I spend a lot of time talking about making healthier choices, but there is a problem we don’t talk about enough: the supermarket is designed to make those choices feel much simpler than they really are. A strawberry on the front of a packet, the words “no added sugar,” “fat free,” “plant-based” or a beautifully photographed serving suggestion can create what we call a health halo—the perception that a product is healthier than it necessarily is. This is why one of the simplest things I tell people is to turn the packet around. Look at the first few ingredients. Look at the sugar. Look at what is actually in the food rather than relying entirely on what the marketing department decided to put on the front. I don’t think eating well should require a science degree, and consumers shouldn’t have to decode clever language just to understand what they’re putting into their bodies.
I’m also not anti-processing—in fact, as a food scientist, I think food processing is one of the great achievements of modern food technology. It can make food safer, extend shelf life, reduce waste and make nutrition more accessible. The problem begins when we confuse processed with engineered to look healthier than it is, or when better nutrition becomes something reserved for people with more money, more time or more knowledge. At the very core of what I believe as a scientist is that health should be accessible to everyone. Better labels, clearer information and greater transparency don’t make the decision for us—they give us the ability to make that decision for ourselves. And sometimes, being a smarter shopper really does begin with one very simple action: turn the packet around.
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