What's In That?

The ingredient list is the first thing that should be looked at when choosing to buy a food item.  For example if you were buying bread, the first ingredient that should be listed is whole wheat flour.  This is because the ingredients are listed in order of decreasing weight.  So the first ingredient listed is the ingredient found most in the product. 

Sugars can be naturally present in foods, such as fructose in fruit or lactose in milk, or they may be added to food. Added sugars, also known as caloric sweeteners, are sugars and syrups that are added to foods at the table or during processing or preparation. Added sugars provide calories but few or no nutrients.

Some of the names for added sugars are listed below:

✤ Brown sugar ✤ Corn sweetener ✤ Corn syrup ✤ Dextrose ✤ Fruit juice concentrates ✤ Glucose ✤ High-fructose corn syrup ✤ Honey ✤ Invert Sugar ✤ Lactose ✤ Maltose ✤ Malt syrup ✤ Molasses ✤ Raw sugar ✤ Sucrose ✤ Sugar ✤ Syrup

Also avoid certain fats and oils such as hydrogenated oil.  These are trans fats.  Even if the food label indicates that the product has 0 grams of trans fat, there still could be a small amount of trans fat in the product.  If the product  contains 0.5 grams or less of trans fat the manufacturer can label it trans fat free. 

The best way to shop is to choose foods that have the shortest ingredient list and also contain ingredients that you can pronounce and that you know what those ingredients are.  For example if you add flavored creamer to your coffee, look at these two labels and decide which one you would buy. 

INGREDIENTS: NONFAT MILK, HEAVY CREAM, SUGAR, NATURAL FLAVOR.

OR

INGREDIENTS: WATER, SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL, AND LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE)**, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, CELLULOSE GEL, CELLULOSE GUM, COLOR ADDED, CARRAGEENAN.

Both ingredient lists are for Coffee Mate creamers.  The first one is from the Natural Bliss line.  It is vanilla flavored creamer.  The second one is also vanilla, but it is the original creamer.  Did you know that most coffee creamers contain partially hydrogenated oils?  When I add cream to my coffee, I want exactly that, CREAM not oil!