Many people are making a bigger effort than ever to eat in a healthy way. Eating the right carbohydrates and the right proteins, combined with generous helpings of fresh fruits and vegetables and reduced sugar and fats has been proven, time and time again, to help people live more active and healthy lives.
The food industry, however, has learned how to sabotage our efforts to reach this goal. By reducing prices on non-healthy (cheaply-manufactured) items, labeling food products in misleading ways, providing deceptive weight information and other ambiguous, confusing and downright misrepresentative data, they’ve made it almost impossible to avoid their techniques to get you to buy their products.
That doesn’t mean that you don’t have any options. Sloto Cash casino believes that, if you can identify these strategies when you do your shopping, you can make the right choices for your and your family’s health.
“Less Fat”
When a label says “less fat”, what does it mean? First of all, consider, less fat than WHAT? Secondly, less fat doesn’t necessarily mean less sugar – in fact, food manufacturers often ADD in sugar to reduced fat foods to keep it tasty.
So in the end, the “reduced fat” food item is less healthy than its “full fat” counterpart. To make the healthiest choice, compare the sugar and calorie content between options – the “full fat” with less sugar may have fewer calories than the “reduced fat” with more sugar.
Cellulose
If a food product lists “cellulose”, it may actually be wood chips that have been ground up into a soupy pulp. This concoction then servers as a binder that helps hold food together. It’s used in food products such as potato chips, donuts, shredded cheeses, smoothies, burgers and fried chicken and it’s a thickener for dipping sauces and dressings.
It passes through our GI tracts, virtually unabsorbed, and has never been shown to do anyone any harm, but if you’re going to be a smart shopper you should know that it’s there. According to John Coupland, food scientist at Penn State "cellulose is just a molecule, and probably one we want more of in our diets."
Addictive Foods
According to the latest research, processed, industrial fat-, sugar- and salt-laden foods are biologically addictive. Overeating these foods arises from the brain’s primitive neurochemical reward centers that override and overwhelm normal willpower.
In short, we are biologically wired to crave foods made with sugar, fat and salt which is why prepared foods are full of these ingredients. In short, the body reacts to them in the same way as it learns to crave cocaine, heroin, and nicotine.
Consider the following:
- PET (brain imaging) scans show that high-fat and high-sugar foods affect the brain in the same way that addictive drugs do.
- Foods that are high in sugar and fat stimulate the release of the body’s own opioids in the brain to cause the person to engage in addictive behavior regarding food.
- People can develop a tolerance to sugar in the same way that they learn to tolerate heroin or alcohol.
- People “withdraw” from sugary foods in the same way that addicts do when they detoxifying from drugs.
Is it any wonder that the first ingredient on so many prepared foods is “sugar”? Or that sugar and fat is one of the first items on the list of ingredients of many prepared foods?
Misleading Food Labels
How often do we see a food label that says “made with real honey” or “made with real fresh fruit?” So, you think to yourself, you’re getting a healthy product. Same thing when you see “no sugar added” or no nitrites”. Healthy choice, right?
Think again. Food labeling can be a scam. There are no laws to limit the ways that food manufacturers can mislead you as long as their basic claim is correct. So if a label says “no sugar” you are probably not thinking about how much fruticose has been added. When you see a product labeled “natural”, you think “healthy”, right? Don’t forget that “natural” has no official definition according to regulatory authorities which means that foodstuffs that are loaded with preservatives can legally be labeled “natural”.
Keep in mind that, according to the lack of direction from regulatory authorities, tobacco products can legally be labeled “organic,” “natural,” and “additive-free.”
“Recognized” Products
How often do we make a choice of what to buy because we recognize the product and therefore believe that it’s trustworthy? The food industry is very cognizant of this phenomena and has moved full speed ahead in bringing influencers and celebrities on board to promote their products.
In a paper What Is Influencer Marketing and How Does It Target Children? A Review and Direction for Future Research, UK University of Ghent researchers Marijke De Veirman, Liselot Hudders and Michelle Nelson write “research on the impact of celebrity endorsement on children has mainly focused on food marketing and has found that celebrities and athletes who are popular among minors typically endorse energy-dense and nutrient-poor products which may increase children’s intake of these less-healthy foods.”
Fast Food
The unhealthy nature of what we know of as “fast foods” is generally recognized – full of unhealthy fats and sugars” but fast foods sometimes include items that you would think are basically healthy – soft cheeses, tuna and other types of sandwiches that are sold in coffee shops and in deli counters of the supermarket. These sandwiches often contain listeriosis which can be fatal. Listeriosis develops when a food item has been refrigerated too long.
Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
Speaking of storing food for too long, “freshly squeezed” orange juice is freshly squeezed…..at sometime in the distant past. The juice is then stored in huge vats for months which causes it to lose its flavor. To spruce up the flavor again, flavor packets are added to this “100% juice.”
Products are often labeled with what they do not have to imply healthfulness and superiority to competitors. Consumers purchasing a no sugar added juice may be inclined to believe that there is little sugar or calories in the product, when in fact the opposite is true.
