Saturday, March 17, 2018

Food labels are lying to me


Do you know how to grocery shop for healthy foods? I thought I was! I shop the perimeter, and I study food labels. That should be enough to keep me healthy, right?
But reading food labels can be deceiving. I am going to give you a few tips that I have learned when shopping.

Label lie #1: Under 100 calories per serving



I don't know about you but one of the first things on a food label I look at is number of calories per serving. But are you looking at how big that serving size is? Or how many servings the food package contains?
For example, many cans of soda, juice or iced tea — which most of us assume is a single serving — are actually 2, sometimes even 3 “servings.” In 1 can. YIKES! That is alot of calories in one can.
You are probably doing the same thing with cereal. you can pour what you think is a single serving into a bowl, while in reality that’s actually 3 or 4 times the amount (and calories) listed on the label.
And chips? Forget about it. A serving size is usually 1 ounce … which, depending on the size of the chips, could be as few as 8 to 10 chips. 8 chips? Ok, I can't even remember the last time I only ate 8 chips at a time.

Another one that is deceiving is.... salad dressing! Many easily contain 100 calories per serving, which is usually only about 2 tablespoons. Do you know how easy it is to pour 6 or even 8 tablespoons of dressing on your salad? And that is how you ruin a healthy choice.

Help yourself out and always look at the serving size of your favorite drink or snack and dole yourself out 1 serving.
As for salad dressing, instead of that packaged trash, make yourself a nice mix of olive oil and vinegar for a dose of healthy fat. I love this salad dressing and I use it all of the time. It's great because the dressing doesn't over power the taste of the vegetables.

Label lie #2: Made with whole grains!

The awesome news is replacing refined grains with whole grains may help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
Grains help fill you up and keep you feeling full so you’re less likely to reach for that bag of potato chips.
The problem is that while a package may say it contains whole grains, it may also contain refined flour and added sugar; not your best choice when trying to eat healthy and stay lean.
Help yourself out and check the ingredients list before you buy. Steer clear if you see these ingredients listed:
  • wheat
  • enriched wheat flour
  • semolina
  • durhum wheat
  • rice
  • oat flour
Look instead for:
  • stone-ground whole wheat
  • whole or rolled oats
  • whole-grain brown rice
  • bulgar
  • quinoa
  • whole-grain corn
That means the product is most likely all whole grain.
If you want to be 100% confident the product is whole grain, look for the 100% whole-grain stamp, which means the product contains only whole grains.
Although the packaging might say …
Only 100 calories per serving!
Made with whole grains!
Or any other healthy claim …
Make sure to read between the lines

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