Let's tale a look at the label at left and figure out what it means.

Serving Size
Serving size info is always at the top of the label and specifies how big a serving is and how many servings are in the container. In this case a serving is one cup and the container has 2 servings (it's a 2 cup container).

In theory, the serving size is based on the amount most people eat. I must be a big eater, because I often eat two servings. In my case I'd have to double all the info on the left by 2 to account for the double portion.

The good news is that similar food products have to use the same serving sizes, so it's easy to compare foods. For example, a serving of spaghetti sauce is 1/2 cup and all spaghetti sauces will use this serving size.

Calories and Calories from Fat
The next thing on the label is the calories and calories from fat. In this case it's 260 total calories of which 120 are from fat. If I eat the whole container, I'll be consuming 520 calories of which 240 are fat.

In general, a food is considered low calorie if it has 40 or less calories per serving, moderate calorie if it has 100 or less calories, and high calorie if it has more than 400 calories.

I think it would be really useful, if the label also gave the fat as a percentage of the total calories. I usually estimate this in my head.

I know I'm suppose to limit fat to 30% of my total calories. This food gets 46% of it's calories from fat (120/260). That doesn't mean I won't eat it, but it does mean I need to eat it with some lower fat foods for things to average out to 30%. However, if I see that a food item gets more than 1/2 its calories from fat, I generally leave it on the shelf.

% Daily Value
This section is useful, because it shows how the foods fits into a 2000 (women) or 2500 (men) calorie diet. In general the nutrients in this section (fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, and proteins) are food components we typically get more than enough of. If there were some really high percentages in this section, it would be cause for concern.

One exception to looking for low values in this section is dietary fiber. Most Americans don't eat enough fiber, so it would be good to have a higher number here.

However, what I like most about this section is that the type of fats are broken out, so I can easily see how much of the fat is saturated.

Vitamins & Minerals
This section helps you understand if the food has a lot or a little of some important nutrients. The label must show how much of the Recommend Daily Allowances for vitamins A and C and the minerals Calcium and Iron are in one serving. Manufacturers may include the daily values for additional vitamins and minerals, if they wish.

The Footnote
The footnote begins with the asterisk and explains how the % daily values are determined. For example, the recommendation for total fat is no more than 30% of daily calories. For a 2000 calorie diet (a sedentary male) only 600 calories should be from fat (2000 x .30). Fat has 9 calories/gram, so 600 calories of fat is about 65 grams.

Ingredients List
Another important part of food labeling is the ingredients list. I don't always read the Nutrition Facts label, but I always scan the ingredients list before I buy a new product. The ingredients are listed in order of composition by weight.

When I buy a can of fruit, I want the first ingredient to be the fruit and the second ingredient to be fruit juice or water, not an added sugar like corn syrup. Similarly, when I buy bread, I want the first ingredient to be whole-wheat or another whole-grain, not white flour.