Being able to successfully read a food label is important. You want to know exactly what is going into your body, right? Great. Well, keep reading to find out what to look for…
Food labels are found on foods that have been processed to some degree. You won’t often find a food label on whole fruits or vegetables. While it’s better to eat a majority of foods without food labels, I will say that not all processed food is necessarily bad for you. The term “processed food” gets a bad wrap, and mostly for good reason. This is because of all the chemicals and preservatives that are added to foods to make them taste better and last longer. There are, however, processed foods that are made with whole, good quality ingredients. The food label is important here to help you discern between an unhealthy processed food and a healthy processed food.
There are a couple of different sections that make up a Food Label. First, you will see the Nutrition Facts. This section can be universally recognized by a thick black line in the shape of a square or rectangle that surrounds the words “Nutrition Facts” followed by serving size amounts, calories, macronutrient amounts and more. So, if one is interested in how many calories or macros are in a certain product, they can find this information here. Pay attention to the serving size though as this will let you know how much food their measurements are for.
Secondly, there will always be an ingredients list on the label. In my opinion, this is the most important thing to look at as a consumer. There are good calories and there are bad calories – but you don’t know which is which simply by looking at a number. By knowing which individual ingredients (real or artificial) are in your product, you can then decide for yourself if they make up good calories or bad calories.
When reading the ingredients list, the first ingredient that is listed is the most abundant in the product, and so on and so forth. Consequently, if sugar is the first ingredient listed, then that product mostly made of sugar. In general, the shorter the ingredient list the better. Another good rule of thumb to follow is that if you cannot pronounce ingredients or they look like names of chemicals, etc. then it’s a highly processed food, thus unhealthy. To just name a few, below are ingredients to look out for that mean highly processed:
- hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oil (trans fats)
- nitrates/nitrites
- sulfates/sulfites
- benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, calcium sorbate (preservatives)
- sucralose, neotame, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup (artificial sweeteners)
Unfortunately, toxicity in the body is very common in the world today because we are oblivious to all of the harmful chemicals and toxins that are put in our food and other products by manufacturers. I urge you to take the extra minute in the grocery isle to read first what you are putting into your cart!
“Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”
Edward stanley
You can control what goes into your body. No excuses. After all, it’s going to be what fuels you. Food is fuel and medicine. You are what you eat!
Heidi says
Great article! Thanks for breaking it down and listing out the ingredients to watch out for. I love the quote by Edward Stanley- it’s an eye opener!
Anna the Health Coach says
Thanks for your comment, Heidi!