Healthy eating, that is what we (almost) all want. Healthy eating is important for health. The food industry is also aware of this. Terms such as ‘light’ and ‘healthy’ are used on the packaging of many products. But what is actually true about the slogans on the packaging? Are all E-numbers unhealthy and should we eat light products, snack on muesli bars and drink vegetable and fruit juices?
All E numbers are chemical
Many packages, bags, cans and other packaging also contain E numbers in the ingredients list: creepy numbers with a bad reputation. There are plenty of people who want to eat and drink E-number free. Most people who want to eat healthy make sure that no E numbers are found in their food.
However, the bad reputation of E numbers is not always justified. The letter E stands for Europe and the number is the number that identifies the excipient. Not all E numbers are chemically made substances. For example, E162 is beet red and E160 is red dye made from tomatoes. E300 is even just vitamin C.
So it is not necessary to eat E-number free if you do not want chemical additives to the food. Some E numbers are not chemical, but simply natural.
Light makes you slim
Another misunderstanding concerns light products. Many people do not know exactly when a product can be called light. A product may be called light if it contains thirty percent less sugar, fat or calories compared to the non-light variant. So pay close attention to the word or in the definition of light. It could therefore mean that a manufacturer has put 30% less fat in its light product, but that it has flavored the light product with extra sugar.
People often also eat more of a light product. Spread some more light jam on bread, or snack on more small light cookies. However, this way you will consume even more calories than if you spread a normal amount of ‘non-light’ product on your bread or eat one unhealthy cookie.
Granola bars are healthy
Muesli bars, that sounds healthy! If you still want to snack, have a healthy granola bar! But commonly sold granola bars contain more sugar and fat than nuts and grains. Not all muesli bars are healthy as a snack.
Gingerbread is also not ideal as a snack. The manufacturers like to report in their advertisements and on the packaging that the cookie contains virtually no fat, but forget to mention that the cookie is packed with sugar. Even with the less sugar version of the cookie, a quarter of the weight of the cookie consists of sugar.
Vegetable juice replaces vegetables
A delicious glass of vegetable juice. Eating vegetables is not always possible, so if you drink a glass of (home-squeezed) vegetable juice every day you will get enough vegetables. So no. Vegetable juice cannot be drunk as a complete substitute for vegetables. Vegetable juice often contains less fiber, vitamin C, B11 (folic acid) and other good substances that are present in vegetables. You may only count vegetable juices for a maximum of half when achieving the recommended daily amount of vegetables.
Fruit juice replaces fruit
Certain fruit juices can indeed be an alternative to fresh fruit. These are fruit juices made from fruits that naturally contain a lot of vitamin C and B11 (folic acid), such as oranges, grapefruits and pineapples. However, fresh fruit remains better for your health than fruit juices. There is more dietary fiber in fruit than in fruit juices. You may only count fruit juices for a maximum of half when achieving the recommended daily amount of fruit. Certain fruit juices, for example fruit juices made from apples and grapes, are not an alternative to fresh fruit at all because they contain no dietary fiber and no vitamin C.
Fruits contain a lot of fruit sugar. This is also found in the fruit juices made from the fruit. When you drink fruit juice you also consume a lot of calories. A glass of orange juice contains about as many calories as a glass of cola.
