How to Be a Conscious Eater

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UP YOUR

SUPERMARKET SAVVY

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s you navigate food labels, keep in mind the following over-

arching tips:

1 Whenever something gets removed from a processed food

product, it must be replaced with something else. The replace-

ment item will need to serve a similar function (desired

texture, shelf life, flavor, color, and so on). Take gluten-

free products, for instance. Gluten provides elasticity and

strength to dough, serving as a binder. Commonly, glu-

ten-free products rely on flour substitutes like tapioca

starch and rice starch, which are blood-sugar-spiking

refined carbs. And sometimes the thing being subbed in

may actually be worse for you nutritionally than the thing

originally deemed to be bad.

2 Keep your eyes on the prize: your general health. Rather than

fixating on specific nutrients or trying out strict diets over

the short term, the best bet for a lifetime of healthy eating

is to enjoy the flavorful and diverse options included in a

dietary pattern with lots of evidence behind its long-term

health benefits, such as flexitarian eating. In the context

of navigating food labels, sometimes you need to pull your

head up, take a step back, and keep the bigger picture in

mind. Which means remembering that as a rule of thumb,

most of the healthiest foods don’t even have labels for you

to read in the first place.

Stuff that Comes from Factories 187

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