There are still a lot of people who don't read food labels, don't know what to even really look for on the label, or who just trust what the outside of the package says("fat free", "all natural", "whole grains", "heart healthy", etc.).
Well, first of all, one thing to keep in mind is that some of the healthiest foods don't even HAVE food labels-fruits and veggies!
What I think is most important is to buy foods that have the least amount of ingredients possible. This is something I didn't even do until just the last year or so. If the label has a super long list of ingredients that you can't even pronounce, then you probably shouldn't eat it. Even better is to choose foods that only have ONE ingredient. For example, apples, broccoli, oranges, oats, eggs, fresh chicken breast.
Of course, you also want to look at the sugar content, saturated fat, and sodium-you want all of those to be as low as possible. If you are buying mostly natural foods, these will more than likely be pretty low.
Well, first of all, one thing to keep in mind is that some of the healthiest foods don't even HAVE food labels-fruits and veggies!
What I think is most important is to buy foods that have the least amount of ingredients possible. This is something I didn't even do until just the last year or so. If the label has a super long list of ingredients that you can't even pronounce, then you probably shouldn't eat it. Even better is to choose foods that only have ONE ingredient. For example, apples, broccoli, oranges, oats, eggs, fresh chicken breast.
Of course, you also want to look at the sugar content, saturated fat, and sodium-you want all of those to be as low as possible. If you are buying mostly natural foods, these will more than likely be pretty low.
As I've said many times before, be careful when something says "fat free"-it does NOT mean that it's healthy. Most of the time, fat free products have added sugar or high fructose corn syrup in them to make them taste good, along with a bunch of other ingredients. I think it's better to have a little more fat than to get something that's fat free with a bunch of chemicals in it. You have to READ the ingredients!
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