Food Labelling...Don't Be Fooled - by Mark Bunn

Food Labelling

Are you one of the millions of people who every day get
frustrated/confused/misled, by manufacturers and their food labelling?

I heard on the news this week, that many of our biggest brand names,
were found to be guilty of misleading consumers like you about the
realities of what is actually in their products. What a shock...
Who would ever have guessed!!!

Despite labels like' low-fat',' Low GI' etc, the items in question
actually had more kilojoules than a big Mac or a glass of full strength
beer. Not what you want for yourself or your kids.

So today, I thought we'd have a quick 'Dummies Guide' to reading
food labels, so you can hopefully avoid marketing tricks and choose the
foods that are genuinely healthy for you and your kids etc.

Top 10 Tips for What to Know & What To Look Out For:

1. Don't Believe Anything They Say:

When it comes to food labelling, there are more loopholes
than there are Botox jobs in Hollywood, so don't believe
anything they say on the front of products.

The only way to know is to read (decipher!!!) the Ingredients list.

2. Know That Ingredients are listed in Order of Quantity:

I.e. whatever is listed first, is present in the
greatest amount and so on down to be ingredient in the smallest amount.

So when you pick up your low-fat' healthy' snack bar, and you
look at the ingredients list, and sugar or flavouring etc is
right at the top of the list, you know that manufacturer is
trying to bend the truth more than Big Bad Bill Clinton himself.

It might be low in fat, but it's a full of sugar and empty calories.

3. Beware the Nasty Wolf in Sheeps Clothing:

So you read the ingredients list and instead of sugar you
see healthier sounding things like glucose, glucose syrup,
molasses etc right up the top.

"Great", you say. Well not so. These of course, are just other
names for sugar, or things that can have similar effects.

The same 'name substituting' applies for fats, salt etc.

Here's a sample of what to look out for.

Sugar Substitutes:

Glucose, Sugar/sucrose, Glucose syrup, Dextrose (same as glucose)
Fructose (fruit juice sugars), Corn syrup, Golden syrup, Malt

* Honey (unheated) & Molasses etc are generally healthier options.

Fat Substitutes:

Triglycerides, Margarine/Butter, Trans fats / (partially) hydrogenated fats
(avoid both of these at all costs), Vegetable oil, Shortening, Milk powder
(full cream), Lard

Salt Substitutes:

Sodium chloride, Yeast (extract), Soy sauce/Tamari

4. 'It's FRESH'...depending on your definition:

Fresh doesn't necessarily mean fresh as you normally think of it.

It may still have spent weeks in processing and transport,
but it does mean it hasn't been frozen, chemically altered or
tinned etc, so it is usually better to some degree.

5. Don't Fall for the one about 'No Cholesterol:

Cholesterol is only really found in animal products,
so when buying vegetable products such as oils...e,g olive oil, margarines
(if you buy them, I wouldn't!!!), no cholesterol or ‘cholesterol-free’
is pointless. It's about as useful as a 100 Jersey cows at a
vegetarians convention.

* Remember also, low or no cholesterol doesn't mean low fat
(cholesterol is just like one type of fat).

6. Reduced-Fat isn’t Necessarily Low-Fat:

Confused??? I think that's what they want you to be,
but keep it simple.

Reduced-fat is all relative. It's a bit like "what's an easy way
to have a million dollars?" Answer, start with $2 million.

So reduced-fat is basically meaningless, depending on how much
there was to start with. The only way to be sure, read the label.

7. 95% Fat-Free...so what about the other 5% Fat?

'92% fat free'… sounds good doesn't it?

But it's also of course 8% fat!!! This may or may not be good.
Read the label to actually see how grams/calories from fat.

* Note:

Remember too, not all fats are 'bad' fats and fat per se is not 'bad'
(just too much). So in terms of buying processed things (where the
type of fat is usually not good/healthy), going for low-fat where you
can is the best option.

Low-fat means it is less than 3% fat in foods and less than 1.5% fat
for drinks.

8. Make sure Fruit Means Fruit:

Look for real fruit high up in the ingredients list.
Watch out for fruit or fruit juice 'concentrates' (e.g apple
concentrate) and fruit 'flavourings' (e.g natural peach flavouring etc).

9. Beware No Artificial Colours, Flavours or Additives:

No artificial ones, but maybe some supposedly ‘natural’ ones.
Look also for 'flavour enhancers' where they sprout 'no artificial flavours'.

10. Lite....Lite.....Lite....what a Blight:

My all-time favorite. This is the biggest scam of the lot.

Get 'lite' chips or snacks and you'd be forgiven for thinking
you've made a healthier purchase. Not necessarily so.

Lite doesn't mean low-fat, low-calorie or anything else.

It may just be light in colour, lightly salted, light in taste,
light in oil etc.

Light on honesty I say. Beware of 'lite'.

Final Note: The Key Point & Simplest Solution:

I hope you found this information helpful.
However, the most important point of all is this.

Have you ever been confused by the ingredients list
on your fresh fruits and vegetables etc you buy at the grocery store?

The point of course is that nature's foods (real foods) don't have
ingredients lists.

If you are spending a lot of your time reading food labels etc,
chances are you are eating/buying a high percentage of manufactured/
processed type foods. In these cases, you can generally assume
the quality (nutrition & life force value) of such foods,
is not going to be great.

Ideally if you can make 80 to 90% of your diet (and your kids)
from fresh, natural, unprocessed foods, then don't need to worry about
reading food labels. Even if what you buy is
high in fat, sugar, salt etc, it won't really matter,
if it's just 10% of what you eat.

As always go for natural foods, as fresh as possible, wherever possible.
Article written by Mark Bunn - guest speaker & writer of health speakers articles.

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