Going to the Grocery Store? Read this First!| Tips for Reading Food Labels

Have you been at the grocery store and seen a product that says “Health Food”, or “Healthy”, or “Natural”, or (my favorite) “Fat-Free”? All these terms can be confusing to say the least. Is it actually Healthy when it says “healthy” on the package? Well, reading labels can help you decode these terms that can be very misleading. Let's talk about some helpful tips for reading labels

First, it’s important to understand that reading the nutrition facts is different than reading the ingredient list. The nutritional facts are more like an overview while the ingredient list is more detailed information.

Helpful Graphic for Reading food Labels

When you are reading the nutritional facts, you can get quick information...how many calories? How much sugar? Etc. But there is an important piece to this puzzle you need to know. In another post where I talked about hidden sugar, one of the things I mentioned was that when you eat a carb, your body treats it like sugar. So here’s a trick...when you are looking at the nutritional facts and you’re trying to see how much sugar is in the product, you have to look at the carbohydrates, fiber, and sugar numbers to get an accurate sugar count. Here is a quick equation you can use to find the true sugar count: take the total carbohydrates minus the fiber plus the sugar....and that is your true sugar count. Getting an accurate sugar account is especially important for people with type 2 diabetes, people trying to lose weight, and people trying to keep their blood sugar in check. Reading the nutrition facts is also helpful when trying to minimize certain things from your diet, such as calories or salt (which is listed as sodium).

True Sugar Count Equation

While reading nutritional facts gives you an overview, it is still important to read the ingredient list. Why? Because even when an item is labeled “Natural” or “Healthy”, there might be something hiding in the ingredient list that is the OPPOSITE of healthy. We already talked about sugar in another post, but some other things might be hiding in your “health” food. Ingredients like carrageenan and propylene glycol are common ingredients even in the “healthy” section of your store. Carageenan causes inflammation and digestive issues while propylene glycol is a known carcinogen (meaning it causes cancer). They may be labeled “natural”, but they are far from healthy. (Future post coming on dangerous ingredients to be aware of.)

So here are some tips for reading labels:

1. The shorter the better. If the label has a small list of ingredients that means there are fewer processed foods. We definitely want to stay away from processed food.

2. Can you pronounce the ingredient? If you can’t even say it, do you really want it in your body? Probably not. You want food your body will recognize.

3. The ingredient list is listed in order of quantity; from most to least. So when sugar is the first ingredient listed, or second….uh-oh!

4. Manufactures are tricky. Look out for ingredients ending in “ose” For example, dextrose or sucrose. That ingredient is just another name for sugar.

5. Be aware when you’re reading the Nutritional Facts, the grams are usually per serving, not the whole box, or can.

Ideally, we want to be eating whole foods like fresh produce and lean meats. We need to be eating foods that our body can process and has a low toxic load. So many packaged foods are laden with chemicals. One thing I love to do with my clients is to help them shop! We actually go to the store together. If we’re virtual, I help my clients go through things from their pantry together. Reading labels and understanding what everything means while knowing what's best for your body can be overwhelming. If this is something you want help with, I would love to help you!