The Co-op Food Stores of New Hampshire and Vermont

added 07/21/09

Our personal health and the health of our planet are critical components of our well-being. Decisions made in the Co-op aisles can have lasting effects on both. From packaging to production, ingredients to meal planning, food choices are an everyday way to make a change for the better. Through this series, “Healthy People, Healthy Planet,” Co-op Dietitian Mary Choate and Sustainability Coordinator Emily Neuman offer their insights on how to choose wisely, for personal and planetary health, as you shop for food. Drawing upon the latest science, common sense, and practical experience, they hope to bring some clarity to the often-challenging subject of “what to eat.”

by Mary Saucier Choate, M.S., R.D., L.D.
Co-op Dietitian and Food and Nutrition Educator

In the previous issue of the Co-op News, we looked at the benefits of “no packaging needed” or minimally packaged whole foods—fruits and vegetables, beans, whole grains, low fat dairy, and lean animal protein. This time, we’ll look at how to find packaged whole foods that are still nutrient-rich.

Highly processed foods usually lose the nutritious parts, such as the bran and germ from whole grains or the fiber and beneficial phytochemicals from fruits and vegetables. Whole grains become refined, fruit is reduced to a flavoring or a coloring, and vegetables are minimized, salted, and sauced.

Your most reliable tool for spotting the best choices is not the colorful and attractive front of the package where flowery descriptions and claims are placed, but on the back or sides where you’ll find the Nutrition Facts panel and the ingredient list.

The Ingredient List
Ingredients are listed from most to least. So if a supposedly whole grain bread has an ingredient list that says “wheat flour, water, whole wheat …” it means there is more water and refined flour than whole wheat. (Remember, if the grain or flour doesn’t say “whole,” it is missing the nutritious bran and germ of the whole grain.)

Processed foods use many additives to help preserve and enhance the texture or taste. To save yourself time when reading ingredient lists, focus on salt, sugar, saturated fat, and trans fat from partially hydrogenated oils.

Watch out for added sugars. They have several different names and a product may contain more than one, totaling up to more sugar than you would expect. Some names for sugars are brown sugar, corn syrup, maple syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, malt syrup, molasses, raw sugar, and sucrose.

Depending on the specific food, you may opt for only one sugar ingredient, as in yeast breads where a little sugar is needed to feed the yeast and make the bread rise, or none because sugar is not needed in crackers or flat bread. In breakfast cereal, you may prefer no added sugars or just one in the ingredient list.

Sodium is another addition that can appear in several guises other than salt on the ingredient list of highly processed foods: monosodium glutamate (MSG), seasoned salt, celery salt, onion salt, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.

Avoid trans fats. If the term “partially hydrogenated oil” appears on the ingredient list, it means trans fats are present. Hydrogenation of oils causes these harmful fats to be formed. Trans fats are more harmful to heart health than even saturated fats, so selecting an alternative without this ingredient is a better choice. Saturated fats are also harmful to arteries, so keep this fat to less than 20 grams a day.

The Nutrition Facts Panel
On the Nutrition Facts panel, you can’t tell how much of the sugar is naturally occurring, as from fruit or juice, and how much is added. A handy rule of thumb is that a one-half cup serving of fruit or a one-ounce serving (30 grams) of grain food such as bread or cereal naturally contains about 15 grams of carbohydrate. If the package you are checking contains much more than this, it is likely the result of added sugars.

Become a sodium sleuth. Sodium content per serving is provided in grams. More than 140 grams of sodium is a red flag that the product contains excess sodium. The majority of whole natural foods are low in sodium.

The Nutrition Facts panel lists grams of trans fat under the line for saturated fat. However, a manufacturer may legally list the trans fat as “0” if a serving contains less than one-half gram of trans fat. Luckily, the ingredient list gives the rest of the story as mentioned above. If “partially hydrogenated oil” is listed, you may wish to choose an alternative product. Highly processed foods are not poison, but they are best used as occasional treats and not as staples of your diet. Your health might benefit if you eat more whole foods. And, moving the processed foods out and the whole foods in can result in a lower food bill.

What Do You Think?

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