BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The new year means a lot of people are trying out new diets.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the Mediterranean diet is the best overall, because it's easy to follow and it's healthy.
The diet focuses on eating less red meat, sugar, and saturated fat, while eating more simple, plant-based foods.
This year your eating habits may change for another reason; the USDA is changing up nutrition labels on many of the foods we eat.
"There's so much in our food that's not helpful we need to be aware as consumers, what we are putting in our body," said Tricia Sauer, owner of Buffalo Nutrition and Dietetics on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo.
"Calories are a lot bigger now and the servings per container are a lot more obvious," Sauer said while walking us through the changes you're seeing on the packaging for your favorite foods. "And there's also fewer servings than there used to be."
The FDA changed the guidelines for serving sizes, making them more in line with how much people are actually eating and drinking.
One example? Ice cream.
The old serving size was a half cup, now its 3/4 of a cup.
Another change is the addition of the added sugars tab, instead of just seeing sugar they have added.
"People can look and see that this sugar is not naturally occurring, it's been added to the food and it's bad for me," Sauer said. "We should not be consuming more than 10 percent of our calories from added sugar."
There are 69 grams of added sugar in a 20 ounce bottle of Pepsi, which means you are drinking 138 percent of the daily recommended sugar intake in just one drink!
A third change? The following four vitamins have to be on the label with the amount in each serving:
- Calcium
- Iron
- Potassium
- Vitamin D
"These are the nutrients that are most commonly deficient or not met, so awareness is being pointed for people to be aware of what's in their food and how it reflects their needs," Sauer said.
Sauer also recommends to shop whole food and try to avoid processed foods as much as you can to stay healthy in 2020.
