Healthy eating is all the rage today. Calorie counting, choosing healthy foods, low-fat food - all this occupies the minds of adherents of a healthy lifestyle. The main problem arises in a store when a person cannot read the product label correctly and understand whether this product fits what he needs to eat or not.
Thoughtful reading of the labels on the product is a useful activity, thanks to which you can learn a lot about the product and gain confidence in its quality and safety. Or it is fashionable, after reading, to immediately put the product aside so that you never touch it again.
The first thing you can see on the back of the package is a list of the ingredients that make up this product. This point needs to be given special attention. Remember that natural and healthy food will not contain additives in the form of colors and flavors. So, for example, if it is a peach jam, it should be made from peaches, and not an obscure jelly-like mass with a peach-flavored sweetener and colors.
Also, healthy food will not contain additives marked with the letter E. The letter E means Europe, and the numbers behind it indicate what kind of food additive it is - a dye, stabilizer or flavoring agent. In Russia, 3 food additives with the letter E are prohibited for sale - these are E121, E173, E240. If you suddenly see them on the product label, immediately put it aside.
Natural and healthy products should not contain excess. For example, if you have regular yogurt in front of you, it may contain only milk and biobacteria or ferment. But in yoghurts with additives, there are already additional ingredients that may be not useful for health and therefore negate all the benefits of the product.
If a product says it is calorie-free, it means it has no more than 5 calories. Low-calorie indicates a content of at least 40 calories, the “Reduced calorie” label indicates that this type of product has a quarter less calories than its usual version. A lightweight or lightweight product contains one third fewer calories than a conventional version, for example, the same yogurt.
Fat-free cheese, yogurt, kefir, etc. loved by many ladies. is just a product with less than 0.5g fat per serving. The fact that there is absolutely no fat in the product is indicated only by the prefix "without". Moreover, it determines the fact that a number of nutrients (sodium, cholesterol, calories, sugar) are in small quantities, but present.
The Low Fat label indicates that the product has a quarter less fat than the regular version. It should be borne in mind that such foods can be significantly higher in calories than ordinary ones.
A "lean" product typically contains about 10 grams of fat per 100 grams of product and also includes 4 grams of saturated fat for the same weight.
"Fresh" should not be subjected to any processing or even freezing. Fresh frozen product that has not undergone any processing will be labeled “fresh frozen”.
The word “natural”, beloved by many manufacturers, does not mean at all that the product is really like that. Most likely, this is a marketing ploy that is designed to increase sales and has nothing to do with reality. This designation takes place in those stores where food from manufacturers is sold. It can be easily distinguished by its shelf life, for example, milk will be stored for no more than 5 days, and the price is significantly higher than the standard one.
