Are you getting caught out by Green Labelling?

1 Sept

If you have no idea what green labelling is, then strap in as you join me in becoming a food detective!

Green labelling is essentially a marketing ploy and It’s continuing to become more and more prevalent. Our eyes need to be peeled and we need to make sure we are not manipulated into buying products because of this.

Let’s dive into what it is and exactly what you should be looking out for.

What is Green Labelling?

Green labelling is clever marketing, it is when food products appear healthier than they are.
Any trip to the grocery store you will literally see products that have green on them to make them appear fresh & healthier! They will chuck irrelevant claims on them too. Just because a product is beautifully packaged, slaps on a trendy phrase or is in the health food isle does not make it healthy! Always check the ingredients!

What are some common green labelling marketing ploys?

Keep your eyes peeled for these & question their intentions:

“Gluten Free”

For example, on a packet of rice, which doesn’t even contain gluten to begin with!
Just because something is gluten free does not mean it is better for you, many gluten free products like breads and wraps use a ton of additives and poor quality ingredients attempting to replicate the texture that gluten produces. I understand those that those that are celiac or gluten intolerant should not be consuming gluten products, but as such we should stick to a real food approach and not rely on processed packets to tell us common sense.
Find out if you should be eating gluten free here.

“Vegan”

Again, often on products that would already be vegan!
Vegan does not = health. I repeat. Being a vegan does not automatically = being healthy. This one bugs me so much, because not only does it attempt to draw people in for ethical reasons, but it also screams “I’m vegan, I’m healthy, you should buy me!”. Read more about eating plant based & the ethics of eating meat here. If you are vegan, you need to be nourishing your body properly with high quality foods & nutrients, read more here.

Green Packaging
This goes into the power of colour psychology. Green is linked to nature, think trees, grass etc, this creates a feeling that a product is sourced from nature and is therefore wholesome. Colour psychology is fascinating and they really do have the power to affect mood, feelings and essentially buyer psychology. So, start to take note of colours on food packages, the vibe it produce and how it affects/entices you.

Government Ratings
*eye rolls* honestly, our nutrition guidelines are seriously outdated and so backwards.
Have you ever noticed that health star rating?
Essentially these star ratings allow consumers at a glance to select and compare products with a star rating from 1 - 5. IGNORE IT.
It is based on nutrients, not wholefoods. It does not consider the processing/quality of ingredients.

Here’s some examples of the corrupt nature of this:

This Milo Drink is given an outrageous 4.5 stars
The Strawberry Thick Shake Muesli Bars also 4.5 stars
Processed Margarine is given 3 stars
whilst butter is given only 0.5 stars.

Let’s compare the ingredients with my concerns bolded:

Milo Drink – 4.5 Stars:

“Water, Milk Solids, Extract of Malted Barley and Tapioca, Sugar, Cocoa, Stabilisers (460, 466, 339, 452), Minerals (Calcium, Magnesium, Iron), Emulsifier (Soy lecithin), Maltodextrin, Flavours, Vitamins(B3,B2, B6, D, B12).”

Strawberry Thick Shake Muesli Bars – 4.5 Stars:

“Cereals (45%) (Oats, Rice Puffs (Rice, Sugar, Salt, Barley Malt Extract)). Glucose Syrup, Strawberry Thickshake Blend (11%) (Sweetened Condensed Milk (Milk Solids, Sugar), Milk Solids, NaturalFlavours (Contains Milk)), Inulin, Pink Icing (Sugar, Vegetable Fat (emulsifier (492), Milk Solids, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin), Natural Flavours, Natural Colour (162)), Sprinkles (Sugar, Maize Starch, Cocoa Butter, Potato Starch, Maltodextrin, Rice Flour, Natural Flavour and Colours (160c, 162)), Glycerine, Vegetable Oils, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin)”

Processed Margarine - 3 stars:

“Vegetable oils 60% (containing 48% canola oil, full hydrogenated palm oil), water, salt, emulsifiers (E471, E322 (from soy)), milk solids, preservative (E202), acidity regulator (E270), natural colour (E160a (iv)), vitamins A & D, natural flavour.”

Butter – 0.5 stars

“Organic Cream (from Milk), Salt”

This is SO seriously corrupt and flawed. I hope you can see the idiocy of this. Those products are NOT real food. Something like butter (saturated fat) which has been eaten and consumed for thousands of years is not the root problem of our chronic health conditions and widespread obesity. The issue stems from excess processed ingredients like refined vegetable/seed oils and refined sugar.

My philosophy here at Natural Spoonfuls is NATURE KNOWS BEST and I will always stick to this.

Health Food Isles
This one bugs me so so much! Product placement at its finest. Just because a product is in this isle does necessarily make it a great choice. Always check labels.
“With Natural Flavour” “No Artificial Ingredients”
These are not as natural as they portray. These additives are made in a lab and are extremely interfered with. Although natural flavours are ‘presumed’ to have started from a natural source, the processing and chemicals involved leads to a completely different product compared to the natural source. Read more about this here.
“With Natural Sweetener”
mmmm how natural are they?? Find out more here.
Also, if you’re interested in the harmful effects of artificial sweeteners, check this out.
“FAT FREE”
They’ve probably removed the fat and pumped the product with extremely refined sugar which will probably lead to more weight gain and digestive issue then the fat would have…

There are so many more health claims and green labelling tactics that I could dive into but the moral of the story is, you have to be your own food detective, take control and make sure what you are buying, eating, cooking, giving your family and friends is actually REAL food, not a product you were manipulated into buying!

Always Read Food Labels
So, a little saying I like to say is “if you can’t pronounce what’s in the pack... put it back on the rack!”.
This is largely true, some ingredient names that you will come across are ridiculously long and pretty hard to say... that’s usually quite a good indication that the food is not a simple and natural ingredient.

My number one tip to eating naturally is start reading food labels and see what you’re eating is

actually REAL food!

Want more?

My Low Tox Food Program is my signature program and honestly my true passion. It will help you get back in touch with REAL food. I go through every food product imaginable, giving you the confidence that what you are adding to your shopping trolley is free of nasties, additives and is actually going to nourish your body.