Posted on January 15, 2016 by Jenny Cromack
The question of knowing what is on your food label is the same as asking do you know what is in your food?
As we all know eating as many fresh and locally sourced produce as possible is the key to eating a healthy, balanced diet however it is often the case that tins or packets need to be used such as tinned tomatoes, protein bars, yoghurt, porridge oats but whilst these foods might sound healthy they can often be misleading.
For example, there are many brands of tinned tomatoes that have a high amount of sugar added to them to make them taste sweeter, so I urge you to check the tomatoes you choose. If you’re making your sauces from scratch using these tomatoes an innocent ‘healthy’ sauce could be something full of additional sugars.
Another popular misleading choice is coconut milk as these can often also have added sugars. You might be thinking you’re making a healthy curry but in reality this might not be the case.
Another area to be careful of are protein bars and ‘healthy’ snack bars. The next time you’re tempted to pick up a flapjack or oat bar which is said to be packed full of oats and healthiness check the labels on the bar….the only things they are probably packed full of is sugar, salt and calories. Don’t be mislead by some fancy packaging or advert and use the label to determine their content
Yogurt is another sneaky culprit. Many people often choose low fat versions of yoghurt, but these often have added sugars, it’s better to choose the ‘normal’ versions of natural or Green yoghurt.
The easiest way to not be fooled by the foods you eat is to check food labels before you buy them, that way you can keep using the same brands each week and be satisfied that what your eating is legitimately healthy.
For more information on why labels are important click here