Read the Food Labels
When you are at the grocery store walking the aisles you will see lots of food boxes that say things like; All Natural, Organic, Non GMO, Heart Healthy and more. Don't believe that the front of the box is telling you the whole story!! You have to turn it over to see what is really in the food you are about to put in your cart and make an informed decision.
The three big things to look for on the ingredient list are added sugars, chemicals you can't even pronounce and natural flavors.
1. Hidden sugars: Big Food knows that sugar is highly addictive, so they find as many ways as they can to add it to foods because they know that when you eat it you want more of it. (once you pop you can't stop is not just a catch phrase). They have discovered ways to hide sugar by using many different names for it. Many times you will have multiple sugars by different names in one "food". So when you are reading a label look for sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, rice syrup, ethyl maltol, dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, fruit juice concentrate, malt syrup, sucrose and so many more! Hidden sugars could be the reason for weight gain when you believe you are eating a healthy diet. They can send your autoimmune into a flair up. Too much sugar can speed up the aging process, so it is important to monitor how much sugar we are actually eating. You may be consuming much more than you think you are.
2. Unpronounceable Chemicals: Well, this one just seems kinda simple to me, if you can't pronounce it, don't eat it. There are so many chemicals created to make food last longer on the shelf or make it taste like something it's not. Either way those chemicals are not good for human health and longevity. Many of them are known to cause unwanted effects on the human body and yet Big Food is still putting them in their "food" products. What we put into our bodies is important, read the label so you know what is going into yours.
3. Natural Flavors: This one sounds harmless, maybe even good for us. But as you have already figured out, if it made this list it is not good. So what are natural flavors? Government regulations define natural flavors as those that derive their aroma or flavor chemicals from plant or animal sources, including fruit, meat, fish, spices, herbs, roots, leaves, buds or bark that are distilled, fermented or otherwise manipulated in a lab. Natural flavors are complex mixtures created by specially trained food chemists known as flavorists. These mixtures are made to enhance the flavor of foods, not to add any health benefit. The FDA has not defined the term natural so right now it can be used for just about anything. Although natural flavors may have been derived from a plant or animal product, in the end they are highly processed and may contain chemical additives including preservatives and solvents. At the end of the day "natural flavors" is a way for big food to add potentially harmful chemicals to our food and make it sound healthy.
For my clients, myself and my family I like to focus on foods without ingredient lists. Yep, I'm talking about whole foods like organic fruits and veggies, wild caught salmon and grass fed beef. Taking the processed foods out of your cart is a big step towards health and longevity.