Deciphering food labels; are you being lied to?

How many times have you been to the supermarket and felt completely confused by the food labelling?

It’s not easy working out what it all means, when they seem to use a language that only food technologist and nutritionists understand.

Do you get the feeling they are trying to hide something from you? The truth is they probably are. A great example of this is the number of different names used for sugar. It can be disguised as the following:

Dextrose

Fructose

Glucose

Glucose Fructose Syrup

Isoglucose

Maltose

Sucrose

Keep an eye out for these when you are shopping as they are added to food, especially the processed kind.

Another thing we should look out for are products marketed as ‘low fat’, ‘low sugar’ or ‘half fat’, ‘half sugar’. Just because a label makes this claim it doesn’t mean it’s any healthier or better for you, as more often than not other things will be added into the product to improve the texture, consistency or taste, here’s an example of a well-known natural yogurt brand.

‘Natural’ yogurt = 5.6g sugar

‘0% fat’ = 8.5g sugar

‘0% fat vanilla’ = 14g sugar!!

Take your time when you are shopping to read the labels and understand what is in the food you are buying. Something that claims to be healthy just might not be.

If you feel like you need some help understanding the food you should and shouldn't be eating, then contact me for a free consultation.