Breaking Down Food Ingredients

When you see the following words listed under your food ingredients, here's what they really mean:

Fortified or Enriched - Some nutrients have been added to the product, i.e. Vitamin D added to milk.Fruit Flavored - natural flavor as found in products like strawberry yogurt, where you won't find any real fruit in it. Only chemicals designed to taste like fruit.Gluten Free - a product that does not contain wheat, spelt, rye, or barley. There are many gluten-free foods saturating the market today, most highly processed and loaded with unhealthy fats and sugar.Light - products that are processed to reduce either calories of fat, while some light products are simply watered down. Check to see if other ingredients like sugar have been added.Low Calorie - these products must contain 1/3 fewer calories than the same brand's original product. One brands low-calorie version may contain similar calories as the original of another brand.Low Carb - Processed foods labeled low-carb are likely processed junk foods, similar to processed low-fat junk foods.Low Fat - the fat has been reduced at the cost of adding more sugar. Read the ingredients on the back for the hidden sugar.Made With Whole Grain - Likely very little whole grain in the product exists. If the whole grain is not in the first 3 ingredients then the amount is negligible.Multigrain - more than one type of grain is present in the product. Most likely refined grains, unless the product says "whole grain."Natural - at some point the manufacturer had a natural source like apples or rice to work with. The end product may be anything but natural.No Added Sugar - certain products are naturally high in sugar, the fact that there is no added sugar doesn't make it more healthy. Unhealthy sugar substitutes may have been added instead.Organic - let's remember that organic sugar is still sugar and it doesn't make it more healthy just because it's labeled organic. Only certified organically grown products can be guaranteed to be organic.Zero Trans Fat - actually means "less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving." If food servings are super small, you will be ingesting a lot of trans fat.

The different names for sugar to be aware of:

Types of Sugar - beet sugar, brown sugar, buttered sugar, cane sugar, caster sugar, coconut sugar, date sugar, golden sugar, invert sugar, maple sugar, muscovado sugar, organic raw sugar, raspadura sugar, sorghum or turbinado sugar, evaporated cane juice, and confectioner's sugar.Types of Syrup - carob syrup, golden syrup, high fructose corn syrup, honey, agave nectar, malt syrup, oat syrup, rice bran syrup, and rice syrup.Other Added Sugars - barley malt, , cane juice crystals, corn sweetener, crystalline fructose, dextran, dextrose, disaccharides, ethyl maltol, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, galactose, glucose, isomalt, lactose, levulose, maltitol, maltodextrin, malt powder, maltose, maltodextrin, mannitol, molasses, sorbitol, sucrose, and xylitol.Artificial Sweeteners - Aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose (Splenda), and saccharin.