You really do have to read and understand the ingredients list of any food you buy. Even places like Whole Foods need to be carefully checked. Yes, the same Whole Foods that charges "whole paycheck" prices to supposedly only sell food that's good for you.
The Whole Foods brand Olives
Whole Foods is a grocery store with a huge selection of products produced by others. Whole Foods also has its own brand of products, some with standard packaging and some that are custom-packed. Someone I know went shopping there the other day and bought some Whole Foods olives, intrigued by what olives with "tangerine and chilis" would taste like.
After getting them home, my friend opened up the package and tried a couple of the olives. Yuck, what's this? These taste outrageously sweet! These are supposed to be flavored hot and with citrus! What's going on? At that point she took a closer look at the label:
Surprise! The third ingredient after olives and water is "cane sugar." More sugar than oil, more than vinegar, more than tangerines, more than red pepper and more than salt.
This being Whole Foods, the ingredient of salt isn't just any old salt, it's supposedly "sea salt," which sounds like it's better for you somehow. And the sugar isn't any old sugar, it's "cane sugar" -- oh, right from sugar cane, it's "natural," right?
Sugar is a Big Problem
Most people like sugar, which is part of why deserts can taste so good. The trouble is that people who make food only care that you like it and want to buy more of it; they mostly don't care whether the food is healthy for you to eat. Regardless of what they say. Therefore, sugar of one kind or another is added to an astounding range and variety of foods, including ones that are "supposed" to be sweet.
Even the CDC, the well-funded government organization whose whole purpose is to keep us healthy, agrees that sugar is a problem.
Weight gain and obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Is that all? In the section on obesity, the CDC admits that obesity itself is a serious problem:
This being the CDC, all they do is admit that obesity is "associated with" those fatal things and nowhere do they spell out the curse of sugar added to foods and the need to read the ingredients. The picture above shows obviously sweet cupcakes, while much of the problem is with foods that aren't obviously sweet.
Getting information about sugar
You may have noticed my use of phrases expressing cynicism about the CDC. Although the statements I've excerpted above are true, they have appeared on the CDC after decades of being studiously ignored by this corrupt agency. This is because the CDC has long practice in putting its authority and the patina of "science" behind what various powerful pressure groups want to advance their own interests.
Sadly, like with so many other things, it's up to each person to look out for him/her self. In this case, it's pretty simple: moderate your ingestion of sugar in any form; avoid buying and eating packaged food that has any form of sugar added to it; for this purpose, trust only the small-print list of ingredients.
Conclusion
You can't depend on the idea that a "health oriented" store will only sell you healthy food. You can't depend on how a food product is labelled. You have to take control of your own health, which means taking control of what you eat, which means taking care about the ingredients of the food you buy. It's not too hard, it doesn't take much extra effort, and the payback in terms of length and quality of life are more than worth it.
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