UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY

Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

MOVEMENT COMPETENCY TRAINING

SUBJECT CODE : PATHFIT 1

MODULE NO. : 12
WEEK : 14
TOPIC OR LESSON : Weight Management through Healthy Eating and
Physical Activity Habits
SUB-TOPIC/S : Reading Food Labels and Fad Diets

OVERVIEW OF THE TOPIC

Reading labels can be tricky. Consumers are more health-conscious than

ever, so some food manufacturers use misleading tricks to convince people to
buy highly processed and unhealthy products. Food labeling regulations are
complex, making it harder for consumers to understand them. This section
explains how to read food labels so that you can differentiate between
mislabeled junk and truly healthy foods.

1. Discuss the importance of reading food labels in relation to weight

management.
2. Evaluate the suited fad diets for each individual.

At the end of the week, the students are expected to:

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

1. enumerated the things they need to read on food labels;

2. selected appropriate fad diets; and
3. gained knowledge and practical tips on how to become a wise consumer.

Activity1: What is Our Label?

Directions: Look for the label of your favorite food/snack, cut it, and paste it
here. Kindly list down the effect of your selected ingredients (at least 3) on your
health in relation to weight management.

STICK IT HERE: Effect of Ingredients:

Activity 2: CLAIMS, CLAIMS, AND CLAIMS!

Direction: Look for the top five food products and give their famous tag lines
that relate to their products.

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

PRODUCT NAME FAMOUS TAG/MARKETING LINE

Activity 3 : Think and Share

Directions: Read and understand the concepts below. You can raise questions
that you want to clarify where students and teachers must collaborate in this
part.

One of the best tips may be to completely ignore claims on the front of the
packaging. Front labels try to lure you into purchasing products by making
health claims. In fact, research shows that adding health claims to front labels
makes people believe a product is healthier than the same product that
doesn’t list health claims — thus affecting consumer choices.
Manufacturers are often dishonest in the way they use these labels. They tend to
use health claims that are misleading and, in some cases, downright false.
Despite what the label may imply, these products are not healthy.
This makes it hard for consumers to choose healthy options without a thorough
inspection of the ingredients list.

A. Things to Consider in Reading the Labels

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

1. Study the Ingredients List

Product ingredients are listed by quantity-from highest to lowest amount.
This means that the first ingredient is what the manufacturer used the most.
A good rule of thumb is to scan the first three ingredients, as they make up the
largest part of what you’re eating. If the first ingredients include refined grains, a
type of sugar, or hydrogenated oils, you can assume that the product is
unhealthy. Instead, try choosing items that have whole foods listed as the first
three ingredients. In addition, an ingredients list that is longer than two to three
lines suggests that the product is highly processed.

2. Watch out for Serving Sizes

Nutrition labels state how many calories and nutrients are in a standard amount
of the product-often a suggested single serving. However, these serving sizes are
frequently much smaller than what people consume in one sitting.
For example, one serving maybe half a can of soda, a quarter of a cookie, half
a chocolate bar, or a single biscuit. In doing so, manufacturers try to deceive
consumers into thinking that the food has fewer calories and less sugar.
Many people are unaware of this serving size scheme, assuming that the entire
container is a single serving, when in truth it may consist of two, three, or more
servings. If you’re interested in knowing the nutritional value of what you’re
eating, you need to multiply the serving given on the back by the number of
servings you consumed.

3. The Most Misleading Claims

Health claims on packaged food are designed to catch your attention and
convince you that the product is healthy.

Here are some of the most common claims — and what they mean:

● Light. Light products are processed to reduce either calories or fat. Some

products are simply watered down. Check carefully to see if anything has been
added instead — like sugar.

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

● Multigrain. This sounds very healthy but only means that a product contains
more than one type of grain. These are most likely refined grains — unless the
product is marked as whole grain.

● Natural. This does not necessarily mean that the product resembles anything
natural. It simply indicates that at one point the manufacturer worked with a
natural source like apples or rice.

● Organic. This label says very little about whether a product is healthy. For
example, organic sugar is still sugar.

● No added sugar. Some products are naturally high in sugar. The fact that they
don’t have added sugar doesn’t mean they’re healthy. Unhealthy sugar
substitutes may also have been added.

● Low-calorie. Low-calorie products have to have one-third fewer calories than

the brand’s original product. Yet, one brand’s low-calorie version may have
similar calories as another brand’s original.

● Low-fat. This label usually means that the fat has been reduced at the cost of
adding more sugar. Be very careful and read the ingredients list.

● Low-carb. Recently, low-carb diets have been linked to improved health. Still,

processed foods that are labeled low-carb are usually still processed junk
foods, similar to processed low-fat foods.

● Made with whole grains. The product may contain very little whole grains.
Check the ingredients list — if whole grains aren’t in the first three ingredients,
the amount is negligible.

● Fortified or enriched. This means that some nutrients have been added to the
product. For example, vitamin D is often added to milk. Yet, just because
something is fortified doesn’t make it healthy.

● Gluten-free. Gluten-free doesn’t mean healthy. The product simply doesn’t

contain wheat, spelt, rye, or barley. Many gluten-free foods are highly
processed and loaded with unhealthy fats and sugar.

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

● Fruit-flavored. Many processed foods have a name that refers to a natural

flavor, such as strawberry yogurt. However, the product may not contain any
fruit — only chemicals designed to taste like fruit.

● Zero trans fat. This phrase means “less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving.”
Thus, if serving sizes are misleadingly small, the product may still contain trans
fat.

4. Different Names for Sugar

Sugar goes by countless names — many of which you may not recognize. Food
manufacturers use this to their advantage by purposely adding many different
types of sugar to their products to hide the actual amount.

In doing so, they can list a healthier ingredient at the top, mentioning sugar
further down. So even though a product may be loaded with sugar, it doesn’t
necessarily appear as one of the first three ingredients.

To avoid accidentally consuming a lot of sugar, watch out for the following
names of sugar in ingredient lists:

● Types of sugar: beet sugar, brown sugar, buttered sugar, cane sugar, caster
sugar, coconut sugar, date sugar, golden sugar, invert sugar, muscovado sugar,
organic raw sugar, raspadura sugar, evaporated cane juice, and confectioner’s
sugar.

● Types of syrup: carob syrup, golden syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, honey,

agave nectar, malt syrup, maple syrup, oat syrup, rice bran syrup, and rice
syrup.

● Other added sugars: barley malt, molasses, cane juice crystals, lactose, corn
sweetener, crystalline fructose, dextran, malt powder, ethyl maltol, fructose,
fruit juice concentrate, galactose, glucose, disaccharides, maltodextrin, and
maltose.

5. The Bottom Line

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

The best way to avoid being misled by product labels is to avoid processed
foods altogether. After all, whole food doesn’t need an ingredients list.
Still, if you decide to buy packaged foods, be sure to sort out the junk from the
higher-quality products with the helpful tips in this article.

B. Fad Diets

Many fad diets promote quick weight loss without taking into effect the nutrients
your body needs. These weight loss plans rarely help you over the long haul —
and some can even cause health problems. Here’s how to identify a fad diet.

Fad diets are plans sold as the best and fastest approach to losing weight. Yet
some of these diets involve eliminating foods that contain necessary nutrients
that your body needs to maintain good health. Some diets claim particular
hormones are to blame for weight gain, suggesting that food can change body
chemistry. Often these diets aren’t well researched, or the research is faulty.

These are the kinds of diets that you often see endorsed by celebrities or
promoted through media. Some hype particular foods like cabbage, foods that
contain probiotics, or raw foods. Or they may include high-fat,
low-carbohydrate, or high-protein diets. They eliminate important sources of
nutrition, such as grains. Or they eliminate certain ingredients, such as lectins.

Some have you eliminate certain foods at specific times of the day. Others allow
you certain foods, as long as you eat them along with certain other foods.

Although some diets may be recommended in special situations, many of these

may lack major nutrients, such as dietary fiber and carbohydrates, as well as
selected vitamins, minerals, and protective phytochemicals. By not receiving the
right amounts of these nutrients, you can develop serious health problems.

All fad diets have one thing in common: They propose a temporary solution to
what for many people is a lifelong problem. Once the diet is stopped, the lost
weight is usually regained quickly. Fad diets don’t focus on lifestyle modification,
which is necessary to keep the weight off, and these diets aren’t sustainable
throughout life.

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

How do I spot a fad diet?

There isn’t a set approach to spotting a fad diet, but these general tips can
help. Fad diets tend to have:

● Recommendations that promise a quick fix.

● Claims that sound too good to be true.
● Simplistic conclusions are drawn from a complex study.
● Recommendations based on a single study.
● Dramatic statements that are refuted by reputable scientific
organizations.
● Lists of "good" and "bad" foods.
● Recommendations made to help sell a book or product.
● Recommendations based on studies published without peer review.
● Recommendations from studies that ignore differences among individuals
or groups.
● Elimination of one or more of the five food groups (fruits, vegetables,
grains, protein foods, and dairy) or subgroups (grains, dairy, fruit).
● Diets that have “testimonials.”

What is still the best method to lose weight and keep it off?

Exercise regularly and eat a variety of unprocessed or minimally processed

foods with moderate portions.

Activity 4: List down popular diet programs promoted by celebrities and

well-known individuals in our society today. Cite some harmful effects of the said
fad diet.

FAD DIETS HARMFUL/SIDE EFFECTS

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

● How to Read Food Labels Without Being Tricked BY Adda Bjarnadottir 2020

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

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