You Have To Be OCD To Be Healthy in 2025
Have you ever walked down the grocery isle and read every single label on the products before buying it? Im guessing no. But that is exactly what you are supposed to do. That is how the system is designed. Companies can, and will, put everything that they are legally allowed to put into the products. The only thing that the government requires them to tell you about it is on the food label.
The name, the slogan, the green colored package mean absolutely nothing. Companies will put pictures of a grandma baking a cake only to have the most utterly processed "food" inside the package. It will have a paragraph of ingredients and contain artificial colors/dyes and will be riddled with chemicals. People will buy this with the idea of a five ingredient cake thats baked a grandma would.
With all these marketing tactics the only saving grace is the label, the actual substance. Remember you are buying food not a t-shirt, the only thing that really matters is the ingredients. The popularity of the brand does not provide nutrients to your body, the ingredients do.
Learn to read
You must understand how to read a food label.
Understanding nutrition labels is your secret weapon for healthy eating. Here's a comprehensive breakdown of what you need to know:
1. Serving Size: The Foundation
This is arguably the most important part of the label and often the most deceptive. Always check:
- Serving size vs. package size: That "100 calorie" snack might actually contain 3 servings, making it 300 calories if you eat the whole thing.
- Serving measurements: Pay attention to whether it's measured in cups, pieces, or grams—these can be surprisingly small.
- Servings per container: This tells you how many servings are in the entire package.
Pro tip: Physically measure out a single serving once to see how much it actually is. Most people are shocked by how small a "serving" can be.
2. Calories: The Energy Count
Calories represent the energy your body gets from the food. Remember:
- It's per serving, not per package (unless it's a single-serving package).
- Context matters: A 250-calorie snack might be reasonable, but a 250-calorie condiment might not be.
- Daily value percentage: This shows how much of your daily recommended calories this serving provides (based on a 2,000 calorie diet).
Note: Your personal calorie needs may differ based on age, sex, weight, and activity level. Tracking your intake for a few days can help you understand your personal needs.
3. Macronutrients: The Big Three
These are the three main nutrients your body needs in large amounts:
Carbohydrates
- Total carbs: Includes all types of carbohydrates.
- Dietary fiber: Non-digestible carbs that promote digestive health. Higher is generally better.
- Total sugars: Includes both natural and added sugars.
- Added sugars: Sugars added during processing—aim to limit these.
Protein
- Essential for building and repairing tissues.
- Generally, more protein is beneficial, especially if you're active.
- Look for a good protein-to-calorie ratio in foods marketed as "protein sources."
Fats
- Total fat: The sum of all types of fat.
- Saturated fat: Generally limit these.
- Trans fat: Avoid these completely when possible.
- Unsaturated fats: (Sometimes listed as mono- and polyunsaturated) These are beneficial fats.
Remember: The balance of these macronutrients should reflect your personal health goals and dietary needs.
4. Micronutrients: The Supporting Cast
These are nutrients needed in smaller amounts but crucial for health:
- Vitamins: Look for Vitamin D, A, C, and B vitamins.
- Minerals: Pay attention to calcium, iron, potassium, and sodium.
- Sodium: Most processed foods contain excessive sodium—aim for less than 2,300mg daily.
- Potassium: Helps balance sodium effects—most Americans don't get enough.
The percentage of Daily Value (%DV) helps you determine if a food is high or low in a specific nutrient:
- 5% DV or less is considered low
- 20% DV or more is considered high
5. The Ingredients List: What's Actually In There
This might be the most critical part of the label for truly healthy eating:
- Ingredients are listed in order of quantity: The first few ingredients make up the majority of the food.
- Ingredient splitting: Manufacturers sometimes split ingredients (like different types of sugar) so they appear lower on the list.
- Identification of allergens: Major allergens must be clearly stated.
- Chemical names: Be wary of long, chemical-sounding ingredients—these are often preservatives, artificial colors, flavors, or texturizers.
Common Ingredient Red Flags:
- Added sugars: Look for terms like high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, sucrose, cane sugar, brown rice syrup, etc.
- Artificial ingredients: Artificial colors (FD&C Yellow #5), flavors, and sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose).
- Preservatives: BHA, BHT, sodium benzoate, etc.
- Partially hydrogenated oils: These contain trans fats.
- MSG: Monosodium glutamate and other flavor enhancers.
A good rule of thumb: If you can't pronounce it, can't picture what it looks like in nature, or wouldn't find it in your grandmother's kitchen, think twice before eating it regularly.
6. Nutrition Claims: Marketing vs. Reality
Front-of-package claims can be misleading. Here's how to decode them:
- "Natural": Has no standardized definition and doesn't mean much.
- "No added sugar": May still contain naturally occurring sugars or sugar alcohols.
- "Whole grain": Check if whole grains are actually the first ingredient.
- "Low fat": Often compensates with extra sugar.
- "Good source of fiber": Must contain at least 2.5g of fiber per serving.
- "Organic": Produced without synthetic pesticides but doesn't necessarily mean nutritious.
Always verify these claims by checking the nutrition facts and ingredients list.
7. Practical Tips for Label Reading
- Compare similar products: Use labels to choose the healthier option between similar items.
- Check multiple aspects: A product might be low in calories but high in sodium.
- Be consistent: Develop a routine for checking the specific nutrients that matter most to you.
- Use technology: Apps like Fooducate or Yuka can scan barcodes and give you simplified nutrition info.
- Remember context: A condiment with "bad" ingredients used occasionally is different from a staple food eaten daily.
The more you practice reading labels, the faster and more intuitive it becomes. Eventually, you'll be able to scan a label in seconds and make an informed decision.
8. Maintaining Sanity: The Balanced Approach
While reading labels is important, it shouldn't consume your life:
- Focus on whole foods: Foods without labels (fresh fruits, vegetables) are generally healthiest.
- 80/20 rule: Be diligent about labels 80% of the time, relax a bit the other 20%.
- Build a trusted brand list: Once you've vetted a brand's products, you can shop more quickly.
- Batch your research: Do label research at home before shopping rather than in the store.
The ingredient rabbit whole
Once you enter the ingredient rabbit whole you never leave! There are thousands of studies, papers, blogs, podcasts, etc. that discuss what is a good ingredient and what will kill you or leave you sick. If you listened to all the opinions and followed them all you simple would not be able to eat anything.
There is so much contradiction in this space, and for good reason. Its very important, health is wealth and if you get very sick or die young then there are no amount of worldly possessions that can make up for that. This is a topic that is more important than money, popularity or power because non of those matter if you get terminally ill.
Now you may ask, how would a government allow ingredients like this to enter the food system? Well the answer is they don't… or do they? That depends on who you ask and what you believe, which its hard to believe either side at this point in the world.
That is why I recommend to just learn enough to get by, but don't cause yourself paranoia over it. I generally recommend to stick to the lowest amount of ingredients possible and to stick to ingredients you can pronounce. If it sounds like a chemical it usually is. There are exceptions, the industry has ben able to rebrand chemicals into names that sound like food. Either way, do some research, but don't get stuck in the rabbit whole.
Be OCDish
You have to read everything to really know what is in there, and technically a company can change the ingredients whenever so that would mean you need to do it every time, but who wants to do that! The chances that a company changes it ingredients are not that high, it takes a lot of word and adds risk of people not liking it anymore.
Personally once I have read and accepted the food once, I don't read the label ever again. I also will trust companies. Once I have tried multiple products from the same company and they have passed my inspection I will then assign trust that that company. Once I trust a company I don't read every label for that company, I don't trust easy though.
Don't Let This Ruin Progress
If this is making you hate healhty living then back off a bit. There is no point to push this if it is going to break your health progress altogheter. Find other ways to sudo-check. Research healthy companies and only buy from them or get an app.