I’m a firm believer in the idea that “we are what we eat”. I enjoy cooking my meals because I know exactly what ingredients and nutrients are going into them. That’s why I find myself fortunate to have come from a household where if you don’t cook, you clean. And believe me when I say I hated cleaning. Growing up, then, I was able to learn how to prepare my own meals, and habit kept them proportionate to my proteins, vegetables, grains, and fruit.
The problem many people have, today, is when they get to the grocery store they are bombarded with a crazy amount of advertisements and food claims. Slack FDA regulations have even let some products advertise information that totally misleads their customers. One perfect example is the labeling of bread. Many people nowadays want to buy whole wheat to acquire all three parts of the grain: the Bran, Germ, and Endosperm. This allows the full consumption of the grain’s nutrients from all three parts, the germ, bran and endosperm. The problem is companies will try to trick customers into choosing their products, making them think its wheat. Breads like 12-Grain, 8-Grain, Whole Oats, and even Wheat Bread all don’t have the Bran and Germ, leaving out important fiber and vitamin components. The only breads that are totally wheat bread will say 100% Whole Wheat or Whole Wheat. It’s ridiculous how easy it is for companies to trick customers.
To help spot these tricks, I’ve got a couple of tips for you. Just a few tactics that have really helped me buy what I’m truly looking for.
Read the Nutrient Label
When most people think about the nutrient label, I get the impression that shopping to them becomes a burden. To me, however, it has become a part of grocery shopping like looking for cracked eggs. My process starts with finding the product on my grocery list, and comparing 2 to 4 different brands based on their Nutrient Labels. First, I’ll compare the ingredient lists. This list usually appears below the table with the daily values of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. The first thing I’ll look for is the length of the list. I’ve noticed that the longer the list, the more preservatives and fake ingredients you’re going to find in the product. So when I see a shorter list, it’ll usually be more natural. And if I am what I eat, I don’t want fake ingredients to be a part of me. So in this case, the simpler the ingredients list the better.
Secondly, I’ll take a look at the order of the ingredients. The list order is actually an important characteristic of the nutrient label, as it describes the relative weight of each ingredient. For example, if a list for granola included brown sugar, granola, peanut butter, and olive oil, I probably wouldn’t pick it up because sugar is its main ingredient. Instead, I’ll try to find a product where the first ingredient is granola. That way I’ll know I’m eating a product made of mostly granola.
I’ll also compare the types of sugar in the product. America has a big problem when it comes to sugar, and food companies in the US try to please our habits by pumping sugars and sweeteners in our food products. I try to bypass this by choosing natural sugars, appearing lower in list, over processed sugars, higher in the list. One particular type of sugar I always stay away from is high fructose corn syrup. This compound is made of 2 different kinds of sugar molecules, glucose and fructose, and as a result is treated differently by our bodies. Fructose isn’t regulated by insulin, like glucose is, and it also skips a part of metabolism which is generally used to regulate our energy storage. As a result, fructose is readily converted to a molecule that can be easily changed into fat if we aren’t active enough.
Once I’ve gone through the ingredient list, I’ll skim over the nutrient facts of the fats, carbohydrates, and protein. Before you compare these components, make sure that you equalize serving sizes otherwise there’s no point comparing the products. One trick companies use is display really low amounts per serving of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, and then hide their product’s true content with really high servings per container.
Fats are easy. I don’t buy products with trans fats anymore, and everyone should do their best to limit these products as much as possible. In fact, the FDA has actually banned trans fats and they are in the process of being phased out. I’ll also choose products that have a better ratio of unsaturated fats to saturated fats. Try to pick foods with little to no saturated fats, as they shouldn’t take up more than 10% of your daily caloric intake. Personally I try to keep it much lower.
Sodium and cholesterol are easy. When comparing products I’ll choose those that are lower in both components. You’ll tend to get enough sodium from adding salt to your meals, and cholesterol from any meat you consume.
With the carbohydrate portion, I’ll try to keep the sugar content low and the fiber content high. As Americans, we generally do a terrible job at limiting our sugar intake and eating enough fiber. So use this method to improve on that.
Finally, my preference in protein content will depend on my current training program. If I’m in a program where my goal is increasing muscle mass, I’ll lean towards higher protein content; otherwise, the differences aren’t too important to me.
Label Claims
So the Nutrient Label is probably what I use the most to compare and pick between brands, but I think its also important for me to talk about the claims certain products might have. We always see certain statements on products like “fat-free” and “reduced sodium” to “calcium helps build strong bones”. Interestingly, the amount of regulation by the FDA on such claims varies quite a bit. Thus, I think you should be mindful towards loopholes companies may use to sell their products.
Nutrient Content claims, like the fat-free and low sodium statements, are well regulated because these claims just describe the amount of a nutrient in the product. It’s not hard to see if a soy sauce has low amounts of sodium.
Health claims are based on research to describe a relationship between a food product’s components and a health disease. For example, “the fiber in this cereal can help you improve your heart health” is a health claim linking higher diets in fiber with a healthier heart through lowering cholesterol. However, these statements can range from well-established relationships, to just emerging evidence of relationships. Therefore, it might be risky to pick your brand based on these statements because they only have to draw upon one recent research article. In the near future, however, further investigation may find the relationship to be negative. Therefore, it’s important for you to verify any claims before you decide to add it to your grocery list.
Finally, you’ll typically find statements called Structure and Function claims. These are considered the weakest forms of advertisement that describes how a nutrient affects the structure and function of the body. These statements are dangerous because they don’t have to be FDA preapproved before appearing on the shelves; and can sit on the shelves for 30 days before the FDA must be notified about the claim. The only regulation that does exist towards these statements is that they must be truthful and not misleading, and cannot state the nutrient can treat disease. And example of structure function claims is “iron helps you see better”. This statement, while not true, would be able to sit on the shelves for 30 days before the FDA would be able to investigate and tell the company to remove its claim. To me, these are probably the most dangerous claims you’ll find on products, and most of the time if I see it on something I’m buying I don’t even take it into consideration. It’s important that if you do choose your products based on claims like these that you research to determine how much truth they hold.
Red Flags
I’m going to finish off pointing out some labels that should throw up some red flags when you see them. Generally when you see these statements, the company associated with the product is attempting to trick you into buying it. But not anymore!
Satisfaction Guaranteed – The product will make a promise that it’ll work. All this really does is promote a placebo effect or get one of their products off the shelves for you to try it.
One Product Does It All – Watch out for this. You aren’t going to find a miracle that fixes all of your problems, otherwise everyone would’ve heard about it. Stick to the healthy living by eating well.
Personal Testimonials – This is considered the weakest forms of evidence. It’s extremely tempting to try a product when someone describes how well it worked for him or her, but try not to decide between brands based on testimonials.
Medical Jargon – Sometimes you’ll see a product advertise that it does something like “higher enzymatic activity of lipoprotein lipase”. Usually these statements are just trying to sound scientific and throw useless medical words at you to convince you it’s science based. Don’t be fooled by these tactics.
Conclusion
I know what you may be thinking, all this while I’m grocery shopping. There won’t be anything left to buy!? What I hoped to do here was make you guys more aware to the advertising tactics employed by food companies. I don’t want you to be fooled by miracle claims that have no backing to them. Once you understand how companies try and trick you, it’s easy to block them out when you get to the store. I don’t even notice most of the red flags anymore, and when I do I usually laugh to myself. For me, the most important topic in this post is about the nutrient label. Remember to read the ingredients list. If you’re trying to buy something like granola, and granola isn’t on the top of the ingredients list, then you have a problem. If all the nutrients have extremely low Daily Values, make sure they aren’t tricking you with the serving size! And finally, use what I’ve told you to keep a balanced diet. Keep those trans fats out, saturated fats low, and don’t hate your unsaturated fats. And one last tip. If you’re really trying to start anew and try a new diet, nothing fad I hope, don’t go about it buy eating the same meals ever single day. You’re just going to get tired of it and revert back. Instead, spend a few minutes before going to the grocery store to find an interesting recipe online. Or, while you’re at the store, pick up something you’ve never tried; and as you walk around, search for a recipe with it. That little bit of effort can lead to a life changing habit.
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