Is the food industry conning us?

If you had £1 for every time you saw something advertised as “low fat”, “high protein” or “zero fat”, you’d probably be a very wealthy individual. I bet the last time you saw something on its packaging that advertised its product in this way was only today.

We all know the basics; eating healthier promotes better overall health and that you’re more likely to control your weight, too. Eat a load of junk and it’s more than likely to have the opposite effect on you.

The food industry is smart. They know you better than you know yourself. They know that people are uneducated or have little knowledge of nutrition and they use this against you. Think about it - we aren’t taught about nutrition in school (well I wasn’t), and so we have to do our own research, go into further education or rely on what we’re told via what we read on packets and packaging. Unfortunately, it’s usually the latter. And this is a shame as we have an abundance of information at our fingertips.

With that being said, I understand that it can be confusing and overwhelming. Which again, is exactly why the food industry has you wrapped around its little finger. They know you’ll more than likely be confused and they lead you straight into their trap.

They use buzzwords such as “superfood, low fat, zero fat, high protein, natural, sugar-free, gluten-free, organic, GMO-free, high in Omega-3, high in antioxidants” etc. to get your attention. And it’s all a con.

Their products have to legally be what they advertise it to be for it to be printed on its packet. The catch is - because they know the general consumer won’t understand a lot about nutrition, they’ll highlight what the product already is - and the result? You over-spend unnecessarily. You’d know that porridge oats are low in fat and lowers cholesterol and that nuts are high in protein or that oily fish is high in Omega-3 if everyone was taught this (or did research), therefore, it sells.

We already know that Mcdonald’s is unhealthy and that frequent, high levels of bad fat can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol etc. but it would be bad advertising if they covered their advertisements with these facts.

*(Fake) Advertisement* (not actual statistics) Just one Mcdonald’s cheeseburger per day can increase your risk of heart disease by 30% in just one year. You’ll be one step closer to a heart attack in just 3 years!

Doesn’t sell does it…

Not many people would want to spend £580 (actual price) a year to get them closer to death! They'd only be stating facts, just like stating that a “high protein microwave meal” containing chicken has high levels of protein. Of course, it does, chicken is naturally high in protein, much like any other meat or fish. They don't need to tell us that, but by highlighting its high protein content, it makes it seem healthier or better for us, making it sell easier.

Take this for example:

What’s the main difference between these two items? I’ll give you a clue. Price. Ok, and maybe some rice and veg…

The “Healthy Choice” meal is around £3.50, weighs 300g and contains 18g protein (as it states).

The chicken breast is £5 for 850g and half a breast will contain roughly 20g protein. Add a few frozen veg and rice to your cooked chicken breast and you’ve replicated the microwave meal for a fraction of the price.

You’d be able to make around 6 meals with that pack of chicken for just £5.

You’d part with a whopping £21 if you bought 6 microwave meals!

“But Zara, there’s no rice and veg with that chicken.”

Ok, cool, so a pack of frozen mixed veg will be around £1 for a kilogram. And a kilogram of uncooked rice will be as little as 45p. So for just £6.45 and a little cooking time, you’ve still saved yourself £14.55!

Have you noticed how heavily labelled the packaging is with the buzzwords mentioned earlier? I’ve counted 7.

It’s almost as if the more buzzwords they use, the more they bump the price up.

It is also visually appealing compared to a plain pack of chicken breast with lots of colour and words surrounding a tempting picture of the meal inside.

They are no more nutritionally beneficial either. In fact, they’re probably worse for you. In order for their “super healthy, high protein, low-fat meal” to be tasty, they’ll add sugar, E-numbers, salt and preservatives to it (but not all) to make it palatable.

Next time you’re in the store, have a look at the ingredients. I guarantee you there will be words on there that you can’t even pronounce, let alone know what they are, and the longer the list of ingredients it has, the more crap it has in it and it’s unlikely they won’t be natural.

Another great tip is that the higher percentage of an ingredient in the food, the closer to the start of the list it will be, and the lower the amount, the closer to the end of the list it will be.

Here’s another way the food industry misleads us.

Do you notice a trend with these pictures?

Would I call these healthy products? No, But there are lots of words and colours to make you think they are.

“Low fat, 70% less fat, fat-free, low calorie, skinny, light, protein” etc… The name of the product is another way they trick you. “Naked bars”, for example, give you the sense that they are “healthy” and although they have no unnatural ingredients, that doesn’t mean they’re healthy or are a “healthy snack”, you’d honestly be better off having a small chocolate bar.

You see, when food has no fat or low-fat content, it is highly unpalatable, meaning it tastes like crap. Have you ever compared the taste of full-fat plain yoghurt with 0% fat plain greek yoghurt with nothing at all added to each of them? I guarantee if I were to give you a sample of each of them straight from the pot, you’d want to spit out the 0% fat-free yoghurt.

Why is this? Fat is highly palatable, and I’m not referring to the bad kind, either (pizza, burgers, cakes etc), although I do think those are tasty. But no, I’m referring to good fats (full-fat yoghurt, milk and dairy, whole eggs, dark chocolate, nuts, oily fish etc.). All these foods have little to no sugar content (and high levels of good fats) which is the very ingredient they use to make low-fat foods taste better. But be warned, sugar comes in all kinds of variations. So you may not see the word “sugar” on the ingredient list but look out for these words (which are all kinds of sugar): dextrose, glucose, maltodextrin, high-fructose glucose syrup, corn sugar, agave nectar, sucrose, maltose, isoglucose, levulose and invert sugar (to name a few!).

The issue with this is that fat is essential to the human body as it cannot synthesize them which is why we must ingest it, and why it’s called Essential Fatty Acids (EFA).

Sugar, on the other hand, acts very differently once ingested. It is very easily absorbed into the bloodstream, raising your blood sugar levels which (if high enough), will need insulin to lower it back down to a safe amount again. This then leaves you feeling tired, lethargic, and worst of all, hungry! This is a very dangerous cycle to be in, as you can imagine. Sugar is not essential to the human body for survival, which is why low-carb diets and ketosis exists (this is the name for the metabolic state your body goes into when carbohydrates are minimal in the body) and high levels of fat are ingested (you may remember the Atkins diet). Fat also plays a great role in keeping us sustained for longer compared to carbs/sugar, which is great for people wanting to lose weight, as it's harder to digest. Another benefit of having more fat in your diet is that it won’t leave you feeling full and bloated like carbs do, or entering a vicious cycle of highs and lows (blood sugar levels).

With that said, you shouldn’t run to your cupboards and throw away everything that contains carbs. Ideally, you’d like to eat more fat-rich, protein-rich and moderate your carb intake. Eat quality foods for a balanced and healthy diet (and that’s the key to healthy eating - balance and quality). Do not opt for foods that promote themselves through its packaging. The best quality foods are all kept in the fruit, veg and chiller isles that have little to no packaging on them, and what packaging they do have, doesn’t boast its benefits.