Food manufacturers spend a significant amount of money on the marketing that exists on the packaging of their products. They’re not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts to help you make smart food choices, but rather to sell their products and make money. Unfortunately, it’s obviously working well, otherwise they wouldn’t still be doing it.

The following are a number of the more common and misleading tactics used by food manufacturers to promote their products as healthy.

All Natural

As more people become health conscious, organic and natural foods are becoming more popular. Food manufacturers are well aware of this and are doing everything that they can to profit from it. However, there are no regulations on the labeling of a food as natural. As a result, it can be very subjective and there’s no guarantee that foods labeled as natural aren’t full of chemicals. If you want to be sure that you’re getting natural food, but it from a local farmer who you trust or buy food that is certified organic by the USDA.

99% Fat Free

Fat is essential to our health, and this even includes saturated fat. Despite this, there are still many people who think fat is evil and do their best to follow a low fat diet. The food industry still caters to these people, but in a deceptive way. Next time you see a product that claims to be 99% fat free, take a look at the total calories per serving and the calories from fat per serving. Chances are that the calories from fat will be much more than 1% of the total calories. Food manufacturers get away with this by basing the percentage on weight instead of calories. Some manufacturers even add additional water, sugar, and salt to their products to make this possible without sacrificing flavor.

0g Trans Fat

It’s become common knowledge that trans fat is unhealthy and people are now going out of their way to avoid it. As such, food manufacturers are advertising 0 grams of trans fat in bold print on the front of their packaging. However, according to FDA regulations, a food manufacturer can list 0 grams as long as the trans fat content is less than 0.5 grams. Well, 0.49 grams is not the same thing as 0, and based on the unrealistically small serving sizes of most packaged foods, the trans fat can add up quickly, especially if you eat you eat a lot of processed foods. If you see any hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredients, then the product does contain trans fat regardless of what the packaging claims.

Sugar Free

Because people are realizing that refined sugar is unhealthy and that it can cause extreme blood sugar fluctuation, sugar free products are becoming more popular. However, sugar free is not always synonymous with healthy. These products often do have sugar, but in forms that many people don’t recognize such as dextrose or maltodextrin. Like trans fat, the amount of sugar per serving is small enough to be rounded down to zero. In addition, many sugar free products contain potentially dangerous artificial sweeteners like Nutrasweet, Equal, or Splenda which are arguably much more of a risk than sugar.

100% Juice

Many people associate the health benefits of fruit with fruit juice. Although 100% fruit juice is from real fruit and doesn’t have any added sugar, it’s a highly concentrated extract that pales in comparison to the nutritional value of whole fruit, especially if the juice is pasteurized which is typically the case. Juice concentrate is high in sugar, and because it lacks the natural fiber found in fruit, it can be absorbed quickly and cause blood sugar fluctuation. If you want to enjoy the health benefits of fruit, then eat whole fruit rather than drinking a concentrated and highly processed extract of it.

Made With 100% Whole Grain

Whole grains foods have gained a lot of attention in mainstream health circles. They’re undoubtedly healthier than refined grains, but they still can be excessively high in carbohydrates and cause health issues for the surprisingly large number of people who are sensitive to gluten. In addition to this, many “whole grain” products are only made with whole grains. In such cases, they typically also contain several types of highly refined grains and even sugar. In some cases, the whole grain flour isn’t even the first or second ingredient! If you choose to eat grain based foods, pay close attention to the ingredients and look for brands such as Ezekiel that are made with sprouted grains which are healthier and better for digestion.

Smart Choice

When all else fails, food manufacturers resort to tactics such as putting a nice green check mark on the packaging of their products to promote them as a healthy choice. This is exactly the case with the Smart Choices Program which happens to endorse foods like Froot Loops, Cocoa Puffs, and Fudgesicles as healthy choices. This is as clear of an example as any that you have to take full responsibility for your food choices and not rely on what the packaging tells you.

An Easy Way to Choose Healthy Foods

The easiest way to avoid being deceived by food labels is to buy food that doesn’t have them. The natural whole foods that we evolved on, such as meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables, are the healthiest foods available and they typically don’t have any packaging or labeling. For more examples of deceptive food labeling, check out 13 Ridiculous Food Labels that Might Be Fooling You.