How To Read Food Labels
It’s more than sad that we live in a society where we have to carefully scrutinize labels for ingredients and “health claims,” to make sure what we are buying is actually edible. Excess sugar, obscene amounts of salt, oh, and let’s not forget color dyes and weed killers. Is it too much to ask to be able to trust that what we take off the shelves will actually be good for us? Sadly, at the moment, it is.
Not only is there a lot of crap and chemicals in our food, but many of us wouldn’t even know it, even after reading the labels. Why? Because labels are confusing! Unless we study nutrition, no one teaches us how to read labels, what the different numbers and percentages mean, how to determine the macro ratios, and what it all means for our bodies.
Today I’m sharing just a few easy things to look for and consider when reading labels, in the hopes it will help you make healthier choices, more suitable for you and your diet.
1- Did you know that in the U.S., by law, ingredients have to be listed in order from most to least? Yep. The ingredients list is not listed alphabetically or randomly. It shows you exactly what is in the product, starting with the most used ingredient. So, if the first thing you see in a granola bar is High Fructose Corn Syrup, that might not be the healthiest choice.
This is why many of the healthiest foods don’t have an ingredient list - whole foods like veggies, fruits, eggs, and nuts.
2- Naturally-occurring sugars are not the same as added sugars. If you see a sugar count on the Nutrition Facts grid, but do NOT see it in the Ingredients list, that means the product naturally has sugar (like plain yogurt, because the lactose BREAKS DOWN INTO SUGAR). This is different than having table sugar added separately. If sugar is added separately, it would be considered an ingredient, and it would be listed in the Ingredients list.
3- Using the example of yogurt, always get PLAIN and add your own fruits, nuts and/or sweetener. Why? Next time you’re at the market, check out the difference between the PLAIN yogurt ingredients and the “Fruit on the bottom” yogurt. As you’ll see, it isn’t just fruit they add, but sweetener, color, and fruit flavors. It’s a lot of extra crap.
If you look at the Nutrition Facts for these two examples (plain yogurt vs. flavored yogurt) you can see just how much extra sugar/carbohydrates there are in the flavored kind (18 grams vs. 7 grams for unsweetened).
4- Never ever go by what’s claimed on the front of a package - look at the ingredients on the back. The rules for claiming things as “healthy” are lax, even non-existent. Companies can freely use terms like, “natural,” “organic,” “made with all natural ingredients,” “gluten/sugar/soy/egg-free,” with very few standards.
In general, don’t let words like “natural” entice you. It doesn’t mean much. Besides, poison ivy is natural, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe to eat. “Made with all natural ingredients” is another marketing scheme. If I dumped blueberries into a vat of tar, I could claim the tar is made with all natural ingredients, and technically, it would be true.
Similarly, just because something is sugar, gluten, or soy-free does not make it healthy, or good for you. It simply means that product doesn’t contain that specific ingredient. It could have other chemicals, artificial sweeteners, and plenty of other crap.
There are dozens of other things to consider when reading food labels, whether you are looking at calorie count, ingredients, fats, etc. Enjoy these few tidbits for now, and always read the labels before buying. Happy food shopping!