Rachel Morgan 
To pick a healthy yogurt at the store, look for plain yogurt made mostly from cultured milk, with 5 grams or less of added sugar, 10 grams or more of protein per serving, and live and active cultures on the label. Put any tub back if sugar appears in the first three ingredients. That is … Read more
To know how to tell if a granola bar is actually healthy, turn it over and read the panel in a fixed order: serving size, total sugars, added sugars, fiber, protein, calories, then the ingredient list. A bar earns a pass when it delivers roughly 3 to 5 grams of fiber, 5 grams or more … Read more
Ingredients on a packaged food are listed in descending order by weight, from the largest amount to the smallest, and the panel usually sits on the back or side next to the Nutrition Facts. The first ingredient is the one the product contains most of. That is the whole trick, and it takes about sixty … Read more
Short answer: on a U.S. food label, natural flavors means the flavoring came from a plant or animal source, not that the food is healthier, cleaner or less processed. I read the ingredient panel of roughly 30 packaged foods last month to write this, and the word showed up on 20 of them — cereal, … Read more
To spot hidden sugar in packaged foods, check the serving size first, then read the Added Sugars line on the Nutrition Facts panel, and finally scan the ingredient list for sugar aliases such as dextrose, corn syrup solids and fruit juice concentrate. That order works because the panel tells you the amount and the list … Read more
Trail mix is a five-minute assembly job, not a recipe: measure out nuts, seeds, dried fruit and something crunchy, toss them together, and portion the batch. The classic balance is 1.5 cups of nuts, 1 cup of seeds, 1 cup of dried fruit and 1 cup of fun mix-ins, finished with a pinch of salt. … Read more
You do not need to quit sugar overnight to make progress. The most reliable way to cut back on sugar without going cold turkey is to trim your usual amount by about a fifth every week, give your palate a few days to adjust at each step, and keep the foods you actually enjoy in … Read more
To stop sugar cravings in the afternoon, the answer is a meal that carries you to 3pm and a snack you already planned: build lunch around protein, fiber and some fat, drink a glass of water, then eat a small snack before the craving window opens. You can start this today, and nothing on the … Read more
The short answer for what to eat before a morning workout: a small, easily digested carbohydrate snack 20 to 45 minutes before you start, plus a modest amount of protein and very little fat or fiber. A banana, a few dates, rice cakes with honey, or a small bowl of oatmeal all work. The right … Read more
Cleaning a blender without taking it apart takes about two minutes. Fill the jar halfway with warm water, add one or two drops of mild dish soap, secure the lid, run the blender on low for 20 to 30 seconds, then tip it out and rinse under the tap. The spinning blades do the scrubbing … Read more