Nowadays, when you come to a food store, don't forget to bring your glasses, for labels mean more than we could imagine a couple of decades ago. In healthy nutrition there is a major competition on the market, and each competitor is trying to catch your attention and, as a result, sell you his product. Therefore, let's go through a few of those gimmicks.
1. All natural. Very promising label. In reality doesn't mean much. It implies that there are no chemicals (or unnatural ingredients) added. This term does not give any information about how the product was grown and processed; it can be loaded with pesticides, hormone-like substances and other nice "spices", but nothing artificial was added on the final stage of preparation of the product.
2. Smart choice. It's smart indeed, but only for its inventor. Use double caution and read the label carefully - there is a chance that this product has decreased amount of fat, as compared to pizza or burgers, but in compensation to it is loaded with sugar. This label in nothing more than a gimmick.
3. Gluten-free. Gluten is a protein, found in wheat, rye and barley. Putting this label on a milk product or beans means that either the manufacturer of the product has no clue what gluten-free means (for beans, milk and everything else in this world, except for those three grains, is gluten-free by definition), or the manufacturer thinks that you have no clue what gluten-free means and will buy this product thinking "gluten-free" means "healthy". The second option seems more likely.
4. Lean cuisine. Same as smart choice - the product may have decreased amount of fat (by the way, probably due to additional chemical processing), but can have high amounts of sugar or salt. This label doesn't mean this product is healthy - it only have less fat than it's neighbor on the shelf.
Bottom line - read your labels carefully, don't just believe somebody saying his product is a smart choice for you. Make your own smart choices - for your own health, not for the manufacturer's wallet.
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