So often, clients come to be confused about nutrition labels. What should they be looking for? What should they avoid?

Here are some basics:

• Be careful about serving sizes. You may think a product is low in calories, but if you look at the serving size and it is 2.5, you have to multiply the calories by 2.5.

• Make sure your food choice has at least a couple grams of fiber.

• Be careful about the sugar content. Keep in mind that 4 grams of sugar equals an entire teaspoon.

But I actually have good news to announce about nutrition label. The FDA is making some changes that will make label reading easier for you.

Though the new nutrition facts label will not be fully implemented until July of 2018, it is good to have basic knowledge about the changes.

Here are the 7 major highlights to be on the lookout for.

1. New format and larger font. The nutrition facts label will now make it easier to read the serving sizes and calories by increasing and bolding the font.

2. "Added Sugars" will be clearly labeled. Grams and percent of "Added Sugars" will be added to the label.

3. "Calories from Fat" will be removed. Staying consistent with current research, the types of fat seems to be more important than amount; therefore, "Total Fat," "Saturated Fat," and "Trans Fat" will stay on the label.

4. Serving and package sizes adjusted. Serving sizes will now be based on amounts people are actually consuming. Packaged items that have 1-2 servings will now have a food label that represents the whole package and not just the serving size or have one column for single serving and another for the whole package.

5. Updates for %DV. Sodium, dietary fiber, and vitamin D will have updated %DV (percent of daily value) according to recent research.

6. Added gram amounts. Vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium will now have gram amounts on the food label, in addition to %DV.

7. No longer required on the label. Vitamin A and C will no longer be required on nutrition facts label, but can be put on voluntarily.

Feel free to contact me if you need help in deciphering nutrition labels! I am looking forward to these new labels — especially the larger font!