Beware of food marketing!
Be wise to the misleading marketing that drives food purchasing decisions for you and your family!
Early Years Nutritional Therapist, Louise Mercieca, talks to us about the misleading promotions that catch families out and shares her top tips to avoid them!
“Nutrition can be biologically complicated but it’s quite easy to get it right.
However, the food industry often deliberately promotes products (particularly for children) that are addictive and unhealthy even though they fully understand the complex biology behind what this food will do to you and your child.
Certain products are nutritionally devoid but tasty, you will find that these are often the ones on ‘offer’ to lure you to purchase and feel you have got a bargain.
Here’s some top tips for avoiding the confusing advertising and sticking to what your body needs: –
- Real food will go off – Avoid products with a ridiculously long shelf life.
- Avoid products if the list of ingredients is as long as your arm
- Avoid products if the list of ingredients sounds more like a science experiment than a food item
- Avoid special offers on ambient goods (or shelf stable foods). They are generally on nutrient devoid yet highly palatable foods
- Don’t assume sugar-free/diet/low calorie is healthier – the artificial ingredients added to make them palatable are (in my opinion) worse than sugar
- Not all foods marketed at children are necessarily good for your child – look out for artificial sweeteners, E-numbers, additives and artificial fats. Often adding a character to a product makes it ‘child friendly’ for a consumer but the quality of the product may be worse.
- Legally the ingredients have to be listed in order so if sugar is one of the first listed, it’s probably best avoided!
Want more great nutritional advice?
Louise has written a fantastic eBook packed with more information for anyone looking after children. Both Parents and Practitioners can benefit from reading Nutrition in the Early Years
She also has an Early Years TV Food Channel with regular videos, advice and recipe ideas.
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