Top 10 Ingredients to Watch Out For

I'd need a lot more space to list out all the names on the naughty list but this list, while not exhaustive, is a good starting point if you want to know you are eating as well as you can for your health. 

Bottom line: if you can't pronounce the ingredient, it's probably not something you want to put into your body! And if you don't recognise something as 'food', chances are your body won't either.

1. Artificial dyes & brighteners

Blue 1, Caramel color, Red 3 (Erythrosine), Red 40, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 5 (Tartrazine), Yellow 6.

2. Artificial flavours & enhancers

Autolysed yeast extract, hydrolysed protein, monosodium glutamate (MSG), “natural flavours”.

3. Artificial sweeteners

Aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin are some of the main ones.

4. Sugars

There are many names for sugar, including: glucose, fructose, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, honey, treacle, agave, maple syrup, fruit juice, lactose, isoglucose, dates, dried fruit, raisins/sultanas, grape concentrate.

5. Bleached flours

Or other processed flours.

6. Refined or processed oils

Rapeseed (aka canola oil) unless cold pressed, corn, partially hydrogenated oils, soybean.

7. Preservatives

BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), calcium propionate, propylparaben, methylparaben, propyl gallate, sodium benzoate, potassium benzoate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sodium phosphate, TBHQ (tert-butylhydroquinone)

8. Thickeners and emulsifiers

Carrageenan, lecithin, gellan gum, cellulose gum, monoglycerides, diglycerides.

9. Dough conditioners

Azodicarbonamide, calcium peroxide, DATEM (diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglycerides).

10. Processed food supplements

Soy protein isolate is a common highly processed genetically modified protein supplement in many ‘healthy’ or diet foods.

If you’d like to know more, why not download my free guide to Making Sense of Food Labels here.