How to Be a Conscious Eater

to what you’re offsetting the saturated fat with in your diet:

Aim for healthy, aka unsaturated, fats (which don’t appear on

the panel), whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Trans fat: 0 grams. Though this type of fat can be found in meat

and milk, the majority in the US food supply is the artificial

kind, usually in the form of partially hydrogenated oils. Mostly

solid at room temperature, trans fat is found in relatively high

quantities in margarine, shortening, and processed foods with

“partially hydrogenated oils” as an ingredient. Trans fat is no

longer “Generally Recognized as Safe” by the FDA. As a result

of a call to eradicate artificial sources of trans fat from the US

food supply (and a similar mandate worldwide by the World

Health Organization), many manufacturers have already

removed it from their products, though it looks like it will be

mid-2021 before all trans fat is truly eliminated from packaged

food. So keep checking those labels.

Sodium: The Daily Value is 2,300 mg. But the American Heart

Association, Center for Science in the Public Interest, and

Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health urge the government

to lower its recommendation to 1,500 mg (less than a teaspoon

of salt). Our current average sodium intake is roughly 3,400 mg.

Yikes! Over 70 percent of that comes from food eaten away

from home (processed or prepared foods from the grocery

store, or food from restaurants). So, along with added sugar, this

is one of the most important things to check on the Nutrition

Facts panel.

Added sugar: The Daily Value is 50 grams, but the American Heart

Association suggests going much lower, to no more than 25–36

grams:

Men: 9 teaspoons = 36 grams = 150 calories

Women: 6 teaspoons = 25 grams = 100 calories

178 how to be a Conscious Eater

Conscious Eater_03 PT_4th patches.indd 178 10/23/19 1:35 PM