When you look at something you consider buying, what do you look at first? If it’s in a package, the front, most likely.
And that’s okay. But, if you want the truth in what you’re eating – if you want to remain well – you’ve got to flip that package over and look at the back.
Because, honestly, the front is fiction. Pure fiction. At times, stretched to the breaking point for even fiction. The back is fact. Well, fact as much as you’re going to get fact on a package of food. There’s still a stretch here, too, unfortunately.
If the front of the package tells you it’s natural and good for you, do you take that as showing that, most likely, the ingredients in it are at least a little better than those in packages not claiming natural-ness or healthiness? Don’t. Get the facts, m’am. On the back.
The front is advertising; the back is (reasonably) truth in advertising. Label reading, education, information does not occur on the front. What you need to know is listed under ingredients.
Here’s a good example I mistakenly picked up recently. We’ll blame that on two things: One, shopping with my daughter who looks at EVERYthing so I notice things I normally wouldn’t. Two, carrying items in my hands so that I couldn’t pull out my reading glasses to actually read the back of the package. Lesson learned. Or, actually, lesson reminded.
The package was totally cool. I’m a sucker for cool graphics and packaging. In colorful, gorgeous print I could read on the front, it claimed to be a “naturally designed supercandy.” (Yeah, yeah, I know — that should have been my first warning.) It contained vitamins to energize me, antioxidants to protect me, electrolytes to balance me, and, bonus, it tastes like caramel! WOW – what MORE could I ask for?
My daughter bought one, and, mistake to add to mistake, I bought one. She opens hers in the car and offers me a taste. YUK! Disgusting. So, at least, we didn’t devour a package of that stuff. When I got home, I read the BACK of the package: tapioca syrup, sweetened condensed milk, milk chocolate, evaporated cane juice, fractionated palm kernel oil and a nice list of other additives. WTF. I wouldn’t eat one thing on that list. I don’t consider one thing on that list healthy — by any stretch.
Longer story short: Know what you want to ingest, buy more food that looks like food (like a nice veggie or fruit), less in packages, and, when you do buy something packaged, carefully READ the ingredient list ON the back IN the store. Spend your dollars wisely — on something that honestly will infuse you with health.
