The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires food labels on most packaged food products and encourages food manufactures to make the labeling easier to understand with standard nutrition facts.

While it may be easy for some nutritionists to fully understand the numbers and terminology on the labels, it can be like the da Vinci code for those like me. Let’s face it: The nutrition facts on food labels are confusing and often misleading. Here are my five tips to decoding food labels.

Tip 1. Mind the serving size and servings per product. These are important because the nutrition facts are tailored to the serving size. If the serving size is half of the whole product and you eat the whole product you are consuming twice the calories. According to the FDA, a general guide to measuring calories would be: 40 calories is low, 100 calories is moderate, 400 calories or more is high.

Tip 2. Limit your total fat, saturated fat, trans fats and cholesterol. Under “amount per serving” you will find all the fats and cholestrol. Try to keep these at a minumum because they are only healthy in moderate amounts. I like the low-fat versions of foods which don’t sacrifice taste but have 3 grams of fat or less per serving compared to the full-fat version.

Tip 3. Cut back on the sugars and sodium. Have you ever noticed when you eat sugary cereals you’re still hungry later? According to Harvard Health Publications, sugar “contains almost no nutrients other than pure carbohydrate.” These empty calories can keep you from eating healthy foods and are often not filling. Also be mindful of your salt intake and consider foods in which the sodium content is less than or equal to the calories per serving, so you don’t overdo your daily amount of sodium.

Tip 4. Don’t forget to get your daily vitamins. Look for tasty foods rich with dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron. Harvard Health Publications states that you should “aim for foods that have 5 [grams] of fiber per serving, or at least one gram of fiber for every 10 grams of carbohydrate.” I like frosted mini-wheats cereal with skim milk and a banana, that way I get my calcium, fiber and some vitamin C all in one delicious and filling breakfast.

Tip 5. Decode the Percentage Daily Values. The percent daily value (DV) gives the food’s nutritional content based on a 2,000-calorie diet. A rule of thumb for DV is that 5 percent or less is low and 20 percent or more is high in whatever mineral or vitamins, but remember this percentage is based on the serving size.

I am no nutritionist but I found these tips to be helpful for anyone who wants to be aware of what they are purchasing. Next time you are reading the label on the back of your meal remember to look at the serving size and number of servings, and judge these percentages off of your own dietary needs.