Grocery Store Health Deception - Understanding the Truth about Food Labels
Nutrition & Weight Loss Tips that Start with Your Food Shopping
by Mike Geary , Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
I was at the grocery store the other day picking up some ingredients for a black bean & brown rice with seasoned venison strips dish I was planning to make, when an interesting thing happened.
I had gone straight to the grocery store after training a couple clients at the gym. Well, as I was grabbing some frozen veggies, a friendly lady (who must have seen that I was a fitness coach from my shirt), asked me my advice on a couple frozen prepared box meals she was picking out which had "healthy" claims on the labels (by the way, those prepared frozen meals are usually highly processed crap loaded with sodium and other chemicals).
Now I will say that this woman was VERY overweight, and she mentioned that she has "tried everything" to lose the excess weight and has always failed.
Keep in mind I hear about 50 people a day tell me they've "tried everything" to lose weight and get in shape. The problem that they don't realize is that they're trying all of the wrong things... they're trying all of the gimmicks and fat loss fads that are out there instead of just adopting a TRUE healthy active lifestyle that will make them lean and healthy for life.
Back to the woman in the store...
So we started chatting about her struggles with losing weight and getting in shape, and I began scanning her grocery cart. If I can remember, these were some of the contents she thought were healthy:
- Slim fast shakes (far from healthy...they're actually loaded with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils , and a bunch of other chemicals)
- Fat Free Rice Cakes (ok...despite so many people believing these pieces of crap are healthy...they really are nothing but pure refined starch with zero fiber, which basically breaks down immediately into sugar in your body, spiking insulin and promoting fat storage...doesn't sound so good anymore, huh)
- Protein bars "Scientifically Slim Body Engineered" or some BS statement like that (I took a gander at the ingredient list of these so called "healthy" protein bars and sure enough... hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and enough sugar alcohols to give you diarrhea for a week!)
- Canned fruit in syrup (I guess she could do worse here...but still, why not just eat fresh whole fruit which still contains the skins, fiber, active enzymes, etc, instead of resorting to processed, canned fruit that's been cooked and loaded with syrup)
- Reduced Sugar Dessert Cakes (ok, so these are loaded with nasty artificial sweeteners , sugar alcohols, preservatives, and a chemical ingredient list about 15 lines long)
Do you see what's going on here? This is the same scenario that I see all the time.
Most people are fooled by what the FRONT OF THE BOX says, leading them to believe what they are buying is healthy. On all of these items, the FRONT of the packages had all kinds of great sounding things like "fat free", "reduced sugar", "high protein", "low cholesterol", "low carb", etc.
However, the TRUTH is on the BACK OF THE BOX! Ah yes, the ingredient list and nutrition info is where the real truth is. However, I've realized that most of the general public doesn't know how to fully understand the ingredient list and nutrition info, so they rely on the advertising claims on the front of the package to guide them.
BIG MISTAKE!
If you notice, this woman thought she was doing great with her grocery shopping and buying all kinds of healthy stuff for her and her family.
In reality, EVERYTHING she was buying was highly processed and full of chemicals and industrially refined ingredients. No wonder "nothing has worked" for her to get in shape and lose the excess body fat... she actually hasn't been doing anything right. She's been mislead by all of the confusing marketing and labeling and conflicting nutrition info in the mass media.
If you want to discover the TRUTH about what it really takes to eat a truly healthy diet that maximizes your metabolism, brings your hormonal balance back to normal, reduces cravings, and strips off body fat faster than you'd believe is possible... it's all found in my Truth about Six Pack Abs program.
Here's what some of my readers from all over the globe are saying about their experiences with this fat loss program:
Truth about Six Pack Abs Reviews
Have fun and choose wisely on your next grocery store trip!
Feel free to copy/paste this link (or share below) on to any friends, family, or coworkers you think might enjoy this article.
Stay lean,
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com & Busy Man Fitness .com
Other recommended resources:
back to Workouts for Abs & Full Body home page