2.5 years back when I started my weight loss journey, I would not find as many healthy food choices in the grocery store as there are today. But wait, are they really healthy & good for you as they claim? For sure, the healthy offerings have increased but just don’t go by the labels alone. I do some reading before buying a new product from the aisles & check for some red-flags. Just don’t be blown away by the fact that the product is labeled “low-calorie”, “low-fat” or low-something..!!
Red Flags
1. Low fat label by itself does not necessarily mean its good for you except in the case of low-fat diary. In Milk along with proteins, vitamins and calcium you even get saturated fat(which is bad). Lowering the fat content in milk just removes the saturated fat. It doesn’t strip the milk off nutrition or add unwanted ingredients.
Typically when fat is reduced in food items other than diary, some other ingredients creep into the list to make up for the loss of texture, flavor, shelf-life etc of the food. The most commonly added item is Corn Syrup which is added to make up for the loss of flavor and texture.
Not all low-fat items are bad. For example Dreyer’s Light Vanilla Ice cream is surely far less in fat & saturated fat than its Grand Ice cream. Its important to read through the contents before making the choice.
2. Whole Wheat doesn’t mean 100% Whole wheat - there is a DIFFERENCE. If the ingredients show Enriched Wheat flour or refined wheat flour, it lacks important minerals & vitamins which you get from Whole Wheat Grain.
3. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) - This is basically a sweetener made from corn which is cheaper than sugar & increases the shelf life of the product. No wonder this item is now the most common ingredient in foods.
HFCS imparts a nice browny texture to the breads, gives sweetness to our sodas, juices, yogurts (flavored & plain) ,cereals,ketchups, salad dressings and several other items. So now you know why the store bought yogurt is sweeter & home-made or organic one tangier, thanks to HFCS.
Some experts believe that increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup is a cause for the growing obesity problem. One theory is that fructose is more readily converted to fat by your liver than is sucrose (other form of sugar), increasing the levels of fat in your bloodstream. Apart from these theories, I don’t understand why to have a sweetener in my bread (& other products) even when it doesn’t need to be sweet. Why should you have a can of fruit juice containing heaping of HCFS, when you can do with a fresh fruit.
4. High Sodium - Fast foods, processed foods, snacks, salted nuts etc are very high in sodium content. Sodium draws moisture out of the food so it keeps it from spoiling. Increased sodium content can cause high-blood pressure, several kidney problems & water retention. So try to reduce your sodium intake.
Healthy Tips
- For Yogurts try to use Organic ones, which don’t contain HCFS & several other ingredients that you don’t identify with. Our plain old yogurt should contain Milk & some Live Bacterias. For vegetarians, please check for gelatin in yogurts, yoplaits etc. Gelatin is mostly obtained from animal’s tissues, so its not exactly vegetarian friendly food. Thats a concern for me too, so I prefer using Organic ones even because of this.
- I like to use 100% Whole Wheat Franz Bread or 100% Whole Wheat Sara Lee (new variety introduced from Sara Lee) which explicitly calls out for no HCFS on its package.
- Low-Sodium -I think this is one “Low” tag that we can buy without lot of researching :). A lot of salt is added into the food for taste & preservative reasons. So always get Low-Sodium varieties of pasta sauces, soups, chips, unsalted nuts etc. When purchasing Frozen Vegetables,Fruits and canned tomatoes look for the ones that don’t have sodium.
- Choose Low fat Diary products like 2%, 1% or fat-free instead of full fat.
- Always Fruit - Fruit Juices typically strip off essential fiber from fruit & more worse are loaded with sugar. Instead have fresh fruits - apples, strawberries, pears, oranges etc. Look for ways in which you can incorporate fruits in your dessert, breakfast, snack. And trust me in no time you will be a fruit addict like me :). Try out my FruPlait.
You can’t completely eliminate the use of the above mentioned elements in your food. But you can definitely pay more attention in buying items by reading labels & comparing the low-fat, low-calorie varieties with the regular ones. I am sure you appreciate having a sliver of Cake or some decadent dessert and savor it rather than pile up on sugar unknowingly from breads, juices, diet sodas thinking that they are good for you.
So hopefully, this post was informative enough for all my readers. I would love to hear about your thoughts or comments on this.
Looking forward to your inputs.
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May 28th, 2008 at
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