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Food labels

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
sweetsatin

sweetsatin

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Who can understand the food labels it's such a bind & takes me more time to shop & i end up getting angry at myself & puts me off shopping.... am getting sick of rabbit food lol.
i have cut down on brown granary bread & eating lots of veg, very little meat,but eating lots of muller light yoghurt & a banana a day, i miss my chocolate & bicies.
 
It is a pain at first especially when you are used to just picking up and buying whatever you fancy. It does get easier. I would watch the sugar content in yoghurts though, even the lower fat ones are quite sugar laden. You can still have biscuits, but as a treat, not a whole packet.. tempting though i know ha ha . I tend to stick to fresh food, meat, vegetables, fish, fruit etc and avoid processed stuff simply because they have so much sugar and additives in them. I will be easier, there is alot of really tasty food out there to try so you dont need to live on lettuce.
 
Waiting to go on the 6 week educational program so hope to learn from that
 
only had type 2 diabetes 5 weeks diet controled so lots to learn
been 20 years since i nursed someone with type 1 lots of new stuff out there now.
All has changed.
 
Sweetsatin, you do get used to reading the labels - and understanding them too. For esample, whilst I can find the sugar content on most of the packaged stuff - it is actually the total carbohydrate figure that is important. From memory two Co-op fruit shortbread biscuits (smallish ones) contain as much total carbohydrate as many of the muller light yoghurts and less than a general size banana.

Seed bread or bread with grains in it tends to be absorbed less rapidly than either white or wholemeal - a personal favourite of mine are the Food Doctor multi-seed pitta breads (163kcal and about 27g carbohydrate) for stuffing or with salads et cetera. Recommended books thread has ones on low GI that I have found very useful by Brand-Miller et al
 
sweetsatin said:
Who can understand the food labels it's such a bind & takes me more time to shop & i end up getting angry at myself & puts me off shopping.... am getting sick of rabbit food lol.
i have cut down on brown granary bread & eating lots of veg, very little meat,but eating lots of muller light yoghurt & a banana a day, i miss my chocolate & bicies.
Click to expand...

My problem with food labels is that they are often in the tiniest print possible! I don't wear glasses normally, but have some reading glasses which I can't be bothered/can't remember to take with me when shopping, so I end up straining my eyes trying the read the packets, or asking an assistant to read them to me (makes me feel old!). Also, as Vanessa says, they often print the sugar content nice and brightly on the front of the packet, but it's the total carbs that are of most interest to us diabetics. Also, you need to look at the level of saturated fat - needs to be as low as possible. Olive spreads are better than butter or normal spreads, but sunflower spreads are a good second choice.

I would have thought that granary bread would be fine as it's low GI. I eat mainly Warburton's seeded batch loaf. You will get used to it before long, knowing which foods to avoid. I have been at this for a year now and hardly ever have to read labels these days.
 
im in love with seeded batch by hovis i think it very nice with chicken salad , as for food labels they do my head in like you say takes me an extra hour to do my shop abd in the end i just get so frustrated i give up lol .I have a banana every morning with weetabix at the moment
 
Northerner said:
My problem with food labels is that they are often in the tiniest print possible! I don't wear glasses normally, but have some reading glasses which I can't be bothered/can't remember to take with me when shopping, so I end up straining my eyes trying the read the packets, or asking an assistant to read them to me (makes me feel old!).
Click to expand...

I have the same problem with small print Northener.

I keep a credit card sized magnifier in my wallet.I got one that costs about ?2 including postage from http://www.familytreefolk.co.uk/page_10948.html
 
sweetsatin said:
Waiting to go on the 6 week educational program so hope to learn from that
Click to expand...

I wasn't offered anything like this either. It was mentioned I could go on a DESMOND course, but when I spoke to the DSN she said I already knew all the important stuff.

As for reading food labels, it is for your benefit, you are imoortant. It gets to me sometimes, but if you don't do it no one will.

I found all the things that say light really mean they have less fat. Once you get into reading the labels you will very soon remember which items are OK and which are not.

For things like breads, pastas and cereals go for whole meal and whole grain these are better. Altough we need to reduce the carb loading of our diet, we still need some carbs to maintain a balanced healthy diet.
 
Northerner said:
My problem with food labels is that they are often in the tiniest print possible! I don't wear glasses normally, but have some reading glasses which I can't be bothered/can't remember to take with me when shopping, so I end up straining my eyes trying the read the packets, or asking an assistant to read them to me (makes me feel old!). Also, as Vanessa says, they often print the sugar content nice and brightly on the front of the packet, but it's the total carbs that are of most interest to us diabetics. Also, you need to look at the level of saturated fat - needs to be as low as possible. Olive spreads are better than butter or normal spreads, but sunflower spreads are a good second choice.

I would have thought that granary bread would be fine as it's low GI. I eat mainly Warburton's seeded batch loaf. You will get used to it before long, knowing which foods to avoid. I have been at this for a year now and hardly ever have to read labels these days.
Click to expand...


I wear glasses anyway, but also try to remember a magnifier too, I have one like a book mark that fits nicely into a pocket. Thos efood labels are often too small and I think manufacturers should make the bigger!
 
We shouldn't have to carry magnifying devices around with us in order to read important information about food products (or any other product for that matter - all small print is an obscuration of what has been deemed by law to be important for the consumer - there is no excuse!)

In the first few weeks after diagnosis my eyesight was particularly bad due to the high sugars, so I bought a magnifier of the type you describe. But I am now able to read most things of 'normal' size print with 'bare' eyes - I shouldn't need to magnify anything! There should be a minimum font size for legally required information!😡

One MP put forward a bill about this - not sure if it has got anywhere:

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/news/...pports_mp_in_call_for_war_on_small_print.html

this is far too small to read comfortably
 
What annoys the life out of me when it comes to labelling is products that put the values per 100g on the packaging - but don't actually put the weight of the product on the packet - what is the point in that?
Are we really expected to weigh everything?? It really is not practical.
Tesco's sandwiches are a fine example of this! And I don't carry around scales in my lunch hour!
Soooo annoying - ! And I have written to them - but they do not seem to think it is a problem!
Best labelling is when everything is broken down into per portion size - why can't they all do this!

If anyone else fancies pointing this out to them here are the details! Maybe a bit of pressure will help...

Tesco Customer Service
PO Box 73
Baird Avenue
Dryburgh Industrial Estate
Dundee
DD1 9NF
 
My solution to the scales is to get a set that will live on my desk at work (aset of the SAlter scales mentioned in another thread). There are a number of people who will use them for various health reasons, so they will be well used and tested.
 
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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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