A friend of mine recently asked me about ingredients to avoid when shopping for food and reading labels. While I could give her a few answers I was unable to give her a definitive answer because I really don't know all the nutritional pitfalls to avoid on a label. Thus began my research to understand more about ingredient lists. Between my fairly short attention span (my husband likens it to that of a house fly) and trying to entertain a demanding two-and-a-half-year-old I will limit this topic to 5 specific items to avoid, but I promise to return to this topic . I also learned that if the product you are buying has more than 10 ingredients (with the exception of items like soups with lots of real ingredients or bags of frozen vegetables with 10 plus kinds of vegetables) on the label you should probably put it back, especially if the majority of those ingredients are unpronounceable.
High Fructose Corn SyrupIf you have been actively reading this blog you are aware of my recent disdain for this product. I have a rule: if these words are present on a label, I will not buy it. Basically, it is a cheap substitute for sugar that is broken down in such a way that your body gains no nutritional value and doesn't even have to work to break it down. It has been shown to be detrimental to the health of your liver and is believed to be a major contributing factor to rapidly increasing rates of obesity. It is found in everything from sodas and ice cream (yes, Blue Bell too) to
bread, salad dressing, granola bars, canned vegetables and even hot dogs. Basically, it can be lurking anywhere even in your favorite flavored morning latte (crying a little).
Partially Hydrogenated Oils (trans fats)
This should be an obvious one, but it unfortunately is not. Where this ingredient surprises me most is that it can be found in products we consider to be healthy or low-fat. Some natural no-stir peanut butters contain this ingredient leaving the consumer to believe they are buying a healthier product than the more popular "unhealthy, sugary" peanut butter. Butter substitute spreads are another big offender often containing "partially hydrogenated soybean oil" all the while labeling the product as having less saturated fat than butter.
So, why is this product so bad? Trans fats
raise LDL (bad cholesterol) and lower HDL (good cholesterol). This deadly combo increases
one's risk for heart disease, the leading killer of men and women. By adding hydrogen to vegetable or other oils through a process called "hydrogenation" the oil becomes more solid and stable helping to add shelf life to the product. That three month old box of crackers in the back of my pantry is proof.
The other misleading statement is "trans fat free" A product that contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving may label their product as "trans fat free". So, even if it contains partially hydrogenated oils it can be labelled as "trans fat free". The problem here lies in this: if you eat more than the recommended serving, you could be getting trans fats and if you eat several different items throughout the day containing partially hydrogenated "trans fat free" foods you could actually be exceeding your daily limit of trans fat and not even realize it. This might explain why so many of my well meaning "low fat" product diets have failed me!
Mayo Clinic recommends eating foods containing Monounsaturated fats such as olive, peanut , grapeseed and canola oils. I say, if you like the taste of butter, use butter. At least you know what you are getting. I reserve butter for baking and use Monounsaturated oils for cooking.
Food Colorings and a number (Blue 2, Green 3, Red 3, etc)As a kid growing up eating M&M's I remember the color red being noticeably absent from the bag. The general assumption was that red M&M's caused cancer due to the use of Red Dye #2. In truth, Mars stopped making red M&M's for fear of the association people might have with their product and the dye banned in 1976. The triumphant return of the red M&M occurred in 1987.
Although, Red Dye #2 is still banned for use in food products there are still concerns over artificial food colorings.
Studies have shown the use of some of these popular artificial dyes can cause behavioral problems (such as Attention Deficit Disorder) in children who are sensitive to the chemicals. Granted, not all kids are sensitive, but it is a safe bet to eliminate foods containing artificial dyes. Whether I fully agree or not, I'm looking for dyes on labels now and putting many products back that I thought were healthy. The irony is that candy is colored with these dyes, but try diverting your kids' attention away from a bright red sucker.
Refined SoySay it ain't soy! This one really surprised me. I have NEVER thought of soy as unhealthy. Soy milk, tofu, soy based formula, edamame, and soy burgers are ALL good for you, right? The stories of busy body wives trying force tofurkey down their "meat n' tater" husbands are all too common. I found surprising information on how soy affects our health in adverse ways. To Google this subject still leaves fairly sparse information and much of it is contradictory. Some might speculate that the mighty subsidized soy industry has a "
chilling effect" on the topic, but who knows. I will, however, offer a few examples of soy concerns.
Soy contains plentiful amounts of isoflavones (estrogen-like compounds). These are the same compounds that are beneficial to our health helping protect us from diseases like cancer and heart disease.
As little as 38mg of isoflavones (less than the amount in two glasses of soy milk) can depress thyroid function in women. Soy infant formula contains very high levels of isoflavones for their low body weight so soy fed infants are recieving very high doses of estrogen daily.
"Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick, a New Zealand toxicologist estimates that an infant exclusively fed soy formula receives the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day." Soy, The Darker Side of America's Favorite "Health" Food.
Basically, the rule for soy is to eat it in moderation. The problem lies in that soy is found on ingredient labels all too often. Examples include bread, buttery spreads, ice cream, frozen potatoes, and chocolate. If you are eating soy in whole food form like tofu or edamame you are probably not going to suffer major adverse health effects. If every processed food in your pantry includes processed soy in some form you may want to clean house and commit to limiting your purchases of products containing refined soy. Our goal is to keep our little girl a little girl as long as nature will allow, so I am going to strictly limit the amount of soy that comes into our home. As for soy milk...we'll just stick to good ol' cow's milk.
Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)This sounds like a serious and threatening disease of unpronounceable body parts, but it's just another additive. This is an ingredient of which I was totally unaware. It's usage is limited by the FDA to less than 0.02% of fat content in foods and less than 0.1% in chewing gum, so maybe that is why it is not commonly known. Plus, it is another unpronounceable word people tend to forget or ignore (which is my case). It is basically a
preservative used in oils or fat containing foods as well as some cosmetics and rubber and pteroleum products. In short, BHA has been found to have carcinogenic effects on animals and scientists are still largely unaware of what levels can be toxic to humans. For me, I'll just pass over products with those two words on the label...just to be safe.
There are a million things to look for on labels before tossing items into your grocery cart, but this would become a very long blog post and I am not captivating enough to keep you reading to the end. Navigating labels is really common sense. If it seems the label is rife with chemicals, sugars, fats and salts it is probably best to put it back on the shelf for the the next unsuspecting consumer. I know some people might think this is all a little crazy, that maybe scrutinizing ALL of our food is just too much. For me, this food revelation has been enlightening to the actual amount of these ingredients we have been consuming. If we continue to buy foods containing ingredients we do not want to consume then we are telling the food industry that it is OK to continue to short change the quality of food and our health. The government does not have the power to control this industry nor should they. WE should. As consumers, we VOTE on what we want to eat by the purchases we make. Your grocery list is your ballot, so make it count!
