Navigating Labels

For most of us, taking the time to prepare pure, wholesome foods during the hustle and bustle of everyday life is a rare thing indeed.  Between the demands of full-time employment, maintaining a household, and in many cases, raising children, reserving an hour towards making dinner is the last thing anyone wants to do.  Consumers thus place their faith in ready-made meals and boxed dinners with the seductive assertion: “Ready in just 10 minutes!” inscribed in bold print.  However, much like you wouldn’t select a bruised-looking apple based on what information you glean from its skin, you shouldn’t disregard the readily available information printed on the back of your packaged foods. 

Convenience shouldn’t be the sole deciding factor in what foods to select when browsing through grocery store aisles.  In fact, it shouldn’t even be a priority.  Ignore food labels and you could be committing yourself to a bad apple.  

Daily value percentages are easy enough to understand.  Our bodies require a certain amount of nutrients every day to maintain optimal function, and these percentages are reflective of how much we’re getting out of any given food.  Follow this train of thought and you’ll arrive at the revelation that it’s best to choose foods with the highest concentration of nutrients.  If the majority of your routine mealtime choices have little nutritional value, it’s definitely time to switch things up. 

Ingredient lists are trickier.  Do you know what it is you’re eating?  In many cases, it can be like trying to decipher a different language.  There is, however, a solution.  Learn to translate.  Devoting time to researching common food additives will make the process of sifting through aisle upon aisle of food much less intimidating.  For starters, follow this link for a list of common food additives and which ones to avoid: http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm

Ignorance can be bliss, but in the case of ensuring favorable health and well-being, uninformed choices are risky ones.  Don’t jeopardize that for convenience – do your research.