The Era of No

Gluten-free.
GMO-free.
Fat free.
Sugar free.
No preservatives.
No nitrates.
No high fructose corn syrup.
No added hormones.
The Era of No.
Why does everything seemingly healthy require a series of "no"s on the label of the product?
I recently saw an old food label for peas, and all it said was what the product was. There was nothing special about it. It only included what was in it; nothing more, nothing less. Then, I looked at a modern-day pea label, and the first thing that stood out to me was "non-GMO." Why did they have to tell me that? If your parents were to come back from vacation after leaving you home alone all weekend and the first thing you said was, "I didn't throw a party!" what would your parents be thinking?

Everything on the labels used to be "made with," but we have transitioned to naming what it is not made with. What is even in our food anymore?! My theory is that it is because there are so many harmful ingredients, marketers decided to put what's not in it. From the looks of it, this strategy is doing very well. Have you ever wondered what it means to be "gluten free"? That label was created because 3 million people in the world suffer from a disease where the protein, gluten, attacks their intestine. If you are able to consume gluten, you can eat gluten-free products, but there is no nutritional benefit, whatsoever. But people see the word "free" and are drawn to the product. Marketers have realized this, and started raising the prices of gluten-free foods, which is not fair to the people that actually benefit from the food.

Another common phrase would be "real ingredients," but what does that even mean? It is so vague. But we have these connotations with the word that makes us want to buy the real food. The happy people, bright colors, and a fun font lure us to the checkout counter and the next thing we know we've made an unnecessary purchase. But hey, at least it has real ingredients.

An additional tactic includes hiding the ingredients. Sugar can be named in 61 different ways. In a way, this is a type of double-speaking. We don't know many other names for "sugar" so we are misled by the product, and end up buying something we didn't know we were buying. Another reason we buy sugary foods (or food in general) is because of how it is presented. We see people eating sugary foods, and they are happy, so we buy the product to be happy like them. In reality, it will not fill that hole in us, so we must buy more! The cycle just keeps on repeating. We project how we want to feel based on the products we buy and the words that describe the product.

It's not fair. Some people need to eat certain products or lack of products for health reasons. Do the makers of the products want to kill their consumers?! Or maybe, they make harmful products because they are working with other companies that will be able to cure the customer. They know what you will buy, what it will do to you, and what they can do to help you. It is systematically calculated, and you are constantly being controlled.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/truth-behind-these-7-common-food-labels-and-why-you-should-know-difference-289294

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20599288,00.html