The good news is that the food industry is aware of people's need to shop with an eye towards health consciousness. As a result we have diet foods, sugar-free foods, low sodium, and of course fat-free foods. But do these foods always deliver what they promise? Are they always a better choice than the original product they try to replace? The following should help clarify this dilemma.

Have you noticed the arrangement of items by type inside the typical grocery store? If not, think about it for a few seconds. Excluding the isles containing the cleaning and pet supplies, hygiene items etc., the rest of them are the actual food isles stocked with foods high on sugar, sodium and fat. Potato chips (plenty of saturated fat and hydrogenated oils), canned goods (full of sodium), pastas and breads (full of starches), candy (full of sugar and/or fat).

I can see you already thinking: So, what are we supposed to eat? If we exclude all these things from our shopping list, there is not much left to eat! Here is what I am saying: I am not proposing that you do not buy the foods mentioned above. What I am suggesting is that they should not form your main sources of nutrition. I believe we should practice moderation into anything, including our nutritional habits. Potato chips, candy, canned goods and all the other foods mentioned above become a problem when they form the cornerstones of your nutrition. How many times have you come across kids who are practically living off candy bars? Quite a few, I am sure. The main difference between kids and adults is that their bodies have not yet had enough time to develop the insulin resistance which follows as a direct result of continuous over-consumption of sugar. Their digestive systems are usually much more efficient, and their metabolism is still racing ahead at a very fast pace. They are in position to quickly digest and burn out all this sugar. Of course there are exceptions, there are children who are diabetic, or even suffer from insulin resistance, but the majority of kids are not faced with these problems. At least not yet. The problem is that as they grow up mulnutritioned and abusing sugary foods and starches, there is a point that their metabolism begins to suffer, in some cases leading to type II adult onset diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc.

Lets return back to the arrangement of foods within the typical grocery store: Apart from the isles stocked with the items we mentioned above, what else do we have? You guessed it. The perimeter around the walls. This is where you will usually find the more desirable foods. Vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, poultry, etc. So, it would be a smart move to begin your shopping around the perimeter of the store. Of, course as mentioned before, purchasing foods from the isles may be part of your shopping trip but check the labels for saturated fats, hydrogenated oils, and excessive sugar or sodium.

Which brings us to another subject: That of misleading food labels. Many people are confused about reading labels, but unfortunately some of the labeling is done so as to deliberately confuse people. There are foods out there that claim to be fat-free while in reality they contain hefty amounts of fat. Food manufacturers can get away with the fat-free labeling by reducing the service size portions to unrealistically small amounts. There are butter substitutes for example that claim to be fat-free, simply because they contain less that the minimum amount of fat per serving that is required by law in order to be labeled fat-free. However, the serving is really so small that it is completely unrepresentative of the truth. The average person would eat on a single meal at least 7 or 8 times the serving size mentioned in the label. So, the fat content now becomes significant.

The same holds for sugar. Many foods who claim to be sugar free are actually filled with either malitol, xylitol or other such substances (called sugar alcohol), and which although being usually synthetic forms of natural sugars can not be classified as sugars according to FDA regulations. However, in most cases sugar alcohol does not produce the same insulin response as sugars, and that is why I would suggest to follow your physician's advice regarding its consumption. Other foods that claim to be sugar-free are actually filled with fructose, which is actually sugar derived from fruits. Furthermore, others claim sugar-free content but a careful look at the ingredients will reveal high fructose corn syrup, dextrose or glucose all of which are actually sugars.

To summarize, the most desirable foods for a health conscious shopper are usually placed in the perimeter of the grocery stores. When selecting fat-free or sugar-free foods read the label regarding the serving size. If it is unreasonably small be suspicious. For sugar-free foods, check for ingredients such as corn syrup, dextrose, glucose, or fructose and treat these ingredients as regular sugar. Finally when selecting soups keep an eye on the sodium amount. If it is more than 500mg per can you would be better off avoiding it.

The purpose of this article is not to create neurotic consumers who become paranoid about the contents of any food. The purpose is simply to educate. Everything in excess is detrimental to good health, so keep the above information in mind and shop wisely.