How To Read Food Labels

Reading food labels is really important nowadays since our dependency on packaged foods is soaring high. If we cannot survive on raw food, we need to learn how to chose packaged foods wisely.

You might be reading labels to check how many calories, fat, carbs or protein does a food item contain. Have you ever cared to know what the food is made of?

I will give you a quick checklist on how to read food labels when you go for grocery shopping.

• Check the ingredient list along with calorie information. If you find ingredient names sounding technical or chemical to be precise, it is a clear indication that the food item is highly processed. Drop it there, you don’t need to put junk in your body.

• Anything which is labeled as Fat-Free is Fattening. We are all turning obese because of the increased intake of fat-free foods. In order to reduce fat, the packed foods are full of carbs and sugar. Read here why sugar is evil here. By now, we are aware that the same amount of calories from protein, fat, and carbs are different. If you have missed the article, read here.

• Fat controls blood sugar levels. When sugar in the blood is high, we need more insulin to push sugar into our cells. Insulin is used to store fat. More insulin produced is more fat stored in the body.  This means sugar makes us FAT.

• The majority of whole-grain foods are misleading! When you pick up a whole grain food item, read the ingredient list. If it doesn’t specify 100% whole grain or if it contains refined flour, do not buy.
• Check the amount of fiber in the product. Whole-grain foods are high in fiber. If fiber is low in whole grain food, you know what to do 🙂

• Trans Fats- Trans fats are cheaper and long-lasting than ghee or butter. They are difficult to digest. Hydrogenated oils are also trans fats, avoid them. Our very own Nutralite contains trans fats :(.

• Avoid Sugar-Free foods or sugar substitutes. Aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, dextrose, etc are known to cause diseases ad dreadful as cancer. Read about Sugar-Free Natura here and Equal products here. You can use organic jaggery, stevia or honey.

• Avoid food with preservatives, flavorings, and additives. These are chemicals and our body is not meant to digest them.

• High Fructose Corn Syrup – This is found in ketchup, soda, cookies, pasta/pizza sauce, etc. This is loaded with calories since it is man-made. The rule to follow is to eat raw, stay healthy 🙂

• MSG – This has several names like hydrolyzed protein,, plant protein extract, hydrolyzed plant extract, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, yeast extract,  autolyzed yeast, sodium caseinate, texturized protein, hydrolyzed oat flour, calcium caseinate, etc. MSG causes us to crave and eat more.

• Sodium or salt causes bloating and water retention. Avoid it.

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Let us know if you have some other tricks on how to read food labels 🙂

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• Book Review | UNJUNKED : Healthy Eating For Weight Loss By Suman Agarwal