How food labels are misleading us all

by Rigel Celeste (Subscribe to Rigel Celeste's posts)
Aug 5th 2008 4:59PM

I like to think of myself as a fairly educated shopper when it comes to understanding nutrition labels at the grocery store (because I read so much about it) but I still find myself getting confused or overwhelmed sometimes when trying to keep everything straight. "Make sure there are no trans fats and not too much added sugar or artificial preservatives, go for organic as much as possible, how much fiber is considered enough in a serving? And what does 'low-fat' really mean? ... " The list goes on and the makers of food nutrition labels are looking to capitalize on that mess as best they can. See the gallery below for nine of the most common ways food labels try to mislead and confuse us all.

Which ones are the toughest for you to deal with?

9 ways food labels mislead(click thumbnails to view gallery)

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Comments (3)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Natalie 8-07-2008 @ 2:12PM

If you don't recognize all the ingredients in the package as real foods you might have in your kitchen it's probably bad.

Maria 8-06-2008 @ 2:29PM

I am a perpetual dieter and a New Yorker and find alot of the info confusing. I love seeing though that now in New York fast food places they have to place the calorie counts. This helps me to make smarter choices as far as calories are concerned. I still go to Taco Bell and Burger King, but it really puts things in perspective when I see that a certain burger or sandwhich wrap is over 800 calories. I am a huge fan of 100 calorie packs and though overpriced are a great crutch. Nabisco has a number of good ones http:///www.nabiscoworld.com I also am a big worker and truly believe that being fit has to not only do with what you eat, but how many calories you burn. I wear smartsole anti-cellulite insoles which cause you toburn more calories with every step http://www.smartsole.com There is a promo code that I think expires the end of the week that gives you 15% off. It is SMART15

CelluliteQueen.com 8-06-2008 @ 2:42PM

The ONLY way I've ever managed to lose weight is to COUNT CALORIES. I don't worry about fat content, salt content, etc., although I do try to avoid any obviously unhealthy foods. When you want to lose weight, the only way to do it is to follow this easy rule of thumb: Eat Less, Exercise More and drink lots of water. http://www.CelluliteQueen.com