular physical is one of the most important things individuals can do to improve their health.
Regular physical exercise is good for your health. Adults, at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. Adults should include muscle strength activities that involve all of the muscles two or more days a week. Avoid inactivity, some activity is better than none. Those who participate in any activity will have some health benefits. Older adults should do exercises for balance if they are at risk for falling. Older adults with physical condition should understand how their condition affects their ability to do physical activity. The next Festive Friday will be in December. It will be the Christmas party. Everyone is encouraged to bring a potluck dish to share. There is no charge for December.