The third mini chapter of this labeling series is the ingredient list! There are many mysterious items on it so the basic rule is the following: if you don’t recognize the ingredient or your grandma didn’t have it in her kitchen, leave it! And by the way! If you’re reading an ingredient list, there are 90% chances that you’re holding an ultra-processed food in your hands!
Just to increase the profits, the industrials will use lots of chemicals, additives and preservatives. Thus they increase the shelf life, they play with the flavors and aromas to enchant you from the first smell, they will increase the taste so that you become addicted or they will block your hunger hormone so you will eat much more than you need!
Unfortunately these items are exactly the ones that you want to avoid! They are the cause of the increase of your cholesterol, of your triglycerides and your blood sugar or they can trigger certain types of cancer! These chemicals do not have a place in your body because it does not know how to process certain compounds!
What should you watch out for?
First of all, look at the length of the list: if it contains 30 ingredients instead of 3 for bread for example (water, salt and flour), leave it!!! If it has more than five or six ingredients, it is an ultra-processed item. The ingredients are listed in the order of their weight percentage in the final product! Usually the first 2 to 5 ingredients are the most predominant ones.
Second of all, identify the chemicals. Don’t buy the product if there are too many! There is always an equivalent, you just have to look for it. Maybe you will find it at the organic products area or maybe in another supermarket. Me, I do my shopping in five different supermarkets as in each of them there are some products that fit my diet.
Third of all, identify the fake sugars hiding here and there on the ingredient list! They will increase your blood sugar, even if you have a sugar-free product in your hands! All those sugar alcohols and sugar substitutes are terribly digested by your body! Some of them will produce diarrhea so that means that they affect your microbiome and your digestive process.
And last but not least, identify the powdered items as they are the main cause of the cholesterol issues and inflammation.
One example:
I apologize for the picture the ingredient list is difficult to read but still visible on the right upper corner: tomatoes, spirit vinegar, glucose-fructose syrup, molasses, sugar, modified cornflour, salt, spices, smoke flavoring, flavorings.
- the length: 10 items, my grandma would have used only 5 of them. Most predominant ones are: tomatoes, spirit vinegar and sugar (glucose-fructose syrup, molasses, sugar)
- the chemicals: smoke flavoring and flavorings – these are compounds created in a lab
- the sugars: glucose-fructose syrup, molasses, sugar, modified cornflour
- powdered items: modified cornflour
Also the product is being marketed as having no artificial colors, no artificial preservatives, suitable for vegetarians. What about the smoke flavorings and the flavorings created artificially in a lab??
Would I buy this product? Definitely not, even if I would be a healthy person with no diabetes in my past!