Reading Greek (or nutritional labels)

It's hard not to get caught up in all the new health crazes that are going around lately. I try not to worry too much about the newest fads and promises, but I do like to keep my family healthy. It's important that they have home-cooked meals at least most of the time, and get enough fresh air and exercise. That said, convenience foods are just plain convenient sometimes and cannot be avoided by most busy moms. Here's the main stuff to look for so you can buy the healthiest ones for your kids (and yourself). I am not a nutritionist by any means, but I have researched a lot about this so I'm passing it on to make other parents' lives a bit easier. When in doubt, talk to a professional. I'm only passing my personal guidelines on here, not medical advice.
Calories:
Unless it's over 2000 calories per serving, don't worry about them in kids snacks. Kids need energy and will usually burn it off easily. If your child struggles with obesity or weight issues though, talk to your doctor to figure out a reasonable calorie goal and let that be your guide.

Sugar:
This is what's important. Too much sugar could lead to health problems down the road, so compare the carbs to the sugar. The sugar should be less than 50% or so of the carbs. That's not "low-sugar" but anything more than that is pretty high. You don't have to worry about the carbs for kids (they need much more than we do) but it's a good indication of the sugar ratio.

Sodium:
The recommended sodium intake for people is about the same as the recommended calorie intake, so this one's easy. If the mg of sodium are less than or the same as the calories in a serving, it's good. If it's much higher, skip it. Example: A serving with 200 calories should contain 200 mg of sodium or less.

Ingredients:
This is a tricky one. If you can't pronounce or don't know ingredients, it's up to you whether to buy it. My personal rule is if I can't identify most of the ingredients, I don't buy it. If sugar, salt or corn syrup is one of the first four ingredients, I also don't buy it. The ingredients are listed by amount, so if sugar is the first ingredient it has more sugar than anything else. For frozen meals like chicken nuggets, watch the non-specific ingredients. If it just says "chicken" than it's probably mechanically separated (ie. bleached). Same with fish sticks. Look for "chicken breast" or "white fish meat" instead. You dno't have to stay away from canned vegetables either, but note which ones are packed with salt and sugar and try to avoid those.

There are several more rules for nutrition labels I'm sure, but those are the ones I look for. I figure if I'm monitoring sugar, sodium and chemical intake, they're going to be relatively healthy. If I were to follow all the rules for clean eating, it would take me eight hours to finish grocery shopping every week. And three is enough, it really is.