Is Your Healthy Food Healthy?

Most of us know that we should watch what we eat.  Consume at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day, drink at least 2 litres of water, stay away from fatty foods and reduce the amount of sugary foods that we eat.  This message should be getting through to most people now. 

Governments spend millions of pounds to educate us correctly in the right type of healthy diet we should be following.

The multi national weight loss companies have their own ranges of low fat / low calorie foods as do the supermarket chains, but are these healthier foods always the best options? 

Don’t forget that just because a chocolate muffin is touted as low fat, it doesn’t mean it is a good food choice.  If it is low in fat, you can be sure there will be added sugars to replace the taste of the missing fat and visa versa.  Add to this an alarming list of additives and preservatives and you no longer have a healthy food option.

Also don’t be fooled in to thinking that just because a product is given a name that sounds healthy such as - 'healthy range', 'good for you,' 'healthy balance' etc that it actually is going to be any good for you.

Always opt for natural foods and make up your own sauces and toppings and beware, hidden fats and sugars are everywhere. 

Manufacturers have ways of hiding these ingredients which are totally legal.  Follow my list of do’s and don’ts when shopping to ensure that you are eating foods that are good for you.

• Beware of foods described as ‘light or lite’ this definition has no real meaning at all and can be used to describe reduced fat, sugar, alcohol or salt but also whether a product is light in colour or even texture!

• Look at the fat percentage in foods, you should select foods that are no higher than 3 grams of fat per 100 calories. Fat contains 9 calories per gram but Carbohydrates and protein only contain 4 calories per gram.  This means you may be able to eat more of these types of foods without increasing your total calorie intake.

• Watch out for foods that are low in fat, but replace the fat with extra sugars which may increase the total calories to higher than that of the original product.

• Bear in mind that ingredients are usually listed in descending order by weight, the first listed ingredient makes up the largest proportion of all the ingredients.

• When checking food labels watch out for foods high in sugars.  One way manufacturers hide this fact is to break down all the individual sugars, so that they don’t appear to make up the majority of the ingredients.  Sugar, Glucose, Glucose syrup, Fructose, dextrose, invert sugar syrup are all basically other forms of sugar.

I'm not suggesting that you should spend hours each shopping trip studying and checking all the food labels you buy, but you do need to become more aware of the types of ingredients to be found in your regular food selections.  There will be many better alternatives. 

Always look for foods with short ingredient lists...

• Little or no added sugar
• No preservatives
• No additives
• No e numbers or colorants and
• Low levels of salt (less than 2,400 milligrams)

Again I should stress that you don’t need to avoid these foods altogether, but they should be a rare part of your diet as opposed to a regular food option – happy shopping!

To find out more about the techniques Jago uses in his NEW 4 Week Diet, click here now - 4 Week Diet