It was a sunny day, we were eating lunch at a friends house before dipping into the pool…

And there was a bottle of ICE ( 0 calorie flavored sparkling water). My friend grabs the bottle and reads the nutrition label and ingredients, and tries to prove a point to me – because she can read  the ingredients, this drink (ICE) must be healthy. Plus, it had 0 grams of sugar, 0 calories, and 0 grams of sodium – AKA “healthy”.  

Whenever I talk to clients or individuals about nutrition labeling and what to look for, I usually say that if you can’t read it, then it isn’t good for you. But, what if you can read it? Does that make it good for you? 

I put myself in a corner when she had said that and realized that it wasn’t about whether or not you can read the ingredient out loud, but it’s about whether you can RECOGNIZE the ingredient.  

Are you familiar with it? Do you normally notice it in your foods. What I mean is, can you tell me how sodium benzoate is helpful to your body? But you know how vitamin C is good for you, don’t you? 

Can you tell me how acesulfame potassium is helpful to your body? Is it an ingredient that you read and automatically go, “Oh! I recognize that!” 

More than likely…not. And that usually goes for A LOT of the ingredients in packaged products. 

Now, am I saying to never eat packaged products and stay away from them forever? No, I understand that’s difficult, because yeah unfortunately they are the foods that majority of us have grown up with and gotten accustomed to, so we do enjoy a bag of lay’s chips or Hot Cheetos once in a while.  

And for my parents out there, I get it. It’s a lot of work to prepare all the food your family eats from home, so of course you opt out for packaged products because it’s easier and quicker. I totally get it…but, because we care for our families and should care for ourselves, we need to be cautious of what we are putting in our body. 

The easiest way to make grocery shopping simple is to: 

1. Stay closer to the outer rims of the grocery store, where the produce is. 
2.  Limit your packaged products purchase. 
3.  When reading the ingredients, try to look for products that have 10 ingredients or less and make sure you can recognize most of them.  
4. Just because it says it’s organic, does not mean it’s “healthy” 
   1. Often people make this mistake, where they purchase organic products and feel like they’re making the right choice, and yes maybe there are in comparison to what they could’ve picked up, but it’s certainly not the best choice. The best choice is to go with something that has no additives, no preservatives, the least amount of processing – WHOLE foods!  
   2. Look for a product this is both non-GMO and 100% Organic! 

Attached below are a list of ingredients to avoid and be aware of when doing your grocery shopping.  

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But, what about packaged products that are considered cleaner and a better packaged product option? 

Some products you can check out are:  

1. Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter 
2. Banza Chickpea Pasta 
3. Siggi’s Yogurt 
4. Ezekeil Sprouted Bread 
5. Dave’s Killer Bread 
6. Skinny Dipped Almonds 
7. Mary’s Gone Crackers 
8. Thrive Market Organic Coconut Flakes 
9. Hippeas 
10. Dannon Light & Fit Greek Yogurt with ZERO Artificial Sweeteners 

I also know that trying to eat cleaner products can be more expensive, which is why some of us may opt for the cheaper products. Do the best you can to eat more whole foods, like fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds and have not as much packaged products in your pantry.  

Hope you found this post resourceful! 

Don’t forget to subscribe to get a new recipe and my answers to daily healthy struggles every week! 

Sources: 

• https://foodbabe.com/ingredients-to-avoid/ 
• https://www.eatthis.com/healthy-food-brands/