Until...
One morning last week, I happened to randomly skim over the ingredient list and to my dissapointment noticed that it contained sunflower oil. I was shocked! But only at myself because I had been using this product for about 6 weeks and it never once occured to me to read the label! Which is normally an absolute golden rule of mine when it comes to eating right and fueling my body properly. It just goes to show how important it is for us to learn how to read labels correctly.
Dont get me wrong, I am not bashing this product in the slightest (its so damn tasty!) but consuming sunflower oil or any sort of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) is something that I try to avoid as much as possible. PUFA's have been proven in recent years to be toxic for our bodies and promote inflammation and sickness. I could go into great detail on this topic and be writing for days about it so I will keep it short and sweet! If you are interested in learning more about this subject have a look at some interesting articles that I found online that explain the concernes with PUFA's well.
Here is an intersting article that I found on Paleoleap.com
The many dangers of excess PUFA consumption
Also its worth having a look at the website of David Gillespie, who is the author of 'Toxic Oil - Why vegetable oil will kill you and how to save yourself' Toxic Oil by David Gillespie
Now lets close that can of worms and get back to my reason for posting today! (Sorry I go off on a tangent ALOT! - I like to believe it is because I have so many interesting things, but that may be denial...!). When I started eating right and taking care of myself one of the biggest game changers for me was reading labels. It is the easiest way to figure out whether or not you should put an item in your trolley. Knowledge is power and knowing what chemicals, additives and nastiness you should avoid is the best weapon out there to arm yourself with in this world of false advertising and misrepresentation.
Ideally we should all be staying away from anything that comes out of a package or box. But in our modern society and culture that is just not a practical approach to take! Choosing foods that are as minimally processed is one of the best approaches to take as it eliminates options with a huge ingredient list!
Some simple tips that I use are:
- Look for sugar content
Yes this is VERY important, items on cans and packages are listed according to weight which means the stuff used the most in this product is the first on the list. Therefore if sugar is listed in the top 3 ingredients, avoid this product as a large percentage of it is made up of sugar.
Yes the refined white stuff is a hugely important thing to avoid but also hidden forms such as high fructose corn syrup, concentrated fruit juices or syrups (I found a good list of other sugary ingredients to avoid here. This also goes for 'healthy' forms aswell, yes there is much less processing in honey compared to golden syrup but it doesnt mean we should eat a bucket load of it a day! The body still recognizes it as sugar so therefore it is sugar! We should save the sweet stuff for the occasional treat and otherwise keep it to a minimum!
Tip: check the nutrtition information and if there is over 5 grams of sugar per 100g then stay away from it as it will significantly increase your sugar intake without you even realising!
2. Dont buy into the hype!
Just because a product claims it is 'Natural' or 'Organic' or 'Healthy', doesnt mean that is the case. Food companies will use just about any kind of false pretence to convince you that buying their product is the best choice you will make. Make the decision for yourself by reading the ingredient list and identifying if there is any hidden nasties within.
Avoid 'lite' and 'low-fat' products like the plague! Try to remember that most of the time the flavour of food is removed by extracting the fat content, therefore these companies have to replace what they take out with far worse ingredients such as sugar, fillers and additives in order to get that taste back.
Tip: if you can't pronounce it, then you probably shouldn't be eating it!
3. Make decisions for yourself
This is an important one because it reguires us to be really REALLY honest with ourselves. Food marketing and advertising strategists really know how to get under our skin and convince us that their products are the healthiest on the market and that our lives will not be complete unless we are buying them. You need to constantly ask yourself, is this the right choice for me? is this really healthy?
Have a think about that fancy meal replacement bar that your favourite celebrity is endorsing. Yes she looks amazing and she claims it is all down to this energy bar, therefore if we buy the same product we will also achieve this. WRONG!! Ask yourself, how much money does she make from endorsing these products? Is buying this one product really the answer to all our unhealthy habits? Then have a look at the ingredients list, if there is a list of about 30 ingredients that you cannot pronounce including additives and chemicals then refer back to rule number 2 above and AVOID!!
Remember: this is an important rule as it is something that we can fall vulneralbe to no matter what stage we are at with our healthy eating and willpower.
The coconut milk that I spoke about at the start of this post is a perfect example of this! I actually read an endorsing post about this particular brand on a website that I follow regularly and generally regard their nutrition advice to be solid and trustworthy. I believe that is the main reason why I picked this product up without even so much as a glance at the ingredient list. After all 'Website X' says its is healthy so therefore it must be right?! I think this incident was a really important learning lesson for me to remind myself that I still have alot to learn and need to keep my eye on what is going into my body!
I just want to say also that I am not using this post as a negative review, I am using it as an example. I identified an ingredient within it that did not fit in with my personal healthy eating philosophy as an individual.
Here is another great article that I sourced from the 180 nutrition website written by a qualified nutritionist, you can read it here.
So to recap, read your labels! Once you learn something is bad for you, you cant then un-learn it. Reading labes and making informed choices on the things we buy and eat is the first and most effective step in creating a happier more healthy lifestyle and body!
If any of you like me have made any slip-ups when it comes to reading labels please share in the comments below. Also if anybody has any recommendations for coconut milk I would be forever grateful!! Thanks!
Mary xxx
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