Navigating the supermarket
Navigating the supermarket
Ever walked into a supermarket with the intention of only buying healthy food, but been thrown off by how many products there are that are titled ‘healthy’ or tried to read a food label and got overwhelmed by the number of ingredients ? Or ended up at the ‘healthy’ free-from aisle and got some gluten free bread for £7 because surely that must be best?
With the cost of living crisis and more and more brands getting savvy with marketing seemingly ‘healthy’ foods to us, knowing how to shop for healthy and cost effectively has become all the more difficult
Here is a step by step guide on how to read food labels and how to shop healthily whilst understanding where to prioritise your food spending.
Main set of rules:
1. Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food.
2. Scan the first three ingredients - if they are refined sugars, salt or hydrogenated fats it’s unhealthy. If they are whole foods then its got a higher chance of being reasonably healthy.
3. ‘Free-from’ or ‘Natural’ DOES NOT make food healthy (or natural)! Often these are more unhealthy e.g. gluten free foods are often full of very refined other products.
4. Look at the ‘of which sugars’ line on the back of the pack labelling, if this is high, it is worse for you!
5. Check if the product contains vegetable oils like sunflower or canola/rape seed oil. If so it’s likely a really refined/processed version of this oil and is highly inflammatory. Of note, this is important in products like oat milks which are deemed ‘healthy’ but are actually contributing to your overall inflammatory load.
6. If it’s listed as high fibre, this is a nice bonus to food (but doesn’t make it healthy either, it still may be high in sugar, salt and highly processed e.g. cereals).
7. Reference Intakes are based on an average sized woman who does an average amount of exercise. Remember to estimate up/down for yourself.
8. Don’t go just by the traffic light system, it can be misleading - always look at the ingredients too. Whole foods e.g. organic nuts are always better than processed foods, regardless of the traffic light label (e.g. these nuts may show high levels/red of saturated fats).
9. Avoid GMO food (mostly relevant outside the UK).
10. Low calorie listed on the label? Compared to what? The difference may be negligible. Remember, a calorie from a low calorie donut isn’t the same as a calorie from broccoli.
11. Low fat? Same thing! Likely still high in sugar, additives and preservatives.
12. No added sugar? but what are the naturally occurring sugars? E.g. fruit juice may have no added sugar, but does it have artificial sweeteners to make it taste sweet, and has all the fibre been removed from the fruit? This will still spike your insulin & still counts as sugary.
13. If there are loads of E numbers, avoid it.
The difference between a Best before date and Use by date:
The best before date is more about quality for e.g. tinned and packaged foods. For example bread has a best before date - even if its passed this date it is unlikely to be harmful (carrying bacteria that can make you sick), rather, it is more likely to be stale and taste bad.
Use by date on the other hand is more about safety and is for perishable foods. For example a soft cheese that went beyond the use by date could be carrying harmful bacteria and make you very sick.
The exception: eggs have a best before date, but CAN harbour bacteria like salmonella. Eat them before their best before date and if you are past the date (by only a day or two please) make sure they are fully cooked through.
The list of ingredients are listed according to weight
The highest weight is first, so as a rule of thumb, the more processed a product is, the more ingredients it will contain.
Scan the first 3 ingredients. If they are things like refined sugars, salt, saturated/hydrogenated fats, then you can pretty much guarantee it’s an unhealthy product. If they first three are whole foods then there’s a much higher chance that its reasonably healthy!
A % on the list is required when that specific ingredient is highlighted in the main label or picture. E.g. ‘contains extra blueberries’ this will have to show the % of blueberry in the product.
Do I need to buy organic? Firstly what does organic mean?
If a product is labelled as organic, 95% of the farmed ingredients must be organic. The producer must show the code for the number of the certifying body. If you’re not buying pre packed foods and there is no clear label, make sure there is proof of a regulatory body.
Unless you are buying organic the food can be exposed to pesticides, herbicides and insecticides.
Not all organic food is created equal. If you have a tighter budget, I would prioritise buying organic animal products as a first a foremost. This is especially relevant for women as the added hormones in non organic meat can wreak havoc with your menstrual cycle or worsen signs of menopause.
For the same reason pregnant or breastfeeding women or those who have hormonal issues eg breast/prostate/ovarian cancer, fibroids, PCOS or endometriosis - eating organic should be more of a priority for you.
When it comes to fruit and veg, look (often, as this changes monthly) at the dirty dozen and clean 15 which are the most and least contaminated foods in your area. This shows you which fruit and veg may be safer to eat non-organic (clean 15) and which you should prioritise buying organic as they are heavily contaminated (dirty dozen).
Additives exist to prolong shelf life, alter taste/texture/colour etc. They are identified by E numbers.
Rule of thumb, try to eat as much home cooked food as possible. Avoid additive laden, packaged foods! If there’s a list of items which you don’t know what they are… it’s likely they are bad.
Remember: additives are used until proven unsafe, not only used only once proven safe. Food additives can be added where you least expect it. e.g. Honey - ALWAYS CHECK THE LABEL.
Companies use tricks when labelling, if they don’t want to list the E number they might use the trade name which is less well known. e.g. Aspartame = E951 = NutraSweet all signify the same thing and any title can be used.
Additives can also be added to food prior to manufacture, e.g. farmed salmon where colour is added to increase the pinky/redness of the flesh. This is added when the salmon is swimming around into their tank, not when it’s being processed, so it doesn’t have to be listed on the label. Just another reason to go organic with animal products.
Fruit juice: 100% made from concentrate… healthy? Not really, the flavour is created from fruit essences and oils that are boiled down into their individual constituents in a lab. They are then re-assembled into a new compound and added back into the juice / mixed with water. They are artificial, but can be labelled as natural as the individual components were originally extracted from fruit. This way all the health benefits are lost.
Not all additives are bad, for example some additives are found naturally in foods and are extracted and used In other foods. e.g. E100 curcumin (from turmeric) or E162 Beetroot are used to colour foods yellow or red and are not bad for you. Other good ones include E160a (carotenes), E101 and E106 riboflavin (vitamin B2 - it’s yellow, which is why if you take a B2 vitamin your urine turns bright yellow).
ADHD: a specific note on ADHD, for which over 20 artificial colours + preservatives have been linked:
E102, 104, 110, 122, 124, 129, 210-219 found in things like jam, pickles, fruit squash, cordial, ice cream, yogurt, margarine, soft drinks, beer and Salad dressings.
Ones to avoid:
E160b Annato, linked to headaches, hives, irritability, sleep issues. Found in cheese, crisps, margarine, smoked fish
E120 cochineal (red dye made from ground and dried insects) can cause asthma, even in people that have not had asthma before, and allergic reactions - in soups, sauces, desserts and bakery products.
E240-252 Nitrates/nitrites preservatives = are carcinogenic, psoriasis, hives, SLE (lupus) - processed meats and cheeses and in non organic fertilisers so can make its way into water/crops from nearb
E320 BHA, E321 BHT - hives, dermatitis, headaches, hormone disruption, respiratory issues, and is carcinogenic - preserved meats, oils, cereals, margarine & cosmetics. These are known to be dangerous and are not allowed to be used in baby food. In Japan they are banned all together + the US has recognised that they are carcinogenic but are still being used in ‘adult’ food in the UK.
Azodicarbonamide in bread (sticks it together) - no longer used in the UK but used in the US (also what used to keep yoga mats stretchy… not something we want to be eating!)
E110, E104, E122, E129, E102, E124 - in the UK if included there needs to be a warning on the label as are strongly associated with hyperactivity and poor concentration.
E211 sodium benzoate, E220 sulphur dioxide (also depletes vitamin B1 in and impedes the oxygen carrying capacity of haemoglobin - wheezing, shortness of breath, asthma attack, hives, nausea, disrupts the gut microbiome - in dried fruit, processed meat, wine), E251 sodium nitrate - all linked with asthma and allergies + other adverse effects.
Synthetic antioxidants: E310,319,320,321 (PG, TBHQ, BHA, BHT) associated with health issues
Emulsifiers E433, 466 associated with increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer, mediated in part by disruption to the microbiome
Carrageenan, E407 stabiliser - a natural product extracted from red seaweed then industrially produced. Linked with gut inflammation, bloating and bowel disease as it disrupts the gut microbiome. This is often found in many ‘organic and vegan foods’ that are listed as natural and healthy. For example organic nut milks etc. Also found in supplements + cosmetics + medications.
E330 citric acid - naturally occurring in fruits but as an additive is manufactured using cheap GM high fructose corn syrup. This GM component makes it potentially hazardous to health.
E400s additives are linked to gut issues including bloating, cramping, nausea and flatulence.
E621 MSG monosodium glutamate is linked to MSG syndrome (headaches, skin flushing, dizziness, numbness, burning in the mouth, muscle tightness, sweating, chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, throat swelling - can require immediate medical attention!) it’s not necessarily an allergy to MSG more of a sensitivity based on how quickly the free glutamic acid in MSG is released into the bloodstream. Often on labels this is disguised as hydrolysed protein, yeast extract or protein isolate. Often found in stock cubes, chips, seasoning blends and take away/ pre packed food.
Synthetic sweetness E900s like aspartame, acesulfame/ace K and saccharin. These are carcinogenic. They cause headaches, nausea, depression, irritability and raise insulin levels, affect insulin sensitivity, overstimulate sugar receptors making less healthy options taste unappealing. They are addictive and increase sweet cravings. They cause DNA damage.
For bulk sweetness like sorbitol and xylitol More than 10g/100g do require a warning on the product label as they can cause stomach upset.
Artificial colours E100s are linked with hyperactivity in children, E102 specifically linked to rhinitis, itching, blurred vision, asthma
E926 Chlorine dioxide depletes vitamin E
Plastic packaging + cling film allow leaching of BPA which is a hormone disruptor, especially oestrogen and is linked to hormonal cancers like breast cancer, issues like endometriosis, fibroids and infertility.
Please do not let cling film touch your food! Use greaseproof paper, then wrap the cling film around that. Also, wait until the food has cooled until you wrap it. The best would be to use glass jars. This includes for freezing ! Please only freeze and cook in glass.
Plastic water bottles, cooking oil bottles, styrofoam food trays, egg cartons and disposable cup (especially the lid you drink from) all contain BPA, PET, PVC, DEHA, PS and PC which are not good for health
Irradiation is used to prolong shelf life using electron beams, x rays or gamma rays. In the UK many foods are allowed to be irradiated including dried herbs, cereals, fruit and veg and a lot more. It must be displayed on the food (‘irradiated’ or ‘ treated with ionising radiation’) or this symbol:
Irradiation can cause radiologic products which are often carcinogenic and mutagens. It also can produce toxic chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene. In animals exposed to irradiated food, cancer and chromosomal abnormalities are seen. The danger of irradiated foods is recognised but still allowed in the UK! The idea of irradiation is it kills bacteria, but the toxins those bacteria produce still survive + so can lead to more virulent strains of bacteria. It can also be used to mask unhygienic food production.
Lastly the vitamin content (esp B and C) is reduced by up to 95% after irradiation.
Genetically Modified ingredients above 0.9% or if irradiated must be listed. BUT you don’t need to list foods made with the help of GMO technology e.g. GM enzymes to clot milk for cheese, or products from animals that are fed on GMO feed e.g. meat and eggs. Varied research links GMO foods to immune issues, infertility, impaired insulin regulation and accelerated ageing.
GMOs are living organisms whose genetic material has been manipulated through genetic engineering e.g. GM crops are manipulated to be resistant to pests and pesticides. Europe and the UK are officially GMO free, but the USA freely uses GMO crops & foods. We import a lot from other countries. Any food from the US could be GM unless labelled as certified organic. Common GM crops are corn, rice, soya and cotton. SO many processed foods contain soy and this is likely the most problematic one.
Do I really need to wash fruit and veg?
Again, this one is more important for pregnant women (as the risk of bacteria affecting you or your baby is much higher).
For the rest of the population I’m afraid the answer is still yes. Whilst you might not get a life threatening condition, you can get a bad bout of food poisoning more easily than you think. You will also be able to get rid of (a small amount) of the pesticides/herbicides/fertiliser on the surface of the food .
If you have ever watched a video of what happens to raspberries and blackberries when vinegar is poured on them…and the amount of bugs that come out, you’ll believe me.
You can also wash fruit and veg in a 2% salt solution (can leave fruit and veg in it for 5-10 mins) or in a white distilled vinegar + water mix and let sit for 15-20 mins and rise.
Washing will still only clear surface pesticides. Chemicals that have gone into the fruit you can’t get rid of like this, but it’s better than not washing.