I’ve chatted a lot on my podcast about the different approaches to “living a healthy lifestyle” I’ve tested out. There are so many different diets and mindsets I’ve felt like I needed to adopt in order to truly be healthy! (which is bogus btw, there is no one way).
Listen to the podcast where I explain my experience with counting calories & tracking macros HERE, or the podcast where I chat through what happened to me when I tried intermittent fasting HERE!
The most recent fad I got sucked into was “clean eating.”
I’ll own it, I was a total label snob for a hot sec. If the label on a package of food had 1g of an ingredient that I didn’t consider “clean” I’d cringe and put it back on the shelf.
In my defense, I was trying to do everything I could to fix my skin (see my hormonal acne podcast episode HERE). BUT, also not in my defense, I took it way too overboard & became too obsessed with it. This is the kind of stress that nobody needs to add to their life, right?
My approach to healthy eating is not so crazy restrictive anymore. I still always read my labels & make sure I’m picking the best option possible. It’s just good to be aware of what you’re putting in your body. But if a product has an ingredient that I know isn’t very healthy & I have no other option at that moment, that’s ok because like calm down I’m not going to die. I’d like to say I have a “do the best you can” mindset now. If there’s an easy swap you can make in order to choose the healthier option, do it! If not, then don’t freak yourself out.
BUT I do have an issue with the sneaky wording that brands use on food labels to try to hide unhealthy ingredients. A prime example of this is sugar. There’s legitimately at least 61 different names for sugar on food labels. 61!!!! This is insane and super unfair if you ask me. In my opinion, everyone should be able to clearly see what’s in the food that they’re buying so that they can decide for themselves if they want to eat it or not.
Lucky for you I know some of these sneaky words & can summarize for you. Here are the ingredients I like to stay away from when I can:
Unhealthy Oils
Why? Many of these oils are high in Omega 6’s fatty acids. While these fatty acids are essential to our health, it’s very rare to see deficient intakes in them (the modern American diet tends to have an excess of Omega 6’s fatty acids). Elevated levels of Omega 6’s can trigger inflammation & other harmful bodily effects.
- Canola Oil
- Vegetable Oil
- Palm Oil
- Corn Oil
- Safflower Oil
- Sunflower Oil
- Soybean Oil
I buy coconut oil, ghee and olive oil instead!
Added Sugars
Why? I think we all know by now that too much sugar is not healthy for us. Anything food that causes a spike in blood sugar levels can cause a lot of different issues like inflammation, hormone fluctuation, skin issues like premature aging and acne (!!!), etc.
If you want to see the full list of names for sugars, you can check that out HERE. But here are the hidden ones that I see most commonly:
- Dextrose
- Fructose
- Glucose
- HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup)
- Maltodextrin
- Rice Syrup
- Sucrose
An amazing alternative to sugar that doesn’t spike blood sugar levels is stevia! That stuff is so dang sweet.
Makes you want to run to the fridge & check your labels, right? Again, before you freak out- just do the best you can! Luckily there are so many new healthy brands popping up that don’t include any of those ingredients!
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Xoxo,
Abbey
