Before the 1960s, much of the food we consumed was prepared at home. As more and more foods were sold prepackaged, there became a “need” for nutritional labeling. This labeling is now mandatory, but fairly confusing and hasn’t resulted in a healthier population – or even a more informed one. UNLESS you learn how to read them, understand all of the information and follow the loosey goosey serving size guidelines.  

Take Raisinets (Nestle brand chocolate covered raisins) for example. Pretty sure the ingredients are mostly chocolate and raisins, but here’s some conflicting information about how many I should eat.

Common Serving Sizes:

In case you didn’t take a Home Economics class, or (like me for many years) ignored the “these will kill you” warnings on cigarette packages, the FDA is here to help you understand the nutrition facts label.

https://www.fda.gov/food/new-nutrition-facts-label/how-understand-and-use-nutrition-facts-label

But wait. This additional information makes me not trust the suggestion that I should only eat 10 Raisinets.

Here are a few other things about serving sizes to keep in mind:

• The serving size is not a recommendation of how much to eat or drink.
• One package of food may contain more than one serving.
• Some containers may also have a label with two columns—one column listing the amount of calories and nutrients in one serving and the other column listing this information for the entire package. Packages with “dual-column” labels let you know how many calories and nutrients you are getting if you eat or drink the entire package at one time.