Overnight Seeds recipe here.
________________________________
When I was a young food scientist my first job was working in product development for the Kellogg Company.
When we developed a new cereal or snack product I was in charge of generating the information required for the ingredients list and nutrition information panel.
As you can imagine it was pretty straight forward. The recipe (we called it a ‘formulation’) gave us the ingredients list. And we would send samples off to the lab to get the nutrition info.
The facts were the facts.
All the claims on the front of the pack, however, were dreamed up by the marketing department. Some of the front-of-pack claims required facts to back them up (like 99% fat free) but many didn’t. They were what the legal team called ‘puffery’ or what you and I would call ‘bullsh*te’.
So today I want to empower you to cut through the marketing spin and get the true information you need to help your food buying decisions.
But before we do remember the best Low Carb food choices generally don’t come in packages. Things like fresh vegetables, eggs, fish and meat. So try and choose these over any packaged food products.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN TODAY:
- How to read labels.
- The difference between net carbs and total carbs.
- What Glycaemic Index (GI) and Glycaemic Load (GL) are and how they can help you.
- My favourite source of nutrition information.
How to Read Labels
1. Ignore any claims on the front of the pack.
They were generated by our friends in marketing and may or may not be based on fact.
2. Read the ingredient list.
The less ingredients the better. And the more ingredients that actually sound like they could be in your pantry, like tomato puree or ground cumin, the better.
If there are lots of numbers or ingredients that sound like chemicals, put the pack back on the shelf.
You also want to look out for sugar (and all it’s different disguises such as honey, molasses, glucose, fructose, maltose, maltodextrin, sucrose, and my favourite ‘evaporated cane juice’ (hello sugar!)). It’s OK to have small amounts but if these are in the first few ingredients you don’t want to go there.
The ingredients are written in order from most to least.
You also want to look out for other high carb ingredients like flours in any form (apart from coconut and almond), grains, starches or gums.
3. Look at the Nutrition Information.
This is different depending on where you live.
In Australia and the EU nutrition information is given in grams of the nutrient per 100g of the food (g/100g). Sometimes the g/serve are also included. I prefer to ignore g/serve and just look at the g/100g which tells you the percentage.
As a rule of thumb I like products to be 10g carbohydrates / 100g or less.
But if it’s something that I’m only going to use a few tablespoons of in a whole meal (like oyster sauce or tomato ketchup) I don’t worry if it’s higher.
In the US it’s a little different because the nutrition facts are given in grams per SERVE. So you need to look and see what the ‘arbitrary’ serving size the marketing department have chosen for the food.
The Difference Between Net Carbs and Total Carbs.
Another difference between the US and Australia / Europe is the way fiber and carbs are reported.
In Australia and the EU it’s easy because carbs are written separate to fiber. So the carbs are the carbs and the fiber is the fiber. Easy.
In the US it’s a little trickier. Fiber is included in the Total Carbs. So to get a real understanding of how carby a food is and the potential impact on your blood glucose, you need to look at the ‘Net Carbs’.
Net Carbs = Total Carbs – Fiber.
What Glycaemic Index and Glycaemic Load are and how they can help you.
As we touched on in Day 3, ‘GI’ or ‘Glycaemic Index’ is a rating of how quickly different foods spike blood sugar.
So High GI carbs like white rice and white bread will cause bigger blood sugar spikes more quickly than Low GI carbs like lentils or chickpeas.
Glycaemic Load (GL) gets more confusing but it’s a measure which looks at the serving size as well. I don’t bother with GL.
The thing to remember is that the carbs are going to end up in your blood stream at some point so I prefer to keep it simple and avoid them to begin with.
However, GI can be helpful for when you are going to eat carbs. Choosing Low GI foods is a better option than High GI. But the best option is to reduce your carbs all together.
To find out more you can search for Low GI foods on this website. Or look for the ‘LOW GI Symbol’ on the front of the pack.
My Favourite Source of Nutrition Information.
When you start eating more real food, there tends to be less packaging which means no nutrition facts!
So how do you know which fruit and veg are the best choices?
Easy!
Just Google the ‘ingredient name’ and ‘nutrition facts’. And again I generally prefer 10g/100g carbs or less but it’s not a strict rule.
SUMMARY
Here’s what we’ve covered:
- The best Low Carb food choices generally don’t come in packages like fresh vegetables, fish and meat.
- To read labels, ignore the front of pack and focus on the ingredients list and nutrition facts.
- Net carbs = Total carbs – Fiber.
- Glycaemic Index (GI) and Glycaemic Load (GL) are ratings of how quickly different foods spike blood sugar. Choosing Low GI foods is a better option than High GI. But the best option is to reduce your carbs all together.
- My favourite source of nutrition information is Dr Google.
ACTIVITY
Start reading ingredients lists and nutrition facts.
Read labels in your pantry to see where you’re at. Use this information to decide whether you want to continue to buy these foods. If something is higher than you like I recommend deciding not to buy it again and eating up what you have. BUT you’re welcome to find a ‘new home’ (in the rubbish bin or compost) for any really high carb items.
Before buying any new packaged food, make sure you have a quick look at the ingredients and carb count to make sure it’s a good choice.
See you tomorrow when we’re going to be talking about food shopping!
Cheers,
Jules x
ps. Do you have any questions or comments from today’s lesson? Then head over to the Ask Jules to get some ‘As’ to your ‘Qs’!
Leave a Reply