2023 The Year of Reading Labels?

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by. I had thought of doing a post a few weeks back on resolutions and how to stick with them and on and on, but let’s face it, most of us have already stopped trying to complete our resolutions by now. So many blogs jump on the bandwagon and give us great reasons for doing this and that, but if your heart isn’t in it, we’ll all go back to doing things the same old way. Today I’m doing a quick post on simply reading the labels. I’m amazed at the different things I found that are put into our food. In some cases, especially with food from Europe, they have a much cleaner ingredient list. It seems to me that here in America our food is made to be kept on the shelves for many months at a time and made as cheaply as possible to boost profit margins. Let’s take a look at some examples I found.

This first example is bread that I really love. I’ve seen it in a couple German Supermarket chains and in health food stores. When you pick up the loaf you’ll notice how dense it is. I realize whole grain Rye or Pumpernickel is not everyones favorite and some people can’t eat whole grain varieties due to stomach issues. However, if you can eat this bread you should give it a try. Look at the expiration date, yes that is July 7, 2023! They accomplish this by simply vacuum packing it. Once it’s open I keep it covered and in the refrigerator. I’ll admit it’s not the greatest bread to eat until you toast it or use it to make grilled cheese. It’s a delicious bread to eat toasted with butter and a fried egg on top, also it makes a yummy toasted peanut butter and honey or jelly sandwich. Now for the kicker, it only has six ingredients! In contrast the typical loaf of bread sold in America has around seventeen ingredients including sorbic acid, soy lecithin, citric acid and soybean preservatives (whatever that means). Still with all those preservatives the average loaf of bread being sold in America will last around a week. Do you need soy lecithin, soy preservatives and sorbic acid in your diet? I’ll leave that up to you to decide, but I do not! The question is why do we have all these ingredients in our food? Next let’s look at a household staple.

Peanut butter, I love it and sometimes I wonder if it’s addictive! There’s days when I crave a spoonful of the stuff, ok so maybe three or four spoonfuls, but let’s take a look at two different labels. These two labels are from products made and sold in America. The first one is an organic peanut butter, simple, two ingredients, dry roasted peanuts and salt. Yes you have to stir it but only one time if you keep it in the refrigerator. I know many people keep their peanut butter in a cupboard to keep it at room temp. Personally for me, I will take mine out of the fridge and let it sit awhile if I’m going to make a PBJ on un-toasted bread. I chose not to have other ingredients added to my peanut butter, simply to make it easier to spread. Take a look at this very popular brand, I’m sure many of us ate this as a kid. Peanuts, Sugar,Hydrogenated Cottonseed,Soybean and Rapeseed oil and salt. Are you having a PBJ or a PHCSRJ sandwich? We know that partially hydrogenated oil contains trans fats which have been linked to heart disease. Strangely enough fully hydrogenated oil contains less trans fats but at a level that seems to be acceptable to certain agencies in charge of what can go into our food. The sugar we know Americans consume much more of that than we need plus aren’t we going to put jelly on the sandwich? Once again I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

The last item is interesting because one jar is from Poland and the other jar is from a German supermarket chain that is going to be selling the product in America. I know many of you probably hate beets and pickled beets might even be worse too you! Yet in many new studies eating fermented and pickled foods have shown benefits that our grandparents knew about. In the jar from Poland we see, beets, water, vinegar, sugar and salt. All basic ingredients for pickling vegetables. Notice that sugar is second to last. Now the beets that are made and sold in America. Beets, water, high fructose corn syrup, vinegar, salt and spice. In America we use lots of high fructose corn syrup because its super sweet and super cheap to manufacture. Not to get too technical but our bodies do use sugar as fuel mostly in the form of glucose and fructose. Glucose can easily be transported by the body and used by just about every cell for energy. High Fructose Corn Syrup on the other hand needs to be converted into glucose, glycogen, or fat by the liver before it can be used as fuel. In other words it acts very much like alcohol and has been proven to be a contributor to fatty liver disease, weight gain and could lead to diabetes. Remember there is also fructose in fruit but when you eat the whole fruit the fiber slows the absorption of the fructose in the body. It’s also just fructose not a concentrated form. So once again, do you need it in your diet? Reading labels has become very important to me as I grow older. If these ingredients killed us with one bite that would probably keep most of us from eating them! However, it’s the use of them over and over again that can lead to health problems in many people. The effects can take years to show up.

If you’re interested in learning more about the ingredients in our food, an internet search can do wonders. There’s a list of additives allowed in American foods that have been banned in the E.U. So for me instead of making a resolution that I’m not going to keep I think I’ll just read labels instead. Maybe, if only in my own mind, I’ll be doing something better for my body way down the road. I hope that your year is off to an amazing start and you have many plans to make it even better. If you have any questions or comments please leave them in the box below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Until next time, Boone Appétit!