How to Read Food Labels

You're standing in Tesco, holding two yoghurt pots, squinting at tiny text on the back, trying to work out which one won't derail your progress.

Sound familiar?

I've watched this exact scene play out with clients for years. Smart people, successful people, completely baffled by food labels because nobody ever taught them the actual system.

So let me fix that right now.

The UK and EU Have the Best Food Labelling System (And You're Probably Not Using It)

The UK and the rest of the EU have one of the best food labelling systems in the world, and most people still don't use it properly.

I'm talking about the traffic light colour-coding on the front of packs. Red, amber, green. Shows you instantly if something is high, medium, or low in fat, saturated fat, sugars, and salt.

Green is low. Amber is medium. Red is high.

Choose more greens and ambers. Fewer reds.

That's the foundation. But here's where it gets interesting.

When "healthy" foods turn red

Last week, a client messaged me panicking because her almonds had a red light for fat.

Valid concern, right?

Not really.

Single-ingredient whole foods (raw almonds, for example) don't belong under the traffic light system. The fat in almonds is predominantly unsaturated, the kind that supports metabolic health, not sabotages it.

But here's the key: stick to the 30g serving size. That red light is telling you something important about portion control.

Glazed almonds with 8 ingredients? That's a different story entirely. Those belong under scrutiny.

The Three Parts of Every Food Label

Let me walk you through what actually matters.

Part 1: Traffic Lights (Front of Pack)

Quick decision-making tool. If you see multiple reds, especially for saturated fat, sugar, and salt, you're looking at something that should be occasional, not daily.

I tell clients: if it's mostly red, leave it on the shelf 9 times out of 10.

Part 2: Reference Intakes (RIs)

These show percentages of daily maximums per serving, based on a 2,000 kcal diet.

Here's what the "average human" they reference actually looks like:

Female, aged 19 to 64, moderately active, healthy weight, no special dietary needs.

A pound to a penny, that's not you.

I'm 6'4" and 105kg. My maintenance calories sit around 3,500, nearly double the RI. If you're one of my clients, you already know your numbers. If you're not and you want them, get in touch with your age, height, weight, activity level, and goal (fat loss, gain, or maintenance). I'll calculate it for you.

The point? RIs are a starting reference, not gospel.

Part 3: Nutritional Table (Back of Pack)

This is where decisions get made.

The table shows values per 100g or 100ml (this lets you compare products directly) and usually per portion.

Per 100g is your comparison tool. Per portion is the manufacturer's fantasy land.

More on that in a moment.

The Ingredients List (Where Truth Lives)

Ingredients appear in descending order by weight. The first three are your main ingredients.

I use two rules:

Rule 1: More than 5 ingredients? Proceed with extreme caution.

Whole foods don't need ingredient lists. An apple is an apple. Chicken breast is chicken breast.

If you're looking at 4 to 8 ingredients, you need to read what those ingredients actually are.

Rule 2: Sugar in the top 3 ingredients? Walk away.

Food manufacturers are sneaky. They watch the health space attentively and use different sugar names to fool you into a false sense of security.

There are over 60 different terms for added sugar.

Look for anything ending in "ose": dextrose, fructose, maltose, glucose.

Watch for syrups: corn, rice, malt, golden.

Be wary of: cane juice, molasses, honey, agave, fruit juice concentrates.

If any version of sugar appears in the top 3 ingredients, it's an immediate hard no.

What the Numbers Actually Mean

Let me be clear about the thresholds that matter:

Saturated Fat: High is more than 5g per 100g. Keep this low most of the time.

Sugar: High is more than 22.5g per 100g. This is the big one. Most "healthy" breakfast cereals sit between 20g and 30g per 100g. That's not health food, that's confectionery with vitamins sprinkled on top.

Salt: High is more than 1.5g per 100g. Chronically high salt intake messes with blood pressure and water retention. Choose lower when possible.

Fibre: Look for at least 6g per 100g. "High in fibre" means something specific, and this is it.

Protein: Aim for at least 15g per 100g in products where protein should feature (yogurts, meat products, protein bars).

The Portion Size Trap

Here's what most people don't realise.

Ultra-processed foods typically list serving sizes of 25g to 30g.

Have you ever eaten 30g of cereal? It's about 3 spoonfuls.

I'd bet the farm you eat double or triple that amount. That's the nature of highly-palatable foods loaded with salt, sugar, and fat. They're designed to override your satiety signals.

So when you're reading the per-portion numbers, multiply them by 2 or 3 to get the truth.

Better yet, ignore the per-portion column entirely and focus on per 100g. It's honest.

Your Mental Checklist for Healthy Products

Here's how to identify a genuinely healthy option in under 10 seconds:

✓ Green or amber traffic lights (mostly)
✓ Sugar less than 10g per 100g (ideally less than 5g)
✓ Saturated fat less than 3g per 100g
✓ Salt less than 1g per 100g
✓ Fibre at least 4g per 100g
✓ Protein at least 10g per 100g (for protein-focused products)
✓ Fewer than 5 ingredients total
✓ No sugar in the first 3 ingredients
✓ You recognise every ingredient

Nine checks. Takes 8 seconds once you've done it twice.

That checklist will steer you right 99% of the time.

The Ultimate Shortcut

Whole food, single-ingredient items are always the best option and don't require reading anything on the back.

Chicken. Eggs. Broccoli. Sweet potatoes. Almonds. Salmon.

No label reading needed.

The more processing, the more scrutiny required.

Put It Into Practice

Re-read this article once more, slowly.

Then next time you're in the shop, spend 10 minutes looking at different food labels across different aisles.

Compare yoghurts. Compare cereals. Compare protein bars.

Check the per 100g numbers. Read the ingredient lists. Notice how many have sugar in the top 3 ingredients.

This isn't about judging yourself for past purchases. It's about training your eye to spot the difference between marketing and reality.

Do this once with intention, and you'll never buy blindly again.

The Bottom Line

What if the "healthy" foods you've been buying for years are actually sabotaging your progress because you never looked past the front-of-pack marketing?

The traffic light system gives you the truth in 3 seconds. The nutritional table tells you the rest in 5 more. That's 8 seconds between confusion and clarity.

Use it.