In today’s world, where cheap, low-grade food ingredients are widely and shamelessly used, it’s all the more important to ensure that the food you eat should be made with premium food ingredients. Apart from the difference in taste, texture, and flavors, consuming food made of inferior ingredients can cause health complications.
The United States of America government now requires the complete disclosure of all the ingredients used in the packaged food and beverages by a label called Nutrition Facts Label or NFL. This instruction was given to large food companies with a deadline of January 1, 2020, in order to update their products’ packaging. The list will be highly regulated by the NFL so that consumers receive only the best ingredients.
However, now that the ingredients list is sorted, there lies a completely different issue. The issue of lack of understanding and interpretation of the ingredient list. Nowadays, people often wonder if it makes any difference whether a food is made of high-quality ingredients or not? The short answer is yes, it does! Today, we will be discussing why premium quality ingredients matter and how you can educate yourself better on sieving through the ingredients.
Why Quality Ingredients Matter?
Let’s discuss why the quality of the ingredients really matter.
For Health
If we are to eat only just because we are hungry, we can munch on papers, right? But chewing paper won’t do good to our body or give us any nutrition. The nutrients are needed for us to survive and maintain a healthy body. Inferior quality ingredients tamper with the nutrients; thus, it’s just like eating pieces of paper. These ingredients are artificially made, and they often create adverse effects on our bodies. These low-graded, artificially made food ingredient products are neither good for your skin nor your overall health.
To Obtain The Rich Flavor
Here’s an experiment for you. Tell me honestly, does the cheaply made artificial mango juice taste better than the real mango? It doesn’t! No matter how pro we are, we can’t replicate nature’s gifts. We need more flavors and taste, but we tend to forget that some companies heavy-handedly put artificial flavor just to add that punch. Premium quality food tastes divine and luxurious, and you will immediately tell the difference between them and the poorly-made ones. That’s the reason why people love organic and farm-fresh food.
Ensuring Health Safety
Haven’t we all heard the news of food poisoning from eating at a restaurant? These things are quite common. In fact, it’s so common we tend to forget about it the next day. But that’s a rant for another day! The idea of telling you this is that oftentimes we forget where the food ingredients come from, how they are grown/made, are they cooked or made properly or not, etc. So we should always check before we eat or buy something from the grocery store. Opting for 100% and fresh food should be the primary goal to have a healthy and hearty meal.
Free From Harmful Chemicals
Pesticides, formalin, and other harmful chemicals used on plants, vegetables, and fruits can hurt your stomach. These chemicals can destroy the soil so much that the soil loses its farmers’ need to purchase other chemicals to reverse the damages. This takes a toll on the soil, and thus the quality of the vegetables and fruits hinder. Some farms even use GMOs, but researches have shown that using GMOs can cause cancer and allergies. Low-graded ingredients, therefore, pose all the more threats to people consuming them.
How To Interpret Ingredients’ List Correctly
Now that we have discussed why quality ingredients matter, let’s understand how to interpret the ingredients list like a pro. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you out.
Check The Ingredients List
When you check on the food, make sure there’s an ingredient list on the package. Manufacturers should be transparent as to what they are using to make the product. When you find the ingredients list, start reading from the top. Product manufacturers enlist ingredients with the most prevalent ingredient at the top of the list and the least at the bottom. For example, the chief ingredient used to make cookies/biscuits is flour, so it is always mentioned at the start of the list.
Understanding The Ingredients
Some manufacturers are smart and clever; they put a list of scientific names for the dodgy ingredients so that consumers can’t tell those ingredients. The best solution will be to look the ingredients up on the internet and search for the ingredients’ common name. But it’s also true that not all food product manufacturers use a different term for the ingredient for malicious purposes. For example, the term Ascorbic acid simply means Vitamin C in plain terms.
Micronutrients
Since adding iodine to the salt made such a huge difference in nutrition, the FDA stated that it is necessary to include micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. The inclusion of these micronutrients can make a food product highly nutritious and prevent malnutrition. So, you should always check if the food you are purchasing is enriched in micronutrients in them before you buy them.
Conclusion
With everything mentioned in this article, you are now fully aware of what to look for and how to get your ingredients list right. Also, opt for food containing labels like ‘no artificial flavors’ or ‘made from 100% organic ingredients’.
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