Friday, April 8, 2011

Ingredients Rules #3- #7

Today, I read about food ingredients in the Food Rules book that I posted about yesterday.

#3 Avoid food products containing ingredients that you would not keep in your pantry
  • Would you ever cook with sodium benzoate, tetrazine, or other crazy ingredients?? Recipes do not call for those things so why eat them?!! Our bodies don't know what they are or how to process them.
#4 Avoid high fructose corn syrup
  • It is not any worse then sugar (the media has been telling us it is) but the problem is that it is added to so many of our foods now days! If you cut this ingredient out of your diet you will cut your sugar intake by a long shot. It is added to foods that don't even need sugar. It is a cheap way for food manufacturers to add sweetness to things to get you addicted!
  • Do not be fooled by ingredients like "real can sugar" or "brown rice syrup" or "organic sugar" it is all the same thing! Sugar is sugar!
#5 Avoid foods that have sugar listed in the top 3 ingredients:
  • Unless of course it is your treat for the day or something :)
  • There are over 40 different types of sugars out there (polydextrose, dextrin, cane juice, barley malt, etc..) Do not let these names fool you.
  • If it is in the top three ingredients it is usually really high in sugar content. Look at fruit loops or other cereal, sugar is always in the top three! Watch for this.
  • Also, artificial sweetners do not make things better. They do not lead to weight loss and can actually leave you wanting more sugar to satisfy the craving. It has even been discussed in research that it may lead you to consume more food later on in the day.
  • Eat sugar and artificial sweetners in moderation!
#6 Avoid products that have more then 5 ingredients in the label.
  • More ingredients=higher processing of the food
  • Note that using a recipe made at home with more than 5 ingredients is not the same thing!
#7 Do not eat food that has ingredients in it that a 3rd grader can not pronounce.
  • It sounds all fancy, but they are not good for the body.

1 comment:

Maryann said...

These rules are all so true! Its crazy that companies try to disguise sugar with so many different names, most people dont read food labels and those that do won't recognize many of the names that are used to hide it these days. Moderation is definitely key!

Loving your blog! :)