The Degrading Diet that Food Labels Don't Tell You About

In the developed world, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other preventable diseases have risen dramatically. Many of these diseases have been linked to an over abundance in food and specifically a dramatic increase in simple sugars(glucose, fructose, dextrose, and starch), saturated fats, and sodium in our diets. The food industry labels their products to make you believe you are avoiding these problems by eating foods fortified with vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids with positive effects. In reality, you are still consuming large amounts of unhealthy nutrients that cause problems simple vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids cannot fix. To add on to the trouble, vitamins can have trouble being absorbed outside of their natural source proving to be just a number on the box and may have little to no effect at all.

The best option is to avoid processed foods as much as possible and create a diet containing lots of fresh fruits and vegetables to avoid falling into this consumer trap. Try to avoid premade meals and make as much of your food from scratch. This will also help you cut down on your carbon footprint by reducing the amount of packaging used in processed foods. You even have the option to buy local and organic produce to reduce the GHGs that are used in the transportation and production of these foods. This may be time consuming, but pays off in the long run for your health and the environment as well.

Here is an interesting article I found from The Daily Green to help you look beyond the labels of processed foods.

9 Food Label Lies