Reading labels? [fructose corn syrup] [reading food labels]
Hi all,
I have been watching my diet for a while now, until recently, I usually focus on the calories and fat in the foods I ate. But recently I have heard many horror stories about things like hydrogenated fat, but the nutrition labels on food products do not indicate wheter the food contains such things.
I think my biggest concern is what all the food ingredients is something that should be avoided. I know high fructose corn syrup is bad, are there others?
Thanks
Reply:Hi all,
I have been watching my diet for a while now, until recently I mostly paid attention to calorie and fat content in the foods I ate. But recently I have heard many horror stories about things like hydrogenated fat, but the nutrition labels on foods dont indicate wheter the food contains such things.
I guess my main concern is what ingredients indicate the food is something that should be avoided. I know high fructose corn syrup is bad, are there any others?
Thanks
There are many things to be avoided… tropical oils are especially bad (palm kernel, coconut, cottonseed, etc)… actually any oil that has another word with it like fractionated, hydrogenated, etc – all usually mean highly processed and very unhealthy.
Also, you want to avoid chemical additives and preservatives. The general rule of thumb is if you can't pronounce it OR if you can't picture what it is, then you should not be eating it. Sodium Nitrates are very bad, MSG, sugar alchohols (anything ending with an "itol") etc.
The more natural the ingredients, the better. This is one of the reasons why I suggest avoiding foods marketed as "low-cArb" or "only XXX net carbs" – usually these fad foods are loaded with all these things you should not be eating.
I also recommend avoiding artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, etc… but that is a personal decision you need to make.
Reply:Yes, that's true
However, I've noticed that some food manufacturers are already listing the trans fat and some of them wil claim "0" trans fat even though there is partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredients.
Reply:Transfats are not currently required to be on the nutritional label as a separate entry. A law was passed to put them there, but it goes into effect, I think, in 2006!
Reply:A way to tell if a product has trans fat is look at the list of ingredients. If "partially hydrogenated oils" are there, then it has trans fat. Some product only contain a trace of trans fat, even though hydrogenated oils are in the ingredients, so they're allowed to say that their product has "0" trans fat, even though it does.
Reply:There are a couple of books out that deal with food additives, "Fast Food Nation" and "This Food Is Driving Me Crazy". You want to watch for addictives. Try to keep your diet as natural as possible. You are in a season right now where everything is ripe and easy to eat. For about four months out of the year you can eat food straight from your local farmer's market. wash it though. Pick up the book, Back to Eden. It has a great way of eating in it.
I gave up on labels. If I can't see the food and then eat it, then it is not going in my mouth. Hard to do in the winter.
The health food store's food has easier to read labels but is more expensive, but you only have one body.
They are now masking MSG as something else so be careful. Avoid all of those sugar and fat additives and substitutes.