Greensprouts :: What Are We Eating?
Podcast: Download (Duration: 9:22 — 10.7MB)
Summertime is a great time. There are vacations to go on, friends to visit, and most importantly, good food to eat. But before you make your next trip to the grocery store, here are some food labels and catch-all terms you want to avoid.
1 “Made with Real Fruit” or “Made with Real Veggies” – These terms are so loosely thrown around, the easiest thing to say is just avoid everything that isn’t an actual piece of fruit or a vegetable. The thing to remember about these products is that quantity very often equals quality. Unless you see a sizable percentage of fruit or vegetables in an item, it’s safe to say it’s not worth the purchase. Just because an item contains the name of a fruit or vegetable doesn’t mean it has enough to be a viable source of nutrition. Usually a candy that claims to have fruit in it will contain more sugar than fruit. And snack foods that claim to contain vegetables usually contain much more salt than anything else.
2 “All Natural” – Just because a product is claimed to be “All Natural” doesn’t mean it is. There are meats that claim to be “All Natural” that are actually injected with beef and chicken broth. And there are foods and drinks containing highly processed high fructose corn syrup that claim to be “All Natural.” Look at the ingredients and nutrition facts before throwing an “All Natural” item into your cart.
3 “Low Sugar” or “Lightly Sweetened” – These two terms are not currently regulated by the FDA, so they can mean literally anything. The USDA recommends we only have as much sugar in a day as that contained in a can of Coca-Cola, but many products advertised as having “Low Sugar” or being only “Lightly Sweetened” often contain much more than that.
4 “No Trans Fat” – It’s true that trans fat is bad for us, but just because a product has a big “0 grams of trans fat” sticker on the front doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Check the nutrition facts. Many times, companies will try to trick us into getting a product that may be low in trans fat, but incredibly high in saturated fat. “Hot Pockets” have no trans fat, but we all know how seriously fattening they are.







