5 THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR WHEN READING FOOD LABELS

Have you ever read a food label and thought…I have no idea what this is?

Truth bomb: your body probably doesn’t either.

There are so many things you have to be aware of these days. Some of these include: dyes, preservatives, hidden sugars, natural flavors, isolated proteins that act as msg, seed oils, serving size of sugars, pesticides, and more.

Companies also like to trick us by using “healthy” taglines and words like natural, organic, dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, etc.

For example, you can unwittingly buy “organic” peanut butter, hummus, guacamole, or roasted nuts and later find out they’re laced with canola oil, a highly inflammatory Omega-6 seed oil.

Hidden Sugars

Sugars are everywhere. Recent studies confirm that Americans are, on average, consuming 17 teaspoons of sugar every day. That is 57 pounds per year.

Sugar is an anti-nutrient. It contains no vitamins of its own and instead leeches them from your body in order for digestion to occur.

So, how do you limit your sugar intake?

To determine how many teaspoons of sugar are in a product, you need to use the following equation: 4 grams of sugar= one teaspoon of sugar.

Knowing this, you look at total sugars listed under carbohydrates. You then divide the total number of sugars by 4 to determine the amount of sugar per serving size. For example, if total sugars equal 15, then 15 divided by 4 equals 3.75 teaspoons of sugar per serving.

Sugar also hides in our foods. Anything that ends in “ose” is a sugar and anything that ends in “ol” is a sugar alcohol. For example: fructose, lactose, maltose, dextrose, xylitol, sorbitol, etc.

There are also the following hidden forms of sugar to look out for: corn sweetener, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, high-fructose corn syrup, malt syrup, sugar syrup, Florida Crystals, evaporated cane juice, corn syrup solids, barley malt, agave nectar, rice syrup, caramel, panocha, muscovado, molasses, treacle, and carob syrup.

Preservatives

While Preservatives help food stay fresh longer, they are also linked to cancer and hormone disruption.

I recommend avoiding the following preservatives: nitrites (nitrates and nitrosamines) added to processed meats; BHA & BHT added to cereals, hot dogs, candy, and so on; sulfites; sodium benzoate; potassium benzoate, benzene, and potassium bromate.

Dyes

Dyes are notoriously troublesome for those with behavioral disorders like ADHD and autism. However, did you know they’re also toxic to the human body and contain carcinogens and cancer-causing substances?

Some of the most common include: Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6; however, all colors and dyes contain carcinogens.