Reading a Food Label

Reading a Food Label for Beginners

In my last post, I talked a little bit about what clean eating is and why it is important. Today, I want to dive in a little deeper to help you get a sense of what I look for on a food label. This is a really important part of learning to eat clean (or just cleaner if that’s your thing). Here is how to start reading a food label.

Let’s start with the front of the package. Do I read the front? NOPE. Do I care that it has the little heart for heart-healthy, or the GF for Gluten Free, or sugar-free listed all pretty on the front? HECK NO! Honestly, some of those are a queue that there may be more sneaky things in that package. When companies make something low sugar, reduced sodium, heart healthy, etc., chances are they have added other things in to make it taste better.

Turn that package over!!! I cannot stress how important it is to read the label, not the marketing.

So now you are looking at a list of ingredients. How many are there? I try to stay at ten or less. Find a number that works for you. Some people use five ingredients, some eight, some twelve. Depending on what it is, ten is my number. If there are more than that, you should do two things, consider making it yourself, or pick something else.

What are the ingredients?

I want to be able to pronounce all of them and have a good idea where they came from. I am also looking to see if it is something I would use to cook with at home. For example, xanthan gum or guar gum. I had no idea what these were in the beginning. I kept seeing them on many labels, so I did some research and it turns out that they are thickening agents and used to help ingredients blend. Xanthan gum is actually bacterial fermentation that is separated with isopropyl alcohol. Whereas gnar gum is from a bean. I don’t mind gnar gum in my ingredient list but I consider twice the xanthan gum. In moderation, I don’t have an issue with it, but by and large, I would rather find another option.

The next thing I’m considering is how many forms of sugar are listed. Sugar comes in so many forms. Some are more natural and some are chemical. I always check how many forms are present. Cane sugar, sugar, tapioca syrup, honey, agave, stevia, anything followed by syrup, sucralose, aspartame, dextrose, fructose, nectar, sorghum, are just some of the more popular names for sugar. I also look at where they fall on the food label. If they are one of the first three ingredients I move on (unless I am looking at something that is supposed to be heavy in sugar like a cookie or chocolate). I don’t like more than two forms of sugar for most foods.  If it has either aspartame or sucralose it is a deal breaker for me.

Food labels are organized by the amount of that ingredient. It starts with the most and goes to the least. If the first item listed is sugar, that means there is more sugar in that item than any other ingredient. Just keep that in mind.

The next thing I look at is what type of flour was used. Especially if it is supposed to be whole wheat. Bleached enriched flour might as well be white flour. It has gone through a chemical process that removes any fiber or nutrition that would come naturally from wheat. Then, the enriched part means they attempted to add it back in. What? Why? It may say bleached enriched flour, bleached flour, enriched flour, bleached wheat flour, enriched wheat flour, or some variation of those. Unless it says whole wheat flour, you are getting more than you realized. They can still call it wheat flour even if it is mixed with white flour as long as they don’t call it whole wheat. Sneaky, sneaky. My favorite whole wheat flour is by Bob’s Red Mill. The Whole Wheat Pastry flour is finer than many whole wheat counterparts so you can still get the lightness of white flour.

Colors. If there are any colors listed followed by any number, it goes back on the shelf for me. Period. That may not be a stopping point for you. Just do your homework. Know what you are consuming.

Preservatives. How long is the shelf life of the item? A good rule of thumb is the longer the shelf life, the more preservatives. There are always exceptions so this is not a stringent rule, but think about it in relation to what you are buying.

The more labels you read, the faster you will get at interpreting them! I go through these questions every time I read a label. It is so important to know what you are consuming. I am here to help in any way I can! If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments below, send me an email, or come on over to Facebook! Please feel free to share, pin, or subscribe below to keep in the loop!