Some time ago I decided to avoid certain aisles in the supermarket completely. Bypass rows with foods such as cakes, potato chips, biscuits and other foods high in saturated fat. Instead and you should too, I head straight for the area selling fresh foods like fruit and vegetables and dairy. As I have said before βALWAYS READ FOOD LABELSβ. Ingredients are listed in order of amount of weight, from most to the least. In general, avoid theses ingredients if you see them on the food label.
Unhealthy saturated fats- Choose foods with the least amount of saturated fats per serving and avoid hydrogenated fats whenever possible. You should shop for foods with cholesterol – lowering monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as olive and safflower oils.
Added Sugar- Sugar is added to just about everything nowadays, from pasta sauce and fizzy drinks to peanut butter and fast foods. Here are common added sugars to look for on the ingredients list: Brown sugar, Dextrose, Fructose, Fruit Juice concentrates, Glucose, Honey, Invert sugar, Lactose, Maltose, Malt syrup, Molasses, Raw sugar, Sucrose, Syrup, Corn Sweetener, Corn syrup, and High Fructose Corn Syrup. Foods that have one or more of those ingredients high on the list may be high in sugars.
Salt (Sodium) – Of course we all need some salt, but thereβs a line, and most of us get far more than the 6 g of salt a day recommend by the food standards agency. Many fast and processed foods, from soups to frozen casseroles, are high in salt, which can raise blood pressure. Avoid high salt soups and frozen foods. When in doubt read labels. Depending on the brand, one can of soup may contain 0.5 g to 1 g of sodium. Remember that the flavour of processed foods is often enhanced with lots of added salt or sugar. Foods are often listed with sodium content.
Bonus Tip- Beware of the one hit wonder, prepared foods promoting only one particular component is never a good sign. Instead look at the whole package and read the label, for example, if the food that you buy is oats, and you check how much sugar and fibre the cereal has. Make sure the whole food is fit to eat.