Be a conscious eater

Nutrition labels on food packages debuted in the food industry in 2005. Although they may have gone unnoticed, the food labels have become more accurate and elaborate throughout their evolution. The nutrition facts stickers, now more than ever, show the exact percentage of the components in the food items. 

Dr Masuma Akter, an accomplished expert, is behind the diet regime that can help you lose 10 kilograms in just six weeks. And she believes that cannot stress enough on the importance of knowing your food when it comes to maintaining good health. 

"To know your food, you must first find the most basic information, like its source and the validity date. Second, one has to consider their own health before consuming anything. A diabetic person has to be extra cautious when it comes to manufactured food. Knowing the level of sodium, sugar and fat in the items will help you chose your food wisely. Given the country we live in, we must also check for formalin additives, and raise awareness on local food products that lack elaborative nutrition facts. 

For foreign products, we must go the extra mile and find out the meanings of the words we see on imported products. When you see the term 'fortified' it means 'added'; thus, fortified with iron means added iron. And you can definitely get your iron supplement from there. Lastly, some essential facts to remember when purchasing food are that, saturated fats and trans fats are the lipids that damage healthy skin and body. And poly unsaturated fats are always a good sign on the product."

Dr Akter concludes that in order for people to take initiatives to be conscious consumers, they need to pick up the habit of caring about what is on the packet. People respond to the media well. Therefore, if information on 'how to read food labels' floats on people's newsfeeds online, they will pick up a thing or two about nutrition facts and this will help everyone become conscious eaters.

By Sanumkia Siddiqui