Reading labels is some kind of business

Costumers are more conscious about their health more then ever, so the companies use tricks to convince people to buy their products. They do this very often even about unhealthy food.

All they write in the labels can be very hard to understand. In this article you will learn how to read labels.

Read Food Labels

Read Food Labels

Do not be fooled from the front of the product

One of the best advice is to not pay attention on the front of the product. Front labels want to attract you to buy that product.

Producers want to convince you that their product is healthier. They also use some marks like 1,2,3… because it is believed that they can affect on your psycho and convince you to buy that product.

Look the list of ingredients

Ingredients in the list are sorted therefore from the quantity in what they are represented in the product. That means that the first is ingredient that is more used in the product.

Good rule is to read the first three ingredients because they will show you what you will eat. If the first three ingredients are refined grains, sugar and hydrogenated oils, then that product is not healthy.

If the list is longer that 2-3 lines – that product is highly-processed.

Beware of portion sizes

On the back side on the label is written how much calories and nutrients that product contain. But the portion that is written very often is very small.

So that means that the person often eat bigger portion. For example one portion can be a half can, or half cookie, one biscuit.

If you want to know nutrient value to the product what you eat then you must to multiply the given portion of the back with the amount you eat.

What really mean all that false indication on the label

  • Dietary – Diet products are processed to reduce levels of calories and fat and some are just watered down.
  • More cereal spices – this sounds very healthy, but you must know that probably that is refined cereals.
  • Naturally – that can mean that the producer used a natural source eg apple, rice.
  • Organic – this says very little about whether a product is healthy or not.
  • Without additional sugar – it means that the product contains only natural sugar, but it does not mean that the product is healthy, may contain other sugar substitutes.
  • Low in fat – fat is reduced but the amount of sugar can be elevated;
  • Made from whole grains – read in the back side of the label if the grain is not in the first three ingredients that is not true.
  • Enhanced or enriched – added some nutrients in the product for example added vitamin D in milk.
  • Flavored fruit – That means that contain natural fruit, but also can use just chemicals.

Different names of sugar

Producers use different types of sugar to conceal the real amount of sugar. Very often they add some healthy ingredient in the top of the list on the label and the sugar is last.

Observe the following types of sugar. They are: sugar beet, brown sugar, sugar butter soft ground sugar, powdered sugar, organic, golden sugar, sugar dates, invert sugar, sugar from coconuts.