- What's up everybody, Dr. Mike here.
I'm incredibly excited to announce that this week's video
is officially all natural.
Check this out!
Impressive right, and you know what that means?
No you don't.
I don't either.
Doesn't mean anything.
This week I'm gonna be talking about misleading food labels
and my top ten tips on how to be a more educated consumer.
Number 10.
Don't buy into the meaningless phrases.
All natural foods can still contain chemicals.
Even the FDA website doesn't have a formal definition
of all natural, plus, even if something
is fully all natural, it still doesn't mean it's healthy.
Your energy drink can contain more caffeine than you think,
and that's courtesy of the guarana bean,
which contains two to three times more caffeine
than the coffee bean, and energy drink companies
don't have to add that to the caffeine content on the can
because it's part of their propriety blend.
You see low fat on nutrition label,
and you automatically assume it must be healthy.
First of all, you shouldn't be so scared of dietary fat,
and second of all, most of these companies
just jack up the sugar content
to make up for the lost taste.
Not so healthy right?
Your bacon says no added nitrates,
it must be preservative free.
Not so fast.
If it contains something like celery root powder,
that's just another form of added nitrates,
that's how they get you.
Your food tastes really sweet,
but the label says zero grams of sugar, how's that possible?
Well it's likely that you're ingesting
artificial sweeteners like aspartame,
and while we don't have absolute evidence
that it's bad for your health, what we do know now,
is it does change your brain chemistry
and make you crave more unhealthy foods throughout the day.
You're half way there to the number one point
that will make you an educated consumer.
Zero grams of sugar added.
It's a great thing,
but you still need to check the nutrition facts
for the naturally occurring sugar.
For example, if you have a cup of orange juice
in the morning made up of four oranges,
that's 36 grams of sugar,
same as a Coke, but guess what,
the label will still say zero grams of added sugar.
Don't fall for these unsubstantiated health claims
you often find on food packaging.;
it boosts your immunity, it helps your skin stay radiant.
Most of these health claims are often vague or exaggerated.
In fact, the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior,
found that these claims appeared mostly on foods
high in saturated fats, sugars, or sodium.
Just stick to the nutrition facts and the ingredient list.
Also, be skeptical when the packaging touts
a single ingredient.
Usually that's just a slight-of-hand move
to distract you from the other unhealthy ingredients
found elsewhere.
Whole wheat cereals, whole wheat bars, whole wheat bread,
you think you're getting a true whole wheat product?
Not so fast.
You have to look at the first ingredient
in the ingredient section, which is the most abundant one,
and it has to have the word whole, in order for it
to be made predominantly of whole wheat.
Number dos, va.
Light, that sounds like a great quality
for your food to have.
Light, means low in fat, low in calories, right?
Not necessarily.
If a food tastes light, if it's light in color,
it can still carry the light label.
So don't get too excited when you see light
in the title of your food.
The number one tip, yes the number one tip,
to make you an educated food consumer,
look at the serving size.
I've made this mistake so many times.
I've gotten a container of soup, and I said oh,
it has slightly more sodium than I thought,
and then I ate it, and then I realized,
the serving size was a quarter of the container,
so that means I had four times
the amount of sodium I initially had.
Now look, you get an ice cream container,
and it says, 120 calories per half a cup,
how many half a cup's are in your bowl of ice cream.
The FDA's even catching on to this one.
If the entire container's likely to be eaten in one sitting,
the companies will be obligated
to put the entire container as a serving size.
So there you have it.
You are now an educated food consumer.
Please don't stress about your food choices,
because stress is a true killer.
Be smart, educate yourself, know what you put in your body,
and stay healthy, thanks for watching.
Seven, your bacon's (laughs).
Well guess what, why do I keep saying well guess what?
Number nine, why am I doing six (laughs).
(upbeat music)