Food Labels Made Easy: What to Look For, What to Avoid

When was the last time you looked at the back of a food label?

Most of us reach for our usual pantry staples without a second thought. The packaging screams “natural,” “baked not fried,” “wholegrain,” “gluten-free”, or “no added sugar”, but what’s really in your trolley may not be what you think.

The truth is, food companies don’t have to tell you how ingredients are grown, stored, or processed. Fertilisers, pesticides, ripening agents, and preservatives used after harvest rarely or never make it onto the label. Some farmers and manufacturers are focused more on yield and shelf life than on nutrition.

That’s why learning to read the ingredients list, not just the nutrition panel, is one of the simplest and most powerful steps you can take for your health.

How to Read Food Labels Without the Confusion

Why the Nutrition Panel Isn’t Enough

The ingredients list is the truth behind the food, but most of us ignore it, only checking protein, sugar, or fat. That’s how ultra-processed foods sneak into our trolleys.

Here’s the problem: those numbers don’t tell you what you’re truly eating. They don’t reveal whether your food is made from real ingredients or ultra-processed fillers, preservatives, and additives.

As you can see, the nutrition panel doesn’t reveal the whole picture. It might tell you how much protein, sugar, fibre or sodium a product contains, but it doesn’t tell you the quality of the ingredients, how highly processed the food is, or about the additives, emulsifiers, flavours and other ingredients that may be hiding inside.

That’s why I always encourage you to turn the packet over and read the ingredients list too. It tells you what your food is actually made from — and often reveals a very different story from the healthy-looking claims on the front of the packet. From the ingredients list you can immediately see whether it’s made from whole foods or lab-made substitutes. That knowledge gives you the power to decide whether it belongs in your kitchen or not.

Remember: it’s about eating real food that your body knows how to digest and use, not food it has to fight to process or detox from.

A Real-Life Example: “9 Grain Wholemeal Sandwich Slice Bread.”

Nutrition panel highlights:

• Protein: 9.8g per serve
• Sugars: 1.5g per serve
• Fibre: 6.9g per serve
• Sodium: 292mg per serve

Looks like a pretty good choice, right? Low sugar, good protein, high fibre. But the ingredients list tells a different story.

Ingredients:
Whole Grain Wholemeal Wheat Flour (37%), Water, Mixed Whole Grains (12%) (Kibbled Triticale, Kibbled Wheat, Kibbled Rye, Kibbled Corn, Buckwheat, Millet, Barley, Oats, Kibbled Purple Wheat), Wheat Gluten, Seeds (Linseed, Sunflower Seeds), Soy, Canola Oil, Vinegar, Iodised Salt, Soy Flour, Wheat Flour, Vegetable Emulsifiers (472e, 481), Vitamins (Thiamin, Folic Acid), Processing Aid (Wheat).

At first glance, there are plenty of positives here: wholemeal flour, mixed whole grains, seeds and a good amount of fibre. But the ingredients list allows us to dig a little deeper and tells us things the nutrition panel can’t — including that the bread contains added gluten, oil, emulsifiers and processing aids.

The packaging may suggest “wholesome,” but the reality is this bread is an ultra-processed food. Without checking the label, you’d never know. Does that automatically make it a “bad” bread? No. But it gives you more information to compare it with another loaf that may have a simpler ingredient list.

For example, a traditional sourdough might contain little more than flour, water, salt and a sourdough culture. Depending on your needs, budget and preferences, that may be the choice you prefer.

Why This Matters

There’s a growing body of research linking diets high in ultra-processed foods with poorer health outcomes. And it’s not simply about calories, sugar or fat. Researchers are increasingly looking at the bigger picture — including how these foods are formulated, the additives they contain, what they replace in our diets, and how easy they can be to overeat.

Higher intakes of ultra-processed foods have been associated with:

• Metabolic health: increased risk of overweight, obesity and type 2 diabetes
• Heart health: increased risk of cardiovascular disease
• Gut health: some additives, particularly certain emulsifiers, are being investigated for their potential effects on the gut microbiome and intestinal barrier
• Mental health: higher intakes have been associated with increased risk of depression and poorer mental wellbeing
• Overall health: higher consumption has been associated with increased risk of several chronic diseases and premature mortality
• Overeating: many ultra-processed foods are formulated to be highly palatable and easy to eat quickly, which can make it easier to consume more than we intended

This doesn’t mean every additive is harmful or that eating an ultra-processed food occasionally will damage your health. It’s the overall pattern that matters — and another good reason to make mostly whole and minimally processed foods your everyday foundation.

What to Look For on an Ingredients List

Here are some of the most common culprits found in packaged foods:

• Added sugars – look beyond the word “sugar” for ingredients such as glucose, fructose, dextrose, maltose and syrups. Remember, ingredients are listed in descending order by weight.
• Highly refined oils and fats – look at the type of fats used and whether hydrogenated fats appear in the ingredients.
• Additives – preservatives, colours, flavours, flavour enhancers, emulsifiers and thickeners are common in highly processed foods. Their presence doesn’t automatically make a food unhealthy, but a long list can tell you more about how highly formulated a product is.
• Emulsifiers – an emerging area of gut-health research. Some emulsifiers are being investigated for potential effects on the gut microbiome and intestinal barrier, although we shouldn’t assume all emulsifiers have the same effects.
• Additive numbers – some artificial colours and preservatives have been associated with increased hyperactivity or behavioural effects in susceptible children, which is another reason I encourage parents to read ingredient lists rather than relying on the claims on the front of the packet.
• Ingredient order – the ingredients appearing first make up the largest proportion of the product, so always look at what’s sitting near the top of the list.
  
  💛 Julie’s Tip: Don’t be frightened by an ingredient simply because you don’t recognise its name. Get curious. Turn the packet over, look it up if you need to, and compare it with another option. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s knowing more about what you’re buying.

⚠️ Watch out for these marketing tricks:

• “No added sugar” – sugars can still be present naturally or under other forms, so don’t assume it means sugar-free.
• “Natural flavours” – sounds wholesome, but these can still be highly processed flavouring ingredients and are not the same as the whole food they originated from.
• “Oven baked” or “baked, not fried” – can still mean added oils and fats.
• “No artificial flavourings” – may still contain highly processed “natural flavours”, and the label often won’t tell you exactly what those flavouring substances are.

But don’t panic

This isn’t about avoiding everything. It’s about knowing what’s really in your food so you can make confident, better choices.

Aim to choose mostly whole and minimally processed foods, and when you do buy packaged foods, turn them over and get curious about what’s inside. Look for products made predominantly from ingredients you recognise, while remembering that a number or unfamiliar ingredient doesn’t automatically make a food unhealthy.

Choose organic where it matters to you, when available and affordable — but don’t let perfect become the enemy of good.

Not sure where buying organic might matter most? Download my free [Clean Fifteen & Dirty Dozen guide] to help you prioritise your produce shop.

Making It Simple: How to Shop Smarter

Here’s how to make food labels work for you (without the overwhelm):

1. Flip the pack. Always read the ingredients list first.
2. Shorter is better. A handful of real ingredients is better than a long list of numbers.
3. Look at the first 3 ingredients. They make up most of the product.
4. Swap one product at a time. Slowly replace heavily processed items in your weekly shop with whole food alternatives.
5. Choose foods without labels. Fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, nuts. Whole, single-ingredient foods your body knows exactly what to do with.

Want some inspiration for what to put in your trolley? Take a look at my [Healthy Grocery List: 22 foods I regularly buy] and why they’ve earned a place in my weekly shop.

You got this!

Remember, it’s about awareness, small swaps and making better choices most of the time. Shopping with confidence comes from understanding labels. Once you know what you’re looking for, it becomes much easier to choose foods that genuinely nourish you and your family.

If you’d like to understand the bigger picture behind the way I approach food, you can also explore [The Wholesome Human Food Guidelines] — the simple principles that underpin how I eat, shop and nourish my family.

Want to feel confident about what’s in your trolley?

This is exactly where I can help. Many of my clients come to me more confused than ever, finding themselves standing in the supermarket aisle feeling stuck amongst all the conflicting health claims and clever marketing messages.

In my coaching, we look at your everyday food choices together, talk through how to read labels with ease, and make simple swaps that feel right for you — without the overwhelm. Together, we’ll build confidence around choosing foods that genuinely nourish you.

💚 [Find out more about working with me]

References

1. Harvard Health Publishing. (2024). More evidence that ultra-processed foods harm health. Harvard Medical School.
2. MDPI. (2025). The Detrimental Impact of Ultra-Processed Foods on the Human Gut. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/5/859
3. JAMA Network. (2024). Ultra-processed Foods Linked With 32 Types of Health Problems. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2816703
4. Washington Post. (2025). Avoid these 5 food additives that may harm your health. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/08/20/food-additives-harmful-health-risks
5. Cryan, J. F., & Dinan, T. G. (2012). Mind-altering microorganisms: the impact of the gut microbiota on brain and behaviour. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 13, 701–712.
6. Hyman, M. (2020). The UltraMind Solution: Fix Your Broken Brain by Healing Your Body First. Scribner.