The 5/20 Rule of nutrition

Are you familiar with the 5/20 rule of nutrition? Here’s how it can help when buying groceries, especially packaged products.

Whether you’re on an active diet or not, knowing this rule can help you understand the amount of nutrition you’re getting and when you may be taking in more than you need on a daily basis. Say if you’re trying to reduce sugars and sodium, but increase your proteins, this is an easy way to sort it all out.

Here’s what the 5/20 Rule Means

The  5 and 20 stand for the percentage of daily value of nutrition, sometimes it can be higher or lower. Essentially, if a product contains 5% of an ingredient that’s low. If it’s 20% or above, that means it’s really high. So for diabetics or those lowering sugars, keeping it below 5% is a good idea.

Maybe in winter too, you’ll want a higher daily percentage value of vitamin D and if you’re older, having more calcium. It’s always good to keep sodium and sugar percentages as low as you can. We all need some salts and sugars, but packaged foods are often overloaded with sodium and sugar because that tricks our taste buds.

The best way to get your daily nutrition is through natural foods, not canned or processed, but sometimes that isn’t possible. One good idea is to keep an eye out for sales on nuts and seeds as they’re nutritional powerhouses.

And don’t fall for marketing words on the front of the label like “low carbs” or “low in fats”, these terms aren’t regulated like the proper nutritional labels are.

More Insights: Check out this cool article on the health benefits of seeds.

Author: Alexa Hurst is a writer for Optimyz and Silver magazines based in Halifax, Canada.