5 easy things to look for when choosing food healthy food
Meet Sarah Reddington aka Low Toxin Rabbit. Check out her top 5 easy things to look for when shopping
Sarah is a mum to three and a previous health advisor who successfully healed herself from Graves disease by removing toxins. She’s passionate about helping others understand more about what we put into our bodies and steps everyone can take towards good health. We asked her for 5 things to look for when choosing food for you and the family. HINT: it’s easier than you’d think to make good choices!
In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, making healthy food choices can often feel like a daunting task. However, with a bit of knowledge and mindful decision-making, it becomes surprisingly easy to opt for nutrient-rich foods that will have lasting effects on ours and our family’s health. Here are five tips to help you select healthier foods:
1. Go for Whole and Unprocessed Foods
Focusing on whole, unprocessed foods such as whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables can have numerous positive health impacts. These foods are rich in fibre, essential for digestion and providing long-lasting energy. In contrast, heavily processed items often contain added sugars, unhealthy fats, and fewer nutrients.
Diets rich in highly processed foods have been linked to chronic inflammation and health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. On the contrary, diets high in whole, nutrient-dense foods protect against disease, lengthen lifespan, and promote overall physical and mental well-being.
2. Less is More
When it comes to choosing healthy foods, often a shorter ingredient list means a far healthier product. When you look at a food item ask yourself “how close is this to its natural state?”. The closer it is to its natural state, the more likely it will nourish your body without the added sugar, salt or unhealthy fats. A good test you can do yourself next time you’re in the supermarket is to look at the ingredients in cheese. You’ll probably find that most blocks of cheese have four standard ingredients that you’d expect. Now look at the back of one of the processed cheese slice packs and you’ll generally find 12 or more ingredients, many of which are things you don’t want to be eating.
3. Choose Ingredients that You Can Understand
Take a moment to read and understand the ingredients listed on a product. Choose foods with ingredients you can pronounce and recognise, and steer clear of those with a long list numbers or chemical names that require a Google search to interpret. For instance, compare a homemade muesli bar with a store-bought one. The homemade version might contain oats, honey, nuts, and dried fruits, while the store-bought alternative may include highly processed sugars, artificial flavours, colours and preservatives. It is important to do your best to avoid food additives and preservatives, as they have been linked to health issues such as asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), heart difficulties, cancer, obesity, and others significant health issues.
4. Be Mindful of Added Sugars
Added sugars can hide behind various names on nutrition labels, making it more difficult to avoid them. Some of the alternative names for sugar you might find on food labels include dextrose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin and ethyl maltol. Excessive sugar intake is associated with health issues such as obesity and heart disease. For example, a seemingly healthy flavoured yoghurt might contain added sugars equivalent to several teaspoons. Sugar is also often used now on what we would consider savoury foods, such as a common coating on frozen chips.
5. Beware of Marketing Claims on Packaging
It is important to double check the marketing claims made on the front of food packaging as they can easily give you a false impression that they are healthier than they actually are. Many snacks for children make claims such as “no artificial colours or flavours”, which sounds good. However, a closer look at the ingredient list may still show additives such as highly processed and genetically modified Maltodextrin or even colour additives that are banned in the US but are still defined as “natural”. As a general rule, always check the claims on the front are backed up by the ingredient list. If you are unsure then it is best kept on the shelf!
It doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult to feed you or your family healthy foods. Using these five simple steps you can easily make healthier choices without being an “expert” in all things related to nutrition. Remember, making small changes to the types of food you eat can truly transform you and your family’s health.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9249520/
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(23)00190-4/fulltext
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6650179/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31631676/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24493081/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8391470/
You can follow Sarah HERE on her Instagram page Low Toxin Rabbit