Practical Nutrition should have been a required course in high school or something. It seems we all know tidbits about good fats and bad fats, good carbs and bad carbs, but when it really comes to applying those lessons to daily life the connection seems lost. Our parents were taught that smoking and butter were the way of life growing up so you can't blame them for a misguided food education, but now we know better and yet it when is it really taught????
We should be sat down and taught to dissect a Nutrition Label. Sure it says how many grams of chips we can eat, but how many is that really? We should compare cups to grams to tablespoons visually as well as mathematically. This way we can estimate truer portions day to day.
I've always wondered what MY personalize nutrition label should read. I want to know for my weight, height and age how many calories per day is recommended. Of those calories what percentage should be fat, fiber, carbs, protein, sugar, cholesterol, etc. Then armed with that guideline I could have something to compare my actual intake with.
I use the Lose It App on my iPhone now and love it, but it feels incomplete. Based on my age (31), height (5'1) and weight (124), and with a goal weight of 115 lbs, it suggest consuming 1281 calories per day to lose weight at a pound a week rate. You input gross food calorie consumption and exercise burn for a net calorie per day. It then calculate your weekly log and nutritional intake. The missing link is a comparison between my actual and what my nutrition consumption should be. Armed with this I could modify my diet to increase fiber let's say and reduce fat or whatever.
Ok, rant over. I'm just saying, information is power.
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