Packaged Food: If you consume packaged food, then adopt these methods, it will not harm your health

When it comes to food, we all rush towards organic and fresh products, because they are considered good for health. It is very important to have healthy options to live a balanced life, but with time the notions related to food are changing. Today packaged food has become an important part of all our lives, because it is very convenient for working people. Be it students living away from home, working women, children or people working in places far away from the city. For them, boxed food is no less than a boon. In such a situation, instead of avoiding all packaged food, you should think about avoiding harmful packaged food.

What is written on the packet
In today's time, it is almost impossible to completely ignore packaged food. The reason is that they are tasty to eat, easily available anywhere, are available in different varieties, last for a long time, are cheap and ready-to-eat. These foods include frozen food, instant cup noodles, processed dry fruit mixture, potato chips, biscuits, processed sev, mixer, bhujia, namkeen, snack items etc., which are preferred to eat in breakfast with tea. These foods often have high sodium content, additives and preservatives and lack nutrients. Therefore, while buying such food items, you should keep in mind some things written on their packets.

Serving size
Some foods are meant to serve only one person, while some are made for more than one person to eat. To check this, you can look at the serving size, which is written on every packet of canned or packaged food. For example, a juice packet will mention the nutrition content of 100 ml of juice, which is suitable for one person. Thus, if you drink more juice than the ideal amount for one person, you will be consuming double the calories. A bottle of fruit juice has a minimum serving size of 200 ml, which means you are consuming double the calories.

Nutrient content
To differentiate between packed snacks that are more harmful to your and your children's health, it is important to check the amount of saturated fat per serving written on the packet. Choose foods that are low in fat. If there is less than 1.5 grams of saturated fat per 100 grams of snack, then it cannot be considered harmful. Similarly, you should also keep an eye on the level of trans fat. This fat increases the level of bad cholesterol, while reducing the level of good cholesterol. So choose foods that have less than one gram or zero trans fat.

Talking about sodium, it is the main component of salt. If the label mentions 100 mg of sodium, it means that the snack contains 250 grams of salt. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a person should not consume more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. Apart from this, you should also check the amount of added sugar and natural sugar in the ingredients list and the nutrient list, because added sugar leads to many health problems.

How much diet for whom
If packaged foods are consumed in your house, then it is important that you keep an eye on the RDA i.e. Recommended Dietary Allowance level present on the nutrition label. The RDA level indicates the amount of fat, protein, vitamins, minerals and energy based on your age, gender, lifestyle and physical-mental activities. In this way you will be able to understand whether the amount of fat in a particular food item is more than your requirement per serving or not.

Shelf Life
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) logo on packaged food means that the product is approved by the regulatory body, meets the safety and quality standards set by the government. All packaged food labels have either a best before date or an expiry date. The best before date indicates that when the food is kept in proper conditions, its quality will remain good till that date, although it will lose its quality or nutritional value. Expiry date means that for health and safety reasons, it should not be consumed after a certain date. By keeping all these standards in mind, you can avoid the harm caused by packaged food and can also consume it.