How to Read Food Labels
It’s one of my favourite sayings. 
If it comes in a bag, box or can then don’t eat it, or at least
think twice about eating it.
You see most of the food that we should be eating isn’t processed
or packaged. Vegetables, fruit, lean meat for example comes
straight off the shelf and is beast eaten fresh.
Obviously there are some exceptions to this rule, that’s why I
encourage people to think twice. Yogurt and cottage cheese fit this
category nicely. But if you are able to identify more foods that
you should be eating that are packaged then it means you are
actively thinking about what you are eating which is a good thing!
The trick then when buying packaged foods is to be able to
determine exactly what’s in them and the best way to do this is by
reading the Nutritional Information panel.
Today we will look at one of the most confusing areas of this label
the Ingredients List.
All ingredients must be listed, according to weight, from most to
least. So the higher on the list an ingredient is then the more of
it the product contains. Interestingly if an ingredient makes up
less than 5% of the total ingredients it doesn’t have to be listed.
Also, all additives and allergens (such as gluten, nuts, and eggs) must
be listed regardless of the amount.
In an effort to be reducing bad fats and sugar from our diets it is
important to know what names these might appear as on these labels.
You see most of these food corporations know health conscious
people are looking for sugar and fat on the labels so they make it
a bit more confusing in an effort to, well confuse the customer.
Fat
On the label you are looking out for vegetable oil, coconut oil,
palm oil, milk solids, shortening or cream. If any of these
ingredients are up the list then look out!
Sugar
A lot of the time you can look at a label and it appears that there
is no ‘sugar’ in a product. Technically your basic table sugar is
sucrose. However there are other sugars used such as maltose and
lactose. Also be on the lookout for the ‘..saccharride’ clan. This
includes the monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides.
Other common sugars you will find hidden in the labels are malt
extract, corn syrup, syrup and brown sugar.
Salt
These tricksters also try to hide the salt on the label. To
increase the shelf life of these foods the manufacturers must add
salt. The typical western diet gets 80% of its salt intake from
processed foods. Be on the lookout for any sodium. Sodium nitrate,
sodium citrate, sodium bicarbonate and mono sodium glutamate.
What are you on the lookout for on the labels of food you eat? Let
us know.
