We all eat boxed foods today. In fact, it is almost impossible to live in a city and not eat boxed foods. For some of us, these are cereals, chocolates, cookies and chips. For some others, these are protein supplements, meal replacements, packaged salads and bottled shakes or juices. We pick most of these foods based on what is said on the box. And that’s where the confusion starts.
What you see on the front is marketing. Not truth. Not real. Doesn’t happen in real life. Got it? What you need to see is on the back. The stuff that is hard to read. The text that is printed so beautifully that your head hurts in just about five seconds of looking at it – the all white cluttered section. Look for a label that is titled “Nutritional Information”. First thing you need to see there is the ‘serving size’. Now, look at the total weight of the box. It’s not going to be anywhere close to the serving size. It’s probably on the bottom of the box or in ink that is half washed away. Figure out how many total servings are in that box.
Now look at the other numbers - energy (calories), fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, sugars and protein. All these numbers are per serving. This is a simple trick used by food manufacturers to fool the unsuspecting buyer. If the manufacturer chooses to call one spoon of cereal a serving, then the box will contain some small numbers in this section. But for you to get an actual meal out of it, you are probably going to need many servings of what they call ‘one’ serving.
Now look down into the ‘Ingredients’ section. This is one of the most basic, yet critical pockets of information you need to stay healthy. Say you are buying rice. What should be in the ingredients list? Rice, of course. But more importantly, rice and nothing else. Now let’s take milk as an example. What should a packet of milk contain? Ideally, just plain milk. But why does your milk packet say otherwise? In fact, why does it not even say milk but says milk powder instead? If this is the case with something as simple as milk, a single ingredient, what can you expect of foods that contain milk and so many other such foods as ingredients?
Here are some general rules when buying boxed foods:
* Under ‘Nutritional Information’, irrespective of what you’re buying, make sure you don’t see any trans-fat. You also want as little as possible of sugar and cholesterol.
* If the ‘Ingredient List’ contains more than six to seven ingredients, you want to stay away from it. The lesser the number of ingredients, the better.
* The first few ingredients are what most of the food is made up of. So if you see anything you don’t want to see in the first three or four ingredients, don’t buy it. For instance sugar, concentrates, oil etc. appearing as the first few ingredients should raise a big red flag.
* Partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated vegetable oil is terrible for you. If you see them, don’t buy the product.
* If you find any words on this list that you don’t understand, don’t buy it. Yes, the chemicals and preservatives are food grade. But would you buy colouring agent E-133 and add it to anything you cook at home?
Make no mistake. It is critically important to know what you eat. The more you outsource your cooking, the more the need to be watchful of what you put in your mouth. So every time you buy anything that comes in a box, forget the facade and look behind the box.
Noted for his passionate, no-nonsense approach to health living, the writer is a fitness and nutrition expert and entrepreneur
