Top Tips To Better Read Ingredient Labels
The current surge in demand for “healthier” packaged foods has been quite remarkable. While a bag of Cheetos is an obvious “junk food”, it can be quite hard to tell if its “healthier” alternative is a better choice.
Food manufacturers purposely engineer foods to be hyper-palatable. They include addictive substances that tend to increase our cravings, particularly during times of stress or when experiencing intense emotions.
It contains a combination of ingredients such as sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, flavor enhancers, and additives that stimulate the taste buds and trigger pleasurable sensations in the brain. Fortunately, there are some valuable tips and strategies to consider when opting for cleaner ingredients and non-toxic products to support a low-toxin lifestyle.
To start off Ingredient Awareness: Understanding how to read an ingredient label and which ingredients to look out for is key to success when making your weekly grocery run. I have seen so many of my clients fill up their grocery carts with healthy options yet struggle with a stomachache after eating almost every meal. When we dive deep into the ingredients of said products we see things like “carrageenan” hidden in their favorite nut milk, which is a known gut irritant.
Ingredients to Beware Of:
Gums: These common food additives, used to thicken and stabilize ingredients, can lead to gas, bloating, and gut inflammation when consumed excessively.
Artificial Sweeteners: Sweeteners like saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, and neotame can have detrimental effects with regular consumption, including depression, anxiety, weight gain, cancer, headaches, and other health issues.
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Leaky gut syndrome is triggered by HFCS, according to research conducted at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute. Free-floating fructose from HFCS requires more energy to be absorbed by our gut, which depletes the energy used to maintain the integrity of the intestinal wall lining.
Natural Sweeteners: While natural sweeteners like stevia, erythritol, xylitol, and monk fruit are better alternatives, overindulgence can disrupt the gut microbiome. Moderation is key.
MSG: Monosodium glutamate, a common flavor enhancer, can cause adverse effects like nausea, weakness, heart palpitations, headaches, sweating, and hives. Cooking your own food and choosing raw ingredients can help avoid it.
Food Dyes: The use of synthetic food dyes has increased significantly over the last several decades. Researchers using experimental animal models of IBD found that continual exposure to Allura Red AC harms gut health and promotes inflammation (link to study here). If you are a mom then you may have seen how red dye 40 and other food dyes (blue, red, yellow) can cause ADD and hyperactivity in children. I refuse to purchase anything that contains dyes in it.
Yeast Extract: Found in many canned and packaged foods, yeast extract can lead to bloating, cramps, constipation, and diarrhea. Opt for raw and natural foods to sidestep it.
Shop the perimeter: Grocery shopping, in general, can be overwhelming, especially when striving for cleaner products. Aim to fill your cart with 80% whole foods and 20% packaged items. An easy way to ensure you are making healthy shopping choices is by shopping for the majority of your groceries in the perimeter of the store. This is where you'll find the freshest foods, including produce, meat, and dairy. Processed foods are found in the center aisles.
Pronounceable Ingredients: A simple rule is to choose products with ingredients you can pronounce. This is even more crucial for selecting “healthier options” like protein bars.
Prioritize organic and local products whenever possible. They tend to exhibit higher integrity than their conventional counterparts. Supporting local farms and farmers’ markets not only helps local businesses but also offers quality, nourishing options that are seasonal in your area.
How to detect if a food is ultra-processed?
One of my favorite grocery shopping tips: If you can’t recreate it at home or in a culinary kitchen then it’s ultra-processed.
For example, let’s take ice cream. When you flip over to the ingredient label of a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream sometimes you’ll find a long list of ingredients… do you have access to those ingredients? either at home or in a culinary kitchen? chances are no. But, then you find an ice cream with the ingredients “milk, sugar, chocolate chips” for example. Is that something you can recreate in your kitchen? YES! So that would be a better ice cream option than the first.
Overall, life is about balance. Eating 100% clean is not feasible in the real world. Don’t stress about occasional indulgences or dining out with friends. When you eat healthy 90% of the time, your lifestyle allows for flexibility without derailing your process. Stressing about every single food can cause more harm than just eating said food. It’s all about maintaining a healthy mindset.