Don’t be duped!
Behind food myths and label tricks
This month, l want to look at two important areas: myths about healthy eating, and how to avoid being fooled by food labels. As consumers get savvy, product manufacturers have to improve their products. It's that simple.
Misleading food myths
1. Eating too many eggs increases cholesterol. When we eat eggs, we should eat the whole egg, not just the egg white. All the nutrients are in the yolk. The yolk also contains lecithin, a fat emulsifier, which means that it's a myth that eggs raise your cholesterol, since they contain the very nutrient needed to break down the cholesterol they deliver.
2. Fat is bad. We, as a nation and especially women, are not eating enough healthy fat – the good fats, which our brain prefers to use as fuel, and the ones that help us burn the bad fat. We eat entirely too much sugar when we cut out the healthy fats. The kinds of fats we should increase for more energy, improved metabolism, improved skin tone, and better brain function are coconut oil, flaxseed oil and meal, avocados, nuts, and seeds.
3. Soy is a health food. It is NOT! Unfermented soy is toxic. Almost all of the soy grown in the U.S. is genetically modified, which means it is created in a lab with the introduction of chemicals. Soybeans are processed with hexane, a gasoline by-product. The only forms of soy that are acceptable are fermented soy products, such as miso (as in the soup), tamari (wheat-free soy sauce), and tempeh, a healthy tofu alternative.
Food labels: five “red flags”
We are bombarded by advertisements and marketing campaigns of food manufacturers telling us what is healthy and what isn’t. It’s good to know how to cut through the hype of advertising and marketing to get to the core of how healthy a product is for you.
There are many “poser foods” that claim to be healthy, yet they are not. When you see any of these five terms on the outside of a package, consider them “red flags”, meaning you should look more closely at the nutrition label.
1. Sugar-Free: Artificial sweeteners like aspartame and saccharin are now proven to cause an increase in appetite and sweet cravings as well as cause headaches (neurotoxicity), and thyroid problems. If you're going sugar-free, look for things sweetened with natural sweeteners like raw honey, stevia, xylitol, erythritol, and brown rice syrup.
2. Naturally sweetened: Beware of products labeled “naturally sweetened”. Many of them contain Splenda. There is nothing natural about Splenda. It is a sugar molecule that has been treated with chlorine so that your body doesn't absorb the majority of sucralose or sugar (only about 15%). You wouldn't sprinkle chlorine on your food so why would you eat it?
3. All Natural: Make sure to look at the label on products claiming to be “all natural.” More often than not, if the main ingredient fits into the mainstream view of “healthy”, the product can be listed as “all natural” without taking into consideration the laundry list of preservatives that follow the main ingredient. If a product has MSG, maltodextrin, hydrolyzed vegetable or plant protein, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, fractionated oils, nitrites, sulfates, dyes and food coloring, it is not natural!
4. Low Fat: Our natural state is balance, and when we eat foods that are as nature intended, we can maintain that balance. Nine times out of 10, when food manufacturers take the fat out of something, they replace it with sugar (as well as salt and preservatives) – which is the leading cause of diabetes and obesity in this country. Fat is not the enemy, sugar is.
5. Whole Grain: Many products described as “whole grain” are made with processed wheat and corn, which are two of the five most common food allergens, as well as two foods that are well known for being genetically modified. Brown rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat and spelt, among other grains, are better ones to look for. You will see many of the mainstream food manufacturers using mostly corn and wheat with copious amounts of sugar or high fructose corn syrup added.
