The first trick that the industry likes to use is to woo you with the fancy packaging. You see all sorts of proclamations on the front... "50% less fat" or "natural ingredients". My favorite is when they put "No carbs!" on a package of meat. It's frickin meat. There are no naturally occuring carbs in it.
Probably the worst offender is when they put "No trans fats" on the front cover. The FDA allows a certain percentage of trans fats to be in the food while still allowing them to print such claims on the front. It's bullshit, but it's allowed. I see it on margarine containers and chip bags.
Your best defense against these misleading claims is to read the ingredients. It's harder to lie there. On a container of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" it proudly states, "No Trans Fats!" But if you look at the ingredients, you'll see "Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil" in there. Don't be fooled. There may be less of it in there, but it's still there.
The items listed in the ingredients panel are listed in order of predominance. In other words, if "sugar" is listed first, then there is more sugar in that product than any other ingredient listed. The same with dog food. I look for bags that list some kind of meat product first. The cheapy brands list corn meal first.
Now that you know to look past the fancy proclamations at the front and to skip to the ingredients in the back, what should you avoid? There are so many things to look out for, but here's what I generally try to avoid:
- Partially Hydrogenated oil
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Mono-diglycerides
- Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
- (in fish) Color added
I'll go into more detail about these "should avoid" ingredients in later posts.
5 comments:
Sometimes it's tough trying to find that ingredients list. And it's so tiny! Like they are trying to hide it.
I think they ARE trying to hide it, like they're afraid people will see what's actually inside the food. Well if they would just put normal stuff in there they'd have nothing to hide!
I'm *trying* to avoid these things...but so much of what is out there contains it. Even in the "health food" aisles. My second favorite granola has both Hydro oil AND HFCS. I now buy exclusively Bear Naked brand which doesn't contain that crap in it. This one: http://www.bearnakedgranola.com/banananut.htm
Gawd, it is soooo good. But for 6.99 a bag, it's really too expensive (now that I'm unemployed and trying to live frugally) for me to buy all the time. I wish I could find a recipe to make my own banana nut granola since I probably wouldn't have walnuts in mine 'cause I hate walnuts. lol Down with Walnuts! Up with Almonds!
Mmmm I love banana nut granola. Is there a Trader Joe's in your vicinity? Their cereal isle is usually safe from those ingredients. I was so sad to find out that cereals were some of the worst offenders. I had to stop eating some of my favorites. :(
This is my "daytime" blog since my other one does better at night, hehe.
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