Salad surprise found when reading food labels

I was shopping at Traders Joes looking for a quick salad for my lunch. I wanted something tasty, not just lettuce. I was surprised at the calories on the back of the prepackaged salads. Some of these small salads were over 400 calories and if I add in a sandwich... well.. I could see the calories adding up!

It was the little stuff added to the salad that just added up, not to mention the salad dressing!My point is we get fooled easily. We often see something we think is really healthy and overlook all the other stuff on it that makes it less healthy. Today, we need to be alert shoppers, I will even go so far as to say sleuths.

We can't take packages at face value. To shop smart for our families, we have to go that extra step and READ the LABEL. It's all there.

And get the kids to help. It is good reading practice, but more importantly, it will help them develop a life-long healthy habit.I tell you, in all honesty, I would never have guessed over 400 calories for a small salad! Had I not read the label I would have eaten it too, thinking I was eating something very low in calories.Teach your kids to read food labels as part of routine grocery shopping. It's time well spent for you, for your family and most importantly, for your kids.

Need a quick overview of food labels, click here.

Let your kids play this fun little understanding food labels game, click here to start!