Ep. 153 | Want Better Health Eating Plant-Based? Why It’s Key To Look Beyond the Label

Eating plant-based can be really confusing at times, especially if this is a completely new eating pattern for you. And sometimes manufacturers don’t help. They tend to make the plant-based diet world even more overwhelming and confusing by the products they market to you. 

So how do you be smart on your grocery shop and what do you need to look out for? 

Let’s talk about this today. In this episode, I’ll tell you why you need to be smart when choosing plant-based or vegan commercial products to buy and why it's important not to just take packages at face value. 

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Here’s a key issue. We often just choose products to buy based on face value. Often, we are in a hurry and we don't stop to look more closely at packaging details or have time to compare products.

And manufacturers know this, unfortunately. They are smart and know that if they can capture your attention with some bolded keywords and an attractive packaging at a decent price, we'll often choose that over a competitor's product. So, then we grab an item, go through checkout, and only realize later at home that we should have chosen something better.

Have you had an experience like this? I know it has happened to me before in the past. And a situation like this may be even more likely to happen if you are just starting plant-based eating and are choosing new plant-based or vegan products to buy.

Here’s something important to remember. In order to build the best health, it is best to focus most of our attention and shopping dollars on unprocessed, fresh or frozen whole plant-based foods. These include foods like fruits, vegetables, dried or canned beans, lentils, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Really try to limit the amount of processed and packaged food products you buy. And when you do buy them, make sure to look and choose carefully.

Now here are three key steps to follow when deciding which new plant-based food products to buy. First, if it says plant-based or vegan, this can be a clue that this product may be free from animal-based ingredients.

Then, regardless of what else is said on the front, immediately check the back of the package to see what the ingredients list says. You'll want to look for a product with a minimal number of ingredients, list a whole plant-based food as one of the first few ingredients and where sugar or salt, if listed, is one of the last ingredients.

Then third, make sure to have a look at the Nutrition Facts label for that product. Some of the key areas I look out for are the amount of fiber provided per serving, as well as the amount of sugars, fat and protein provided. It is also really important to look at the portion size that the Nutrition Facts panel relates to, because sometimes this can trick you to think a product is healthy when in fact it isn't really.

Another thing is this. If you have time, compare the information you've gleaned from this product with two to three other similar products and their prices to decide which items would be the wisest choice to purchase.

Listen in to this episode to learn more about how to be smart when label reading for the best plant-based diet health. Make sure to tune in too to hear a fun personal story I’ll share about my husband related to this topic!

 
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Episode Highlights & Key Timestamps:

• [1:44] Exploring this lifestyle? Grab this free guide ‘7 Ways to Test-Drive a Plant-Based Diet’
• [3:11] A good example of why it is important to check food product packages more carefully
• [5:14] 3 Key steps to follow when making product purchase decisions
• [6:21] The potato chips example
• [7:10] A fun personal story (involving my husband!)
• [10:30] An action step you can take
• [10:50] Grab this Free resource to help you try out plant-based eating!

Next Steps:

Contact -> healthnow@plantnourished.com 

Learn -> www.plantnourished.com 

Join -> Plant-Powered Life Transformation Course: www.plantnourished.com/ppltcourse

1:1 Coaching Support -> https://www.plantnourished.com/coachingwaitlist 

Get Free 15-Minute Strategy Session -> www.plantnourished.com/strategycall 

Free Resource -> 7 Ways to Test-Drive a Plant-Based Diet: www.plantnourished.com/testdrive 

Read Transcript Here 

Have a question about plant-based diets you would like answered on the Plant Based Eating Made Easy Podcast?
Send it by email (healthnow@plantnourished.com) or submit it by a voice message here: www.speakpipe.com/plantnourished 

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