your ramen has msg and milk is polluted with detergentou might not be able to do much there but you could definitely detoxify your diet by being a more informed food shopper heres how to become one food is not simple anymore it exists mostly in multiples and variations umpteen kinds of rice mindboggling varieties of grains and a deluge of edible oils todays foodie is spoilt for choice in such a scenario it is natural to shop extra and shop mindlessly if a major portion of your diet is coming out of a box bag or a can you should definitely be aware of what you are really ingesting right thats why reading food labels is importantwhy do it food labels tell you about the serving size number of servings in the package calories per serving and the amount of various nutrients present in the productas an educated buyer you can compare the labels to determine which foods are lowest in calories fat saturated fat trans fat cholesterol sodium and sugar and pick the least unhealthy item charu bhardwaj metabolic balance coach and nutritionist says these days many foods are preserved flavoured blended improved texturewise thickened and coloured with the food and drug administrations approval but even when labels say no trans fats or no lead there may still be hidden chemicals in the food so understanding labels is vital to choosing the right packaged foods all readymade foods come with a nutrition label describing what youre consuming understanding each of those ingredients helps you make healthier choices checking food labels also makes it easy for you to compare the nutrient content of different options it helps you avoid certain ingredients if you have a food intolerance or are following a diet that excludes certain components such as dairy glutendont be misled make a point to buy products only when youre able to identify everything on the ingredients list there are literally thousands of food additives that can cause healthrelated problems for instance when you see high fructose corn syrup on the packaging understand that it is just another way of saying sugar the syrup is also frequently contaminated with mercury and is linked to diabetes obesity and mood disorders warns priya dhammi sharma a clinical nutritionist normally an average person finds it difficulty to read and decode nutritional labels its because of an information overload and the lack of a clear and simple message adds bhardwaj another problem is the somewhat misleading information by some companies instead of mentioning total servings and total calories per packet they mention only half servings to show lesser caloriesget the basics right check servings and calories one should look at the serving size and how many servings you are actually consuming if you are consuming two servings of a particular food that means you are taking double the calories mentionedtrans fat and saturated fat look for foods low in saturated and trans fat and cholesterol they will keep your heart saferthe best