Ep. 91 What Every Parent Should Teach Teens About Food Labels

In this episode, Dr. Jenny Gourgari discusses how learning to read food labels can help teenagers make healthier food choices.

While fresh foods without labels are always the healthiest option, packaged foods are a reality of modern life. Understanding nutrition labels can help teens compare foods, reduce hidden sugar intake, and choose options that support better energy and metabolism.

Do you worry your teen is gaining weight quickly or seems hungry all the time?
Are you afraid this could lead to prediabetes or diabetes later in life?

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I’m Dr. Jenny Gourgari—pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine and a health coach. 
After helping hundreds of teens struggling with their weight and hormones, I’ve created a whole new path by doing what most programs miss: balance puberty hormones naturally and create habits that actually last.

Here's what makes this different:
✅ No dieting. No calorie counting. No shame.
✅ No more food fights between parents and teens.
✅ No weight obsession—just healthy habits
✅ Real science behind how puberty hormones affect weight
✅ A safe, supportive approach that prevents eating disorders

Because when teens understand their hormones and get the right support, they don’t just lose weight—they gain strength, energy, confidence, and freedom!

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Transcript

 the ability to distinguish when it is time for you to get something that is in a package which one to get is a great skill. That can lead to healthier behaviors. 📍 And there was a great research study. In this study they asked teenagers from elementary, high school and middle school, whether they use the food labels when they're making their choices of what they're eating. And then they look at the kids' behaviors, like how much sugary drinks are they drinking? How much fruits and vegetables are they drinking? What they found was that 📍 the children that they were not looking at all the labels, they were more likely to consume more than one sugary drink every day, which means they consume more sugars and the kids that were more conscious about what is in the food label, those kids were 📍 more likely to have healthier behaviors and have more than one fruits and vegetables per day. Other studies have also shown that this kind of literacy like food label and knowing how to choose between two packages, which one is better option than the other, know how to look at the ingredients of whatever you're buying is a great skill, which is a skill that I also teach in my coaching program with teenagers. You can get a label and look at it. It will tell you. What are the carbs? What are the protein? What is the fat? It is saturated, it's not saturated, how many calories, how many servings are in, in one package? And you can compare the two, right? So 📍 if you have, let's say, two different packages of bread, right? And you look one bread and it says one piece, 30 grams of bread, like one slice of bread has eight grams of protein and it can have 10 grams of fiber. And then the other piece of bread for the same amount, 30 grams of slice has one gram of fiber and has two grams of protein. Which bread would you go for? We wanna go for the bread that has more protein because we know that protein is associated with more satiety, with less cravings feeling fuller. And 📍 also fiber is very important to keep your gI system better and you feel healthier and again makes you feel full and it decrease the cravings it improves the insulin resistance. So get into the habit of looking at the food labels is my take home message. And there are multiple studies that have shown that learning how to read the food labels can make you make those healthier choices. Now, is that enough? 📍 It is not enough by itself like learning to read the labels, but it can lead to your choice to make healthier choices over time. And if you consistently make healthier choices based on the food labels when you have to have a package compared to the unhealthier choices, then overall your nutrition is gonna change with just this small habit. Next time when you go to a grocery store and you wanna buy anything that is in a package, I highly recommend that you take a look and you compare the labels. Now, another thing I wanna mention that is very relevant to the food labels is that oftentimes you will discover there are hidden ingredients , particularly sugar. It comes with all these different names and you may be buying, 📍 let's say bread that you didn't expect to have sugar. However, there is can be bread that has sugar. Now they may not call it exactly sugar, they may call it other names. Like you can have a bread that has corn syrup or a bread that has dextrose or it can have brown sugar or it can have different names, syrups, like if you see syrup or if you dextrose or all those things and there are other, like many 📍 other names for sugar that I have a complete list about all the different names, but again, if you, going back to the example of what piece of bread should I buy? Ideally you can make your own bread at home or you can buy bread that is fresh from, baker's store that you trust. But if you have to buy let's say bread slices or something that it's packaged, look to see which bread has higher sugar, and that will be one little swap that you can do. And if you keep on doing that consistently, then it will give you better results . Imagine doing that not only for the bread, imagine doing that for things that you consume for breakfast, let's say cereal. What kind of cereal do you put in your milk? If you put cereal in your milk you know there's cereal that has more sugar. There's cereal that has less sugar. There's cereal that has more fiber. There's cereal that has less fiber. There's cereal that has fortified with protein, and there's cereal that doesn't. There's cereal that has saturated fat versus unsaturated fat. And this can go on and on. Like you get the message right. So get into the habit of reading the food labels. Know what you are buying, know what you're reading, and also look at the serving size. 📍 Oftentimes, sometimes the labels can be misleading because you may buy a full package and they give you the calories or the protein per serving but then you end up eating the whole box and, but then it says five servings in the box, right? So you need to be aware whether what you're seeing is what you're eating. And if you think that you're eating one serving and you're getting what it is in that one packet, but instead that may be five servings. So you need to multiply all the colors by five. You need to multiply all the sugar by five, right? So it can make a big difference. Look at the labels, make healthy choices, and of course if you have the choice between something that is on a label and something that is fresh, please by all means go and choose the fresh, unprocessed food 'cause that is really the best and the healthiest. But if you do need to have something that is packaged, please look at the label 'cause that has been associated with healthier habits. So that was all I had for you today. I hope that was helpful. And go check your labels on at least one food that you buy today on the groceries. Take care