5 Confusing Illinois Food Labels That Can Trick You To Buy Things

Major cities like Chicago are always first to finding new and healthy trends. Health and food options have been a popular talking point across America, with more people becoming conscious of the impact their diet has on their overall well-being. As a result, many brands and products are claiming to be healthier or to contain special ingredients that promote better health. However, it's important to be cautious of these claims. Just because something is marketed as being healthier or containing a 'superfood' doesn’t always mean it lives up to the hype. In some cases, these items may still be high in sugars, preservatives, or unhealthy fats. Today we will be looking at 5 things to look for.

hxdyl

These things may still be true, you just need to pay very close attention when looking at the labels. Here are 5 things to look at. This list comes from Cheapism.

Gluten-Free

My grandma is always looking for this. The list goes on to say,

It’s possible that it never really needed gluten to begin with; lots of things don’t. Make sure you’re not falling for a fancy price tag, and certainly don’t be fooled into thinking that gluten-free food is automatically healthier than other stuff.

Wheat and Grain

You can never go wrong with grain!

Words like “multi-grain” or “made with wheat” may appear on the box, but that’s not really the thing you’re looking for. If you want to eat something that’s entirely wheat or grain-based, you need to look for the magic number: 100.

Lightly Sweetened

Hmmm "lightly" may not be 100% true.

These are, unfortunately, just words, and don’t have much to do with the actual sugar content. This falls under the same category as “bold flavor” or “new and improved.” More of an opinion than an actual nutritional fact, really.

Made With Real Fruit and Veggies

I have seen this one before... and fell for it.

You barely have to include real fruit or vegetables to get over this extremely low bar. Let’s put it this way: If something is 2% real fruit juice, that counts as having been made with real fruit.

Keto

We all know someone on a keto diet.

A lot of less healthy products will try to pass themselves off for healthy choices simply by slapping the word “keto” in front of your face. While ”keto” generally goes along with no added sugars or carbs, but that’s where it stops. Anything else is fair game.

Find the full list here. Have you seen these tricky wordings before? Let us know.