The current regulatory system in the United States leaves much of the work of figuring out what’s safe or unsafe to the consumer, says Sathyanarayana. She offers these tips:
Opt for fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables whenever possible. Try to focus on different kinds of fresh or frozen produce and move away from processed foods, Sathyanarayana says.
“You have to be practical about it. We live in an industrialized world, people are working a lot, and we don’t have time to make everything from scratch. You can make a lot of good food from frozen ingredients where you don’t have to do all the washing and chopping that some fresh vegetables require,” she says.
Read product labels. “We’re putting a huge burden on consumers by asking them to read product labels — it’s really time consuming and hard. But if you are a label reader, selecting foods with fewer ingredients is typically the best way to go,” says Sathyanarayana.
Snack bars are a good example of a product that can have many or very few ingredients. “I would recommend seeking out the bars that have just a handful of recognizable ingredients — nuts, nut butters, or fruits,” Sathyanarayana says.
Seek out resources to help you. Consumer advocacy groups such as CSPI and EWG provide lists of additives you should reduce or avoid.
There are also phone apps available to help you make sure the foods you’re buying are safe — just search “food ingredients scanner” in the App Store. Two such apps are Sift Food Labels and Ingredio, which use pictures of food ingredients on the label or a bar code and alert you of any potentially risky additives.
Don’t fall into the ”all or nothing” trap. “Overall, when I talk with families and patients, we discuss what they can do to limit their exposure to processed foods and maximize nutrition and healthy eating,” says Sathyanarayana. You don’t have to be perfect, but you can try to eat fewer things that are highly processed and full of additives like ultra-spicy bright orange corn snacks, she adds.
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