I can’t speak much about other countries, but the food industry in the United States is way too shady. This was a hard lesson when I first started trying to eat healthy. I had no desire to read labels and yet again and again I would be dismayed to find that things I thought were healthy were in fact counter to my efforts.
- There is sugar in everything and “pure organic cane sugar” is still sugar and just as bad as any refined sugar. Worse, the industry finds clever ways to hide sugar.
- “Sugar free” does not mean healthy – many sweeteners are worse than sugar in what the do in the body.
- “Fat free” does not mean healthy – there can be all sorts of crap in them including.. sugar!
- “Organic” is nice in theory but does not mean free of pesticides.
- Oils like olive and avocado are often not as pure as the label leads you to believe.
- “Free range” eggs don’t mean the chickens actually get outside or that they are not crowded in their pens.
I will stop there since I think it makes the point. The sad fact is we need to read labels to catch many of the tricks of the industry.
Fortunately I had already begun to learn about this and generally I try to avoid processed foods, opting for a whole food approach where I get the needed ingredients and make it myself whenever I can.
What I am discovering now, which is equally frustrating is all the misinformation I have bought into over the years. Consider how eggs were first pushed, then villainized, and now lauded once again as a great food option. The American food pyramid, with it’s emphasis on carbohydrates, is another good example. Fat continues to be villainized despite the studies that triggered all that hate being debunked. It is so important to use critical thinking skills to start to identify that misinformation so that we can make more informed decisions.