Light Products: Truths and Facts

Photo by nrd on Unsplash

In the last few years we have seen a big rise in new light food and drink products. They have become very popular in almost any diet available. Despite the incredible rise there is still a lot of people out there struggling with excess fat. Most of them are using light products without any results.

So what's really going on? There is so much confusing marketing and wrong information in the mass media that simply sabotages peoples diets. What happens almost always is that people get fooled by what the front of the package says, making them believe that what they buy is healthy.

This is what I call label trickery. Here are some of the labels of light products the companies use: low fat, reduced sugar, reduced fat, low cholesterol, 0%, low carb, 99% less fat, etc. The companies use so many labelling tricks: for example lets analyze one box of gums labelled as sugar free: if you look at the ingredients list you will find many artificial sweeteners together: aspartame, sucrose that are equal or worse than sugar, plus other bad ingredients like extra colourings, conservatives etc. and of course there is nowhere listed sugar.

Similar things happen with reduced fat products like cheese or meat; in the front they may write for example 30% less fat, now if you take a good look behind at the ingredients list and check how many calories come from fat then the percentage will be totally different maybe 60% of fat! The trickery continues in all categories of foods and drinks with hidden fat, sugar, sodium and even worse hidden bad fat such as trans fat.

Many so called experts insist that we should consume these products during diet!! And the worst of all is that people believe them! So what should everybody finally do? Here's my advise; avoid light products like the mouse avoids the cat. Always check labels in everything you buy (don't trust anyone) and insist on buying the real products (organic if you can afford it): the real cheese, the real yogurt, the real meat, fresh fruits and vegetables. Cook at home (no more pre cooked meals) and eat in moderate portions. Last but not least add some regular exercise enough to raise your heart rate over the comfortable level.