The Health Food Trap. How to Spot Lies In Marketing to Eat Well.

Don’t be fooled!

Next time you’re out shopping, watch for the words “Healthy”, “Low fat”, “Reduced Sugar”, and “Natural” on your food packaging. They are all buzzwords geared to sell products to those wanting to make better choices for themselves and their family. Sadly, they can be quite misleading.  Healthy is subjective and can be used to meet a very vague standard.

“Low Fat” often means stripped of nutrition.

Skim milk, PB2, and Zero products, among others, fit this description and are good to avoid. In stripping the fat, they’re also stripped of nutrition, leaving you with a “food-like” substance that your body won’t recognize. 

“No-” or “Low Sugar” usually means it’s been modified with artificial sugars. Again, the body doesn’t recognize these substances as food. You need real food for energy and cell repair.  An additional downside to consuming artificial sugars is the reaction they cause in the body. Your tastebuds alert your body that sweetness is on the way, and when it doesn’t arrive, you have released insulin with no job to do.  

It’s never a good idea to trick your body.  It’s a well-oiled machine!

“Natural” is a real word.

It means the product is from nature and that’s often a good thing. However, there are many things in nature I’d never put in my mouth. MSG is one of them. Others can be rather unappetizing to go into detail, but you can look up a Natural Flavor by the name of Castoreum to get my drift.“Organic” and “GMO-free”? Now those are terms we can work with! Though imperfect, they are the real deal.  

You are becoming a wiser consumer and wise consumers are the ones who are setting the bar higher for a better world of clean eating options.

Be wiser than they want you to be.

Your health (body and mind) will be the better for it.

Coach Lorrie McFadden, Director of Nutrition for My1FitLife