Losing Weight With Real Food – Part Five, Reading Labels and Packages

This is part of my series on how to lose weight eating real food. Make sure you catch up on the other posts, here they are for your reading pleasure:

• Introduction
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Today I’m going to talk about two different parts of my original introduction post, reading labels and avoiding the gimmicky words on the packaging. I have something very important to tell you. You have probably figured this out by now, but here goes.

Food manufacturers want you to buy their stuff.

Crazy, right? Ok, I know, that part is pretty obvious. But here’s the real secret.

They will deceive you to get you to buy their stuff.

It’s true. While they can’t exactly lie about what is in their product, they can hide things and make it seem as if you are getting something completely different and more healthy than what you are actually getting. For example, I recently saw this on the front of the box of a very popular cereal, “Heart Healthy Selection. While many factors affect heart disease, diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.” In a big yellow section across the top of the box it says, “Goodness of a whole grain.” Other claims on the box include, “Excellent source of fiber,” “Made with whole grain,” and “Good source of potassium.” This is healthy stuff right? If you believe what is on the box, then yes! But when you look a little closer you find that in one serving of this cereal you get 18 grams of sugar. If you ate an entire Kit Kat candy bar, you would be getting 21 grams of sugar. That’s really not that much different, especially considering the fact that a serving size of this cereal is one cup. Most people will at least double that for their breakfast, which means you would get less sugar from eating the candy bar! I’m also not talking about one of the cereals that is obviously a sugar filled mess meant for the kids, this is a cereal marketed to adults as a healthy way to start the day.  There are several other reasons I am very anti-cereal in all its forms, but I’ll save that rant for later and move on.

Now we are going to look at yogurt. The brand of yogurt I am talking about is often marketed as a wonderful weight loss tool and comes in more flavors than there are people in Japan. They proudly advertise which varieties are only 2 Weight Watchers points. I even pulled this from their website, “Never again will taste buds be put on a diet! With such a wide variety of flavors, (unnamed company) has made managing your weight absolutely delicious. With 20 flavors at 90 calories, (unnamed company) makes healthier eating SO good!” So, this stuff is healthy, right? But let’s look at the ingredient list. First comes nonfat milk. I will only consume full fat dairy products, which is another rant I will save for later. Still, not that bad so far. Next comes blueberries (in the blueberry flavor), then we have modified corn starch, which is most likely made from genetically modified corn. Ew, no thanks! Next are sugar and gelatin, and then we start getting into the science lab ingredients. There is natural flavoring, and I think you should check out this video about what “natural flavoring” could mean. I’m not going to list all the science lab ingredients, but of concern is aspartame, the artificial sweetener that has been linked to a myriad of different health problems.  Lastly, you have artificial colors, Red #40 and Blue #1, both of which are linked to attention deficit disorders and tumors.

Let’s compare that to the yogurt that I make a couple of times a week. I start with organic whole milk, and at the right time I add a scoop of the yogurt I made last time. That’s it! In that scoop of yogurt from the last batch there are a bunch of beneficial bacteria with lots of great probiotics that aid in digestion. Sometimes I go a little crazy and add a little fruit and/or some homemade granola before I eat it. Which is healthier? Well, that depends on your definition of healthy. For those who only look at the numbers, mine definitely has more calories and more fat. But what I’m most concerned about is what is going to nourish my body and support it on the path to maintaining my new weight, and everything I have discovered in my studies along with my own personal experience tells me that whole, simple ingredients serve my body best.

Phew! That’s a lot to digest. Are you feeling a little mad at the food companies for tricking you into buying their “healthy” food? I get more mad the more I think about it, and they are no longer getting any of my money.

So here are the basics. Whatever health claims are on the front of the box, take the time to read the ingredients. If it sounds like a science experiment, don’t bring it home. If one of the top ingredients is sugar, don’t bring it home. If the list of ingredients is super long, probably don’t bring it home. Even better, buy foods that don’t have labels at all, like the entire produce section.