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My strategy for buying food is pretty simple. I stick to whole foods for the most part. That means fresh vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds.
I don’t buy a lot of things that have ingredient lists. For the ones that do, I try to make sure those ingredients are as close to all whole, unrefined foods as possible.
Sometimes I make an exception if it’s a one-time thing and/or I’m only using a small amount. That doesn’t happen often, because I can either find a healthier version or I just make it myself.
Keep in mind that if the majority of what you eat is healthy whole plant foods, an ingredient here or there that isn’t ‘perfect’ isn’t a catastrophe.
I also look at the nutrition facts label, to see how many grams of sugar and sodium there are per serving and if there’s any trans-fat. I also like to see what size the manufacturer considers a serving to be.
When you’re looking at labels, usually the fewer ingredients listed the better. If you can’t pronounce something listed, you usually don’t want to be eating it.
There are exceptions to those rules, but they’re good as red flags to make you more cautious with them.
Then there are certain ingredients that should always be red flags. Those are refined sugars, refined oils and chemical preservatives.
Refined sugars might be listed as sugar, glucose, fructose, glucose-fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, cane sugar (just because they say it’s from the cane, doesn’t mean it’s unrefined), and lots of other things. I don’t like agave nectar, because it’s really processed.
If it says anything other than ‘unrefined’ with whatever form of sugar in in there, I usually avoid it.
The exception would be that if sugar comes near the end of the ingredient list, meaning there’s not much in there, I don’t worry about it quite as much. I still don’t like refined sugar, but it’s not the end of the world if there’s a little bit in there.
The refined oils that are particularly bad are canola oil, hydrogenated palm/coconut oils (unhydrogenated coconut oil is fine), and any other hydrogenated oil.
Most other oils are refined unless they say otherwise, so aim for ones that actually list ‘unrefined’ versions of oils.
Preservatives can show up as under so many names, so your best bet is to look for ingredients you don’t recognize and use a label reading app, or write down the questionable name and look it up at home.
Some ingredients look scary, but are perfectly fine. Xanthan gum, guar gum, kudzu and agar are all natural thickeners.
Avoiding Animal Ingredients
Milk can show up as whey, casein, and a whole variety of other names. Anything starting with ‘lact’ is suspicious – like lactose, lactalbumin, lactoglobulin and so on.
Cheese, butter, yogurt, cream, custard, sour cream and nougat are all milk products. Butter might be listed as ghee. Paneer is a type of cheese used in Indian food.
Luckily, the growing dairy allergy rates mean that most foods include a note at the end of the ingredient list that says ‘contains milk ingredients’.
Eggs are usually listed as egg, but they do show up in unexpected foods sometimes. Mayonnaise is made of eggs. Here’s a list of hidden egg ingredients: http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=36&title=Egg_allergy_avoidance_list
Some foods are produced in the same facilities as other foods that include dairy or eggs, and might list ‘may contain milk and/or egg ingredients’.
I often see it on pastas and breads. That doesn’t mean there’s any in the food, it’s just a warning for those who have severe allergic reactions.
Gelatin is made from animal bones, and is used in Jell-o, yogurt, puddings, marshmallows, vitamin capsules and some other foods. Check the ingredient list for gelatin if you’re buying something gelled.
Beeswax and honey are not vegan. Honey is often in foods like granola bars, cereals, cookies and crackers. Beeswax is usually used in lip balm.
There are a ton more hidden ingredients used in foods that come from animals. I usually steer clear of processed foods in general, so that makes it a lot easier to avoid them without getting into the details.
If you want a complete list of all questionable ingredients, here’s a great list from the Vegetarian Resource Group: http://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php