Losing Weight and Feeling Great

Reading food labels is what we’re told to do, and it’s also something that we tend to avoid, unless we’re trying to avoid a certain substance.  For example, someone who is sensitive to gluten would read labels looking for wheat and wheat by-products.  I read labels on anything touted to be "naturally sweetened" to see if it has HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and bypass any that have that ingredient.

But when is the last time you’ve read a label on a package of fresh chicken?  If you’re like most, you go to the poultry section, find the cuts you want, throw it in the cart and away you go.

But maybe you’re looking for a label that says something along the lines of "100% All Natural".  Ok, fine, but have you really looked at a list of "ingredients" for your humble piece of poultry?

For some packages in the grocery store, you’re getting more than just chicken.  Because there may be "all natural" ingredients added to your bird.

How does extra sodium sound?  Extra water?  Seaweed extract?  Maybe those are natural ingredients, but they sure aren’t chicken!

Now the chicken wholesalers like Pilgrim’s Pride and Tyson are saying that’s nonsense.  They can label a product as all-natural because the USDA says they can.  To me, it sounds like they’re using the letter of the law to defeat the spirit of the law.

So, next time you are out and about at the grocery store and decide to pick up poultry, cry "fowl" if you see extra ingredients on your 100% natural chicken package.

For more information check out a Washington Post article about this subject.