If you can’t read the ingredients on a box, read this

I’m in the cereal aisle at Costco staring down boxes of cereal labeled “Nutritious,” “Keto friendly,” and “heart healthy.”

I don’t believe a word of it.

I take out my iPhone and load up the Yuka app. I simply scan a product’s bar code and Yuka tells me its rating, from 0-100, and tells me if it is excellent, good, poor, or bad. It also tells me why it gave the rating. Is there too much sugar? Bad chemicals? The right amount of fiber and protein? It’s all there for you to see. Now you can decide which products to eat.

The ratings are based on:

Nutritional quality – 60 percent

The presence of additives – 30 percent

The product’s organic certification – 10 percent

Surprisingly, not surprisingly, many items marketed as “Healthy,” “Keto Friendly,” and “Heart Healthy” actually suck. The food industry loves to play hide-and-seek with ingredients.

If a product gets a “poor” or “bad” rating, Yuka shows products it recommends.

I’ve changed the cereal I eat based on Yuka’s reviews. I’ve avoided yummy sounding products because Yuka says they have dangerous chemicals. I even put back a bag of nuts because they had too much fat. Nuts are supposed to be healthy!

You can’t even trust a brand! One of their products might be excellent, while another might be rated as poor.

In other words, don’t trust your common knowledge and don’t trust your gut. Most of all, don’t trust the “healthy” claims on boxes. Trust your Yuka app.

Your Turn

Download the Yuka app. It’s free. Then change your food choices. What did you discover about the foods you eat?