Types of Nutrition Information and Serving Size Calculators

Posted by McCulloch Horton on June 9th, 2021

Nutrition is an important part of healthy eating. Meals and beverages should provide the right amount of nutrients for the person eating them. However, one must be careful to read the label on nutrition labels and understand the definitions of terms used there. For example, a nutrition fact may indicate that one serving of a product contains x amount of a specific nutrient, such as calcium; this could mean two servings of a calcium source or one serving with only x amount of calcium in it.

Meals can be categorized into three major groups based on their caloric content. These are: protein, vegetables, and fat. The information in the top or side (see below) of the serving sample nutrition label (to the right) will vary depending on the food or drink product; sometimes it only contains product-specific details (such as serving size, calories, and other nutrient information). The bottom portion contains a note that describes the percentage of calories and other nutritional information; these percentages are often shown in parentheses, such as "omega-3". The serving sizes in this chart are in grams.

Common nutrition information is shown in the nutrition facts chart on the left. This portion is based on the gram level, with one gram representing one calorie. In the table to the right of the graph, the caloric value is in degrees Celsius. PG slot is equivalent to the number 100. A degree Fahrenheit is equivalent to the number 100 Fahrenheit. This form of conversion is commonly used in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries.

Some foods can be classified according to how many calories they contain or how many gram's they contain per serving. For example, if a snack cake has eighty calories and has four grams of protein, this would classify it as a whole-grain snack cake. However, if the cake has forty calories and has three grams of fat in an unsweetened variety, this would not be classified as a whole-grain snack cake. It would most likely be classified as a sugar-high calorie dessert.

When choosing a serving of any food, whether you choose a label or not, try to select the "whole" form. The term "whole" encompasses all of the ingredients in a food, whether they are refined starches, sugars, or fats. Most diets today, even those based on the Mediterranean diet, promote the avoidance of adding carbohydrates to your diet until you reach the point where you are eliminating all but the "prodromax" - or the refined starches - from your daily intake. For this purpose, the term "whole" is appropriate.

For carbohydrates, the most accurate way to judge them is to measure them by the glycemic index - which is basically a chart that ranks carbohydrates according to their effect on blood sugar levels. A high-glycemic index carbohydrate takes twice as long to break down in the bloodstream as a low-glycemic index carbohydrate. A serving of pasta has about six grams of carbohydrate and about two grams of fat, so a serving of pasta has about nine calories per gram of carbohydrate.