hi this is dr mark hyman today on the daniel plan we're going to talk about how to read labels how to actually buy food if you have to with label but before i go into that i just want to talk about the big concept here which is that you really don't want to eat foods with labels and what am i talking about how are you going to buy food that label it's pretty easy you go around the outside of the supermarket and what foods am i talking about beans nuts seeds vegetables fruit whole grains fish chicken lean meat these are basic simple real whole foods and that's what we should be eating so the rest of it is sort of irrelevant but if you have to buy something with a label i want you to be a smart label reader so here's a few tips there's more you can read on the daniel plan website there'll be a link to an extra article that explains exactly how to read food labels in great detail but i want to give you a few tips first you need to read the label so first pick up something from the shelf and see the label now you want to read the ingredients if it has more than five ingredients put it back on the shelf if it has the word high fructose corn syrup put it back on the shelf if it has the word trans fat or hydrogenated fat put it back on the shelf now here's one caveat if it has less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving the company doesn't actually have to list it as having trans fats you can actually eat four servings and get two grams of trans fat and it wouldn't say anything on the label so you have to read the words hydrogenated in the ingredient list if you see the word hydrogenated in the ingredient list put it back even if it says zero grams of trans fat because they're lying now the other thing you want to be aware of is health claims on the label if it says it's good for you it probably isn't and why is that because health claims are there by putting ingredients in junk food that makes it feel and seem a little better for example diet soda with vitamins and minerals now is that really a health food now just think about this if there's a health food section in the supermarket what does that make the rest of the food in the supermarket right have you ever thought about that so you want to eat foods without labels ideas so going back to the labels if you have to eat foods you don't want to eat more than five ingredients you don't want it with any trans fats no hydrogenated fats no high fructose corn syrup few other tips if your ingredients you don't recognize it's got some big latin name like maltodextrin or diacylglycerol is that something your grandmother would put in her chicken stew or her apple pie i don't think so so you probably shouldn't eat it that's another important rule think about what your great-grandmother ate or your great-great-grandmother ate depending on how old you are and if your great-grandmother wouldn't eat it or wouldn't recognize it as a food you probably shouldn't eat it i mean you ever think your grandmother heard of a lunchable or a yogurt probably not these aren't real foods these are inventions from food scientists that have very little to do with good health or good nutrition so try to scratch those off your list another important tip is the serving size now on the pint of haagen-dazs ice cream it says four servings but have you ever known four people to share one pint of hakanas i don't think so or on a bottle of soda it says you know two and a half servings for a 20 ounce soda but who shares i don't know too many people that share so you really want to be careful about the serving size it may say four servings or three servings but it's really in a package that you can eat all by yourself so you want to be very careful about the serving size when looking at the nutritional labels and see how many servings it actually is because it's often more food and more calories than you think a couple other things you want to look at fiber fiber is an included there might be some good things in the food so if it has 5 grams of fiber or 10 grams of fiber that's good if it has zero grams of fiber probably not so great for you you also want to look at the grams of carbohydrates particularly sugars you know because some carbohydrates are okay like beans if you have 30 grams of beans it's different than 30 grams of high fructose corn syrup in a soda very different effect on your body very different effect on your metabolism so you want to eat foods that have high fiber and lower amounts of carbohydrates particularly refined carbohydrates but good carbohydrates are fine so if it's from beans or nuts or seeds or whole grains that's okay and you also want to remember that you don't have to know about any of these rules if you follow one simple rule which is as michael pollan said eat food not too much mostly plants and that means eat real whole fresh food and that's all you have to do lean animal protein chicken fish whole eggs nuts seeds beans whole grains fruits vegetables learn how to cook learn how to shop learn how to eat and learn how to take care of yourself these are the basic rules of life if you have a body it doesn't come with an owner's manual you have to learn how it works and you have to learn to work with it or else it's going to work against you so with a few simple tips you could be armed with some strategies for going into the supermarket and surviving so surviving the american supermarket's hard and have just given you some important tips for hunting and gathering in an american supermarket which is also known as a food desert so have fun go out there and start reading your labels