Nutrition Label Scrutiny - How Invested Are you?

Do you read the nutrition labels of the things you buy and eat? Is there a threshold you stick to? For example: if calories are greater than x per serving, I won't buy this product.

Personally, I look at three basic items on the food label, but I think I need to start making it five things.
I look at Calories, Fat Grams, Fiber Grams. I look for things that have more fiber grams than fat, and I look for calories under 150 per serving. These aren't hard and fast rules, but I try to be aware of these things before they go into my body.

Maybe I am missing a few things though with this health strategy. I've been hearing a lot lately about sugar and sodium, two things I don't pay much attention to.

Jorge Cruise was recently on the Tyra Banks Show creating a plan for obese teens. He recommended that the teens not eat more than 15grams of sugar per day in order to reduce and conquer belly fat. I figured, I probably was in that range with my healthy strategies... I was wrong. WAY wrong.

1 cup of fat free milk: 12 grams of sugar
1 cup of fat free vanilla yogurt: 28-34 grams of sugar depending on brand
1 slice of whole wheat bread: 7 grams of sugar (I forget which brand of bread)

Um... I thought I was doing the right thing by eating low fat, high fiber, but this has made me really reevaluate what defines "healthy" - even though it's about Calories in vs. Calories out - there are different types of sugar, and some our bodies simply don't know how to handle. Maybe I need to be more aware of these sugars.

So, I challenge each of you to track your sugar intake on any food labels for the next three days. I'll do the same.

Also, I've been hearing about sodium and read an article today that said even though people are more concerned about sodium but fewer of us are choosing low or no sodium foods. I wonder if this is a product labeling problem. We're so inundated with LOW FAT, NO FAT labeling that sodium doesn't often get the front stage. If you stand an examine various products closely, you'll find a low sodium version. I just learned that canned, diced tomatoes have a "no sodium added" version. Did you know that? I didn't.

Weekly challenge number two: try to locate a lower sodium version of your usual brands.