"Healthy" Keywords Food Nutrition Label Collection

“Healthy” Keywords Which Are Used to Fool Us

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Eating well is never easy. You try to make the best choices for you and your family, but every brand you see makes huge claims about how healthy their food is. Everything has the same “healthy” keywords written on the package, and you can’t tell what you should eat or not.

What are “Healthy” Keywords

When I type “healthy” within quotations, I mean to say that the product being described may not actually be healthy. “Healthy” keywords are words put on nutrition labels and packaging which can be deceiving to consumers and require further inspection. In short, the wording on nutrition labels can be downright manipulative.

Now, would you believe me if I said businesses are trying to fool customers into buying a product that’s not as perfect as it seems? There are many claims that they can put on labels that are misleading even to the smartest shoppers. With this in mind, here’s a list of some of the most common ones to look out for.

Natural or All-Natural

All Natural Flavor Gummies

While there have been suggestions by the FDA, there is still no official definition for what “natural” really means. This gives companies the freedom to use the word however they want.

A common consensus is that the term “natural” means that no artificial or synthetic ingredients were used to make the food. But, without regulation, this word means absolutely nothing.

Poison ivy is all-natural, that doesn't mean I want it in my food. – Ang Click To Tweet

Is Your Food Fresh?

This term only has meaning if it’s referring to meat products. Meat that has never been at a temperature below 26°F is considered fresh, only because it hasn’t been frozen.

Otherwise, fresh is a keyword thrown in as fluff to make a product look better. So, does this mean that the food next to it without the “fresh” label is rotten? Nope, it’s all just a marketing tactic.

Organic Farming

Organic Packaging "Healthy" Keywords

Organic is one of those words that people immediately associate with switching to a healthy diet. Junky, highly processed foods are now adopting the label. While organic is not necessarily a bad thing, there are many misconceptions around the word. The most common belief is that organic farming means that there is no pesticide use. Here is the USDA’s definition of organic:

Produce can be called organic if it’s certified to have grown on soil that had no prohibited substances applied for three years prior to harvest. Prohibited substances include most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Organic farming can use pesticides that are not man-made. It’s up to you to decide whether these pesticides are safe or not. Here is a full list of approved organic pesticides.

Another rule for organic is that the food only needs to be 70% organic to get the “made with organic ingredients” label. Whereas, the other 30% of ingredients can be non-organic.

Hiding Sugar on Nutrition Labels

For the purpose of making ingredients look healthier, manufacturers have found words to make their products appear to have less sugar. Or rather, appear to have better sugar.

Another trick is to use smaller amounts of different types of sugar. Then, the sugar doesn’t show up in the top 3 ingredients.

Commonly used words for sugar:

  • Barley malt syrup
  • Molasses
  • Golden syrup
  • Cane sugar extract
  • Fruit juice concentrate
  • High fructose corn syrup
  • Honey
  • Agave
  • Malt extract
  • Glucose/fructose
Hidden Sugar Ingredients Healthy Keywords

Sugar-Free, Fat-Free, Salt-Free

Many “sugar-free” products still have small quantities of sugar. As long as a recommended portion size has less than 0.5g of sugar, companies are allowed to use this term. So, reducing serving sizes can make something small enough to have this label.

Of course, this applies to fat-free, calorie-free, and salt-free products as well. Smaller serving sizes make it appear like you’re eating food less dense in these specific nutrients, whereas the label has been manipulated instead.

Made with Whole Wheat/Grains

Whole Wheat Grains Ingredients "Healthy" Keywords

Here’s one that requires further research. A product can be labeled “made with whole grains,” even if the percentage of whole grains is very small. Check to make sure anything that it boasts in its ingredients isn’t halfway down the ingredients list. The farther down the list something is, the less that is actually in the product.

In this case, white flour is still the main ingredient.

More Than Just “Healthy” Keywords

Even certain colors and types of packaging are used to make us feel like we’re making a healthier purchase. Earthy colors like soft greens and browns can be used to create an illusion of something being natural or sustainable.

Paper packaging creates the same effect. Sustainable translates to healthy in our minds and can fool us into thinking we’re making a better choice for ourselves and our families.

“Healthy” Keywords: In Conclusion

It’s best to be wary of and to research, anything written on a product. Remember, businesses were made to make money, not look out for their customer’s well-being.

My advice to you: do your best to make your food from scratch and find some local farmers to buy from. It takes a bit of extra time, but it’s worth it. You don’t have to be a health nut to make better food choices.

If you’re looking to learn more about lies on food packaging, I have the perfect recommendation! Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison is a book dedicated to showing readers how they’re being manipulated by diet culture and how they can take back their power. It shines a light on the unjustified beliefs that society has about larger-bodied people and aims to crush the stigma surrounding fat and food choices.

If you haven’t read Anti-Diet yet, I wholly recommend it. I chose to listen to the audiobook. Christy herself narrates it, which puts genuine emotion into the words you’re hearing. If you’d like more information on the book, I wrote an in-depth and honest review here.

Have you seen some of these “Healthy” keywords on foods that were clearly not healthy? Let me know in the comments!

That’s it for now everyone. If you’ve found some value in this post, please share it to inspire others too! Thanks!

The Name Ang in cursive black text. There is a magenta heart next to it. Ang Signoff Heart

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32 thoughts on ““Healthy” Keywords Which Are Used to Fool Us”

  1. “Natural” is a major pet peeve of mine, whether it’s referring to food or weird “health” practices.

    I think it’s also rather silly when brands slap a gluten-free label onto foods that would never include gluten anyway just for the trendy factor.

    1. I know! I see bags of potato chips that say gluten-free on them and wonder how potato chips could ever have gluten in the first place.

  2. This is brilliant! I remember way back when I started my healthy eating journey (that has somehow gone out the window) I was shocked to find that lots of things were unhealthy. The sugar one is the scariest!

  3. Thank you Ang, What useful tips, scary what one can actually put in ones mouth without being aware. Will definately take more care in the future. Enjoyed your blog.
    Thanks
    Wendy

  4. A Big Girl in a Big City

    It’s a great article, the food industry knows how to manipulate people’s minds. One another good example is products labelled gluten-free. I am myself gluten-free so I always look for the ingredients and 2 things make me laugh: 1. sometimes it says “gluten-free” when it’s obvious it is (like rice for example) but they just label it to make the product more appealing and trendy to buy. 2. gluten-free doesn’t mean healthy. If you eat a gluten-free muffin, it’s still not going to be very healthy for you (but some people would eat more of them because they are without gluten). It’s good that you’re highlighting some of their dangerous keywords!

    1. I see that all the time. Heck, if veggies had labels they’d probably put gluten-free on those too. Somehow we’ve got it twisted where we immediately connect these words with health. I’m glad to be able to shed some light on the truth.

  5. Really interesting post. I fully believe in everything in moderation but some brands really can trick you into thinking something is healthy when it’s possibly packed with sugar. The sugar content of some products is definitely something I’ve been more wary of lately.

    1. It is! I enjoy in moderation too. I think that’s why I’m still following a healthy diet and not back to eating poorly 🙂

  6. I can’t believe you found organic key lime pie granola bars, weird! I actually bought my family organic fruit snacks recently, but I cringe over buying such sugary stuff at all. I know junk food shouldn’t necessarily be a coping mechanism, but sometimes the foster kid just needs to eat something familiar, you know?

    1. I live in Canada, so maybe we get unusual products here. 😁 I don’t mind buying myself junk food, but how they are marketed as healthy to people I think is totally wrong.

      1. You’re right, some of the healthy-looking protein bars I buy are just loaded with sugar, they sneak way too much in there

  7. thesojourningwolf

    Excellent post!!

    Where do I begin….

    Look at the daily value percentage of sugar! For instance, 75% in 1 can of Coke! 125% in Mountain Dew!!

    Usually if you can’t pronounce it, it’s not good for you lol! I learned this from work out supplements I used to take.

      1. thesojourningwolf

        Work out supplements are the worst. We get tricked into believing we need them… only unless we lack something should we need supplements!

      2. thesojourningwolf

        And sorry to blow up your comments section. I thoroughly enjoyed your blog.

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