My roommate, who makes a concerted effort to eat well, brought home a pecan pie the other day. I looked at the label and wondered why in the world she bought it. The first ingredient was sugar, the second brown sugar—not cane juice, or even organic sugar—just sugar.
So I asked her how something so unhealthy ended up in our fridge. “It’s organic!” she said.
I didn’t bother to argue. I just looked closely at the label the next time I opened the fridge. It was made with organic eggs and organic wheat flour, but out of ten or twelve ingredients, those two were the only organic ones. And this supposedly organic pie was made with partially hydrogenated oils!
The first thing to remember when it comes to reading labels is to read the whole thing. Ignore labels on the front of the packaging that say natural or organic. Read the actual ingredients. When it comes to processed foods, if it says it’s natural, ignore the claim. It means nothing. If it says it’s organic, it doesn’t have to be 100% organic unless it says it is. Remember processed foods can be labeled organic if only 80% of the ingredients are organic. And organic junk food is still junk food.
There are plenty of people who will argue about how you should limit calories, fats, sodium, and more. Our stance is a little different. We think you should eliminate processed foods altogether. Why? Because they are dead foods, void of natural nutrition. Oh, they may be enriched with artificial vitamins and minerals, but what are you really eating?
Most of our processed foods include high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils (trans fats) and MSG. Avoid them all—always. And learn the multiple names they use for MSG to try and sneak it past you.
Big business has been able to shove their agenda through the FDA—genetically modified foods are not labeled. If you want to avoid GMOs, and we hope you do, don’t eat any processed food unless it is labeled 100% organic. And remember—make processed foods the exception, not the rule. Fresh food is better for you and better for the environment. You’ll make your body happy if your diet consists of 80% or more fresh, raw, organic fruits and vegetables and you’ll find you aren’t throwing a ton of packaging into the landfill each year.
High fructose corn syrup and soy are very likely to be GMO foods.
So yeah—our best advice is to avoid the label issue altogether by avoiding that processed food. But if you are going to eat it, read the label carefully and choose wisely. Don’t pay too much attention to anything but the ingredients list. It’s not so important how many grams of saturated fat it has, it matters where the fat comes from (for instance, some saturated fats are very good for you, others are very bad). If you don’t understand any of the ingredients—pass. Buy something better. Go organic!
Here is a short list of Ingredients and Phrases to Avoid:
Feel free to add to the list in the comment section below!
