Let’s clear up some of the confusion when it comes to reading food labels so you don’t waste your time and you better understand what you’re buying.

Less or Reduced Sugar: interpret these words to mean ‘artificial sweetener added’. The sugar content may be reduced but it’s replaced with an artificial sweetener. This is very common in products such as cookies, instant oatmeal, yogurt and fruit drinks. Be a label sleuth and know that reduced sugar doesn’t mean reduced calories. The calories may be the same as the original product or even more. Check the calories per serving on the Nutrition Facts label.

Natural/Pure/Wholesome: Natural is one of my favorite label words to talk about. Think how often you see the word ‘natural’ on a product? What does it mean to you? The word ‘natural’ has no meaning on a food label. It means whatever you want it to mean. So do the terms ‘pure’ and ‘wholesome’. They have no definition according to the food label standards but imply that the product is healthy. These terms have nothing to do with the nutritional value of a product. It’s all marketing hype.