Ignore Food Labelling, Look at Food Processing

Ignore Food Labelling, Look at Food Processing

If your main goal with your food choices is to improve your health, there is one thing you should ask yourself when you are food shopping…

‘Is this food natural?’

That question is the most important one of all for anyone looking to improve their health. Food quality outweighs anything else when it comes to nutrition. Forget low fat, low carb, gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian or any other ‘healthy’ label you want to slap on food. If it isn’t natural, it isn’t healthy.

To the vast majority of the population, this sort of thing is regarded as a healthy food…

When a food is natural, it hasn’t been processed. The problem with processing is that the food is often pre-digested as part of the manufacturing. The process that the product goes through often removes the nutritious elements of the food. By eating foods in the most natural state that you can, you benefit from more of the goodness.

The less processing a food has to endure, the more nutrients are preserved and the healthier the food is. Forget food labelling and advertising as a guide to the quality of the product – they aren’t going to tell the truth as they want to sell as much of it as they can!

Trusting food producers to look after the health requirements of consumers is akin to expecting bankers to decline their bonus despite their bank making a loss. The food producers care about one thing – selling food. If they can slap a few exaggerated truths on their labels and you buy more of their products they have achieved their goal!

If you want to achieve better health, you need to stop thinking of foods in terms of their fat or calories. Sugar has very little fat, but it certainly isn’t a health food. Likewise, fresh Mackerel has lots of fat but is a very healthy food. Ignore food labelling, look at food processing

For too long we have been told that low fat, high carbohydrate diets are the way we should eat. Look at the food pyramid or the eatwell plate…

Fundamentally, these are flawed. Numerous studies have shown that most of us don’t digest grains particularly well. In addition, we don’t need as much carbohydrate that these images advise. The food pyramid in particular suggests we should eat more grains than vegetables! Eh? Is it any wonder America is the fattest nation on earth?

Get rid of the processed foods from your diet and you will notice a dramatic improvement in your health and body composition.

We need to get back to nature, eat what the ground provides us with. Eat seasonally to get the most from your food – at its best and when it is in season, the vitamin and mineral density of our food is at its highest. It is also at its most plentiful, meaning it is cheaper. Slimmer body, fatter wallet.

If you are unsure as to when a food is in season (in the Northern Hemisphere at least), have no fear, I am here to help! The link below outlines to vegetables and their seasons perfectly…

For a fantastic guide to when a food is in season, click here.

So what should you take from this article? Simple. Ignore food labelling, look at food processing. What kind of processing has the food gone through to reach its current state? As a rule of thumb, more processing = less nutritional benefit.

Low calorie or low fat doesn’t mean healthy. Natural means healthy.

To sum up, if it could run, swim or fly away from you, eat it. If it was pulled from the ground, a tree or bush, eat it. If it came from a bag, packet, tin or box, don’t eat it!

Make better choices, cook your food well and enjoy the health benefits.

Oh, and one last thing I spotted whilst in the supermarket…

Lager – now a health food apparently! Woo Hoo!

So remember, Ignore food labelling, look at food processing and enjoy better health, fitness and body composition as a result!