How Checking Nutrition Labels Helps You Lose Weight

nutrition label with measuring tape wrapped around label — Nutrition labels can hold the key to your health and your weight. (Photo Credit: Myra Naito – Kraft Foods Zesty Italian Salad Dressing)

Checking nutrition labels is the one activity that the majority of consumers neglect to do. It’s the one activity that can easily change your physique. When you take the time to check labels, you’re making informed decisions about what you’re eating and possibly also feeding to your loved ones. IF people check labels, it’s usually just for sugar and salt. But what about all the other mystery ingredients?

Why are nutrition labels so important?

Let me start by saying that whole foods do not have nutrition labels because that’s all it is. There are no other ingredients except for what it is. Processed foods on the other hand, are foods that have been processed by manufacturing companies who have added all kinds of other ingredients. Processed foods have nutrition labels. Those labels contain information about all the ingredients you’ll be consuming in that product. By law, companies must list every last ingredient that is included in food products. However, these same companies will often times disguise unhealthy ingredients with alternate names.

Why?

So that they can market products as healthy and fool consumers into buying them. These same consumers buy them and consume them and wonder why they can’t lose weight. The number one ingredient that masquerades under a variety of different names is sugar.

Beet sugar	Galactrose
Cane Sugar	Fructose
Glucose	High-fructose corn syrup
Dextrose	Honey
Maltose	Cane syrup
Sucrose	Maple syrup
Maltodextrin	Malt syrup and about 40+ other names…

nutrition label for Belvita Breakfast Biscuits — Belvita Breakfast Biscuits are touted as healthy, but the label lists high sodium and sugar in five varieties. (Photo Credit: Myra Naito)

nutrition label for Kraft salad dressing — The label for Kraft salad dressing reveals high sodium and two sugar varieties. (Photo Credit: Myra Naito)

nutrition label for Honey Bunches of Oats cereal — Honey Bunches of Oats is advertised as a healthy cereal, but it has six varieties of sugar, for starters. (Photo Credit: Myra Naito)

Now consider that the recommended daily sugar intake for women is 25 grams. One 12-ounce soda is 36 grams. Don’t get me started on diet or sugar-free sodas. We’re getting to all the non-food ingredients in a bit. So, you’ve already wiped out your daily sugar with one soda, PLUS you’ve inadvertently added sugars hidden in a variety of other things you’ve consumed all day long. Keep in mind that natural sugars found in fruit, for example, are better for you. But they are still sugar and your body is keeping track.

Then there’s the stuff you can’t identify, much less pronounce.

All of these non-food ingredients should not be ingested by anyone who wants to maintain a healthy weight. They are what is called, empty calories. In other words, you eat these calories, but the calories are worthless. Your body cannot utilize them for anything because they aren’t food.

nutrition label for Coke Zero — Don’t let sugar-free products fool you into thinking they’re safe. These mystery ingredients are not benign and can certainly have an adverse effect on your health and your weight. (Photo Credit: Myra Naito)

What they are good at, is throwing your hormones off. They essentially raise ghrelin, the hormone that makes you constantly hungry and decrease leptin, the hormone that sends the signal to your brain that you’re full. Not to mention that since your body has no idea what they are, it is simply stored in your fat cells, which…you guessed it…makes you fatter.

And here’s the thing…

The FDA says these ingredients are safe in the serving size amounts listed on each package. Let me ask you this…

Do you know of anyone who eats just one serving, or even pays attention to portion sizes?
And do you think those ingredients are just found in that one particular item?

Start paying attention and notice how many those same mystery ingredients are in most of the processed foods on store shelves. So, the FDA’s safe serving amounts go out the window because those items are in most of the processed foods you eat. They also don’t just get flushed from your body with your next bowel movement. If they are stored in your fat cells, they become cumulative.

Keep in mind that many other countries have banned these ingredients.

Why? Because people are suffering from actual side-effects that are often times life threatening. Red dye 40 impairs learning and increases hyperactivity in children (with or without ADD/ADHD). Other ingredients can trigger, or have been linked to migraines, aggression, moderate to severe allergic reactions, increased/decreased blood pressure, asthma, gut issues, heart disease, cell damage, and cancer. Just to name a few.

How about “natural flavors” listed in the ingredients?

These ingredients are used to enhance flavor, not necessarily add to nutritional value. While the FDA does insist that these items must be derived from natural plant or animal sources, it does not regulate what is done with them. In other words, many of these so-called natural flavors are highly processed. And, in addition to their original flavor source, these mixtures can contain more than 100 different chemicals, including preservatives, solvents and other substances. These are defined as “incidental additives.”

And get this…food manufacturers are not required to let you know where those incidental additives come from or even whether or not they’re natural or chemical. So long as the original source was natural, it can all fall under the umbrella of “natural flavors” on nutrition labels.

A brief note on frozen foods…

If you’re buying frozen foods, let’s say frozen broccoli, the only ingredient should be broccoli. I often buy frozen over fresh because it lasts longer. I hate shopping so I only go every 2 weeks. And there’s a very strong argument that frozen is actually fresher than the fresh produce since it was frozen immediately after harvest as opposed to sitting on truck for delivery. The point is, your frozen item should be the only ingredient on the list.

So, what’s a hungry woman to do?

basic grocery store layout with whole foods on the perimeter — Every grocery store follows this basic layout with registers at the front, processed foods in the aisles behind registers, and whole foods set at the perimeter. (Graphic Credit: Myra Naito)

My suggestion is always to primarily shop for whole foods rather than processed foods. The perimeter of every market is meats, dairy, and produce. None of these items require a label because they are whole foods. Chicken breast is chicken breast. Salmon is salmon. That cucumber is just a cucumber. Processed foods all fall within the aisles of the market. ALL of those foods require labels because they’ve all been tinkered with. All of them. The only aisles where you can shop with label awareness, are the aisles which contain coffees, teas, oils, vinegars, and spices.

I say label awareness because even with these food items, manufacturers will slip sugar in, for example. Check any mixed spices and you’ll find sugar. Mrs. Dash is usually one of the cleaner ones and it doesn’t taste bland or boring at all.

The bottom line is, your health is up to you.

You have to take matters into your own hands because the FDA does not have your best interest at heart. And yes, it does take longer to do your shopping, but only in the beginning. Once you know what’s up and which brands to avoid, you’ll breeze right through.