Introduction
This week I’m taking a break from sharing recipes, but I’ll be back to it next week! Instead, we’re talking about nutrition labels, and what to look for on a whole food vegan diet. There is so much misleading information on food labels, it’s hard to know what to believe.
If you’re eating a whole food diet, you won’t be reading too many food labels anyway. The healthiest foods, like fruits and vegetables don’t generally come with nutrition facts. We already know they are healthy! That’s where the bulk of our food will come from…veggies, fruits, whole grains, and beans.
But there are a few minimally processed foods you might want to add to your diet as well. How can you know you’re still getting something that is both vegan and healthy? In this week’s video, I’ll explain everything you need to know!
Summary
Below is an approximate transcript and summary of the information covered in the video.
Identifying Certified Vegan Products
First, you can look for the certified vegan logo. Products with this label must be free from meat, fish, fowl, animal byproducts, eggs, milk, honey, and insects. Plus products must not be filtered or processed using bone char or other animal products.
There is still a possibility for cross-contamination even if a product is certified vegan. This means the product might have been produced on equipment that also produces non-vegan foods. In my opinion the possibility of cross-contamination would not stop me from eating something. I think it’s more important to try to minimize our impact rather than trying to be perfect. It’s impossible to be perfect.
However if you have a food allergy you would want to be aware of this, and if there’s something you’re concerned about investigate a little further. Even a tiny amount could be dangerous with a food allergy.
If a product doesn’t have the certified vegan label it could still be vegan. The next step is to look at the nutrition part of the label. First, look for the warnings that say “contains” or “may contain.” If something says “may contain milk,” that represents possible cross-contamination. So the product itself doesn’t have milk as an ingredient, but it could have been produced on equipment that did process milk.
On the other hand a product that says “contains milk” is not vegan. Look no further, you know it’s not vegan. Put it back on the shelf and walk away. If it doesn’t have one of these warnings, then you’ll read the actual list of ingredients to make sure there are no animal products listed.
Identifying Whole Foods and Whole Food Ingredients
Once you’ve identified that the product is vegan, make sure the product fits into your whole food lifestyle. In the list of ingredients check that it only contains recognizable whole plant foods and mushrooms. I also personally look for and try to avoid added salt, sugar, and oil. Let’s look at each of these.
Added Sugar, Salt, and Oil
Sugar
Sweeteners go by many names including sugar, syrup, dextrose, fructose, really any kind of “-ose.” I try to avoid all of these. For me personally the only sweeteners I like to use are whole dates or date sugar, which is just whole dates that are dried and ground up.
Even though they’re not technically whole foods, I also occasionally use a little bit of maple syrup and date syrup. I’m okay with eating these every once in a while. They don’t make up a large portion of my diet, and we’re going for an overall balanced diet rather than perfection all the time.
Salt
Salt-free items are few and far between, but try to get them if you can. If you can’t, prioritize low sodium options. Items like canned beans should be rinsed to help reduce the sodium content further.
Keep in mind that simply switching to a whole food vegan diet drastically cuts down your sodium intake. The biggest contributors of salt in the diet are highly processed foods, meat products, and cheese products. When you cut those out, you’ve already cut back quite a bit.
Be aware though that many vegan products are also highly processed junk food, and contain lots of salt, oil, and sugar. Again we’re avoiding that on a whole food diet anyway. As with added sweeteners, I don’t strictly avoid salt, but I also don’t purposely salt my food. If I have a condiment that has a little bit of salt I’m not too concerned. For example, I sometimes use Bragg liquid aminos or soy sauce. I usually only use about a teaspoon for a whole recipe that’s going to be divided into multiple servings.
Oil
Oil on the other hand is something that I strictly avoid. In my opinion, oil is not a health food and it’s unnatural. The best part of the plants have been removed including the fiber. There is still debate in the scientific literature over whether or not certain types of oil, particularly olive oil, may or may not be healthy. But I choose to avoid it completely.
If you want some of this “healthy fat” just eat the whole olives. Of course if you’re avoiding salt, make sure you rinse those olives if they’re packed with salt. Another reason I avoid oil is because when I completely eliminated oil, I finally got my adult acne under control. My skin is so much less inflamed now than when I was consuming oil and it feels so much better.
Plus now that I’ve been avoiding oil it is pretty unpleasant to eat it. If I ever accidentally consume something that I didn’t know had oil in it, it makes my mouth feel weird, and it also makes me feel pretty sluggish and sick. So I completely understand why so many people are walking around feeling sluggish and sick now that I’ve removed oil and feel so much better.
Other Food Additives
The last thing I look for in a list of ingredients is the added dyes and other chemicals. Even something seemingly harmless like natural flavor can be pretty questionable. This term isn’t really regulated and can really contain many different things, even animal products. So I avoid it if I can.
Label Claims
Another tip for reading labels is: don’t blindly trust claims. In fact I would ignore them altogether. You know what I’m talking about. It’s those things that shout out to you from the label like “low fat!” “high fiber!” “low carb!” “high protein!” “multi-grain!” “all natural!” These terms are not regulated and are essentially meaningless in my book. They’re just marketing, not truth, so ignore this noise and go for the ingredient list like we’ve already covered.
Aside from the ingredients, I don’t generally concern myself with the actual nutrition part of the label. I’m consuming a varied diet that includes whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. So I’m confident that I’m getting a good combination of the macro and micronutrients that I need for a balanced diet. If you are concerned though, check out my video on how to track your food so you can see where you’re at and make sure you’re getting the nutrition that you need. And of course always check with your doctor or a nutritionist if you are concerned about certain nutrients.
Identifying Whole Grain Bread (5:1 Rule)
A lot of products that say “whole grain bread” or “multi-grain bread” on the front of the package actually contain more refined grains than whole grains. Look at the actual ingredients and make sure that most of the ingredients have the word “whole” in front of them. Like “whole wheat” instead of just “wheat.”
But you can also use the 5 to 1 carb to fiber ratio to make sure that it is primarily whole grain. How does this work? You’ll look for the grams of carbohydrate in one serving and divide that by the grams of fiber in one serving. If this number is five or less you’re good! If it’s more than five, it may not be as whole as you’d like. For example this sprouted Ezekiel bread that I like has 15 grams of carbs and 3 grams of fiber. 15 divided by 3 is 5, so it passes the test.
Organic
Finally, while it isn’t necessary for either a vegan or a whole food diet, I want to address the organic label. Many people don’t trust this label and they think that it’s bogus. But unlike some of the other claims that I mentioned, this one actually is very regulated. You can check the USDA website for all of the details.
Now it’s not perfect, but if you see the USDA organic label the product should not contain genetically modified ingredients, the ingredients were produced without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and it was produced in a way that supports soil health, biodiversity, and the recycling of resources.
There are four different levels of organic classification ranging from 100% organic to different percentages of organic ingredients included. You can find these details on the USDA website.
In my opinion, eating whole plant foods is more important than eating organic, but if it’s available and it’s within your budget, go for it! I personally think that organic is better for our individual health and the health of our planet, so I try to get it when I can.
I’m a frugal person so I like to get the best deal, but since I have the means, I think of this as voting with my dollars. If more people who have the means continue to buy these products, it tells the food producers that this is the type of product that we want. Hopefully if enough people who have the means continue to do this, then it will eventually make organic products more accessible to people who might not be able to afford them now.
Conclusion
Reading labels isn’t exactly fun, but it is important. And when I say to read labels, I mean read it every time. You’d be surprised at how much they sneak into different foods.
For example frozen fruits and vegetables, should just be the fruit and vegetables. But oftentimes there’s salt, oil, and sugar added to these things. Frozen potatoes, like hash browns, are one example of a food that often has all of these things added to it. So you’d want to check the label to make sure it just has potatoes in it.
Furthermore just because you’ve been eating a product for years doesn’t mean it might not change. I’ve seen products that were vegan one day and not the next. Food producers are constantly changing their formulations to try and sell more product, so to be safe you’ll want to check the label every time. Again if you’re eating a whole food vegan diet you won’t be eating too many processed foods, so it won’t take you too much time to read the labels of the few packaged products that you do eat.
