How many times have you seen an advertisement that tells you how healthy a specific brand of chips or chocolate is, and you believed totally in it, and start to indulge in it, while feeling assured that it won’t add the extra calories to your body? Well, such is the power of the mass media, and the negative impact it can have to your body

Let’s be frank, which advertiser would tell you all the negative sides of their products? We have to be careful, and not believe entirely in the media, as after all, they are profit-driven, and do not bother much about consumer welfare. As a smart consumer, we have to pick up the hidden message behind their words, and try to find out all the negative sides of a product before we purchase it. A simple count of our total calorie intake from that food would be a good estimation.

In our diet, we should avoid drinking carbonated drinks as well, even if they are said to be “sugar-free”. What the producers mostly did would be by substituting the addition of sugars with other artificial sweeteners. Processed foods should also be avoided as they use lots of unhealthy artificial preservatives to allow the food a longer shelf life. This includes saturated fats, sugar and salt, which is harmful to our body, if consumed excessively. Try to go for fresh foods whenever possible. Those which perish fast are actually the healthier choices. Organic foods would even be better, as no pesticides are used during the growing process of the agricultural product.

The food which we usually snack on, mainly chips and cookies, are also highly processed food, therefore accounting for their long shelf life. A great piece of advise would be to snack on healthier food such as salads, nuts and fruits, where our ultimate calories intake would be much lower in comparison to other junk food.

So the next time before you pick up that can of carbonated drink which has the “sugar-free” label on it, think again. How about substituting it with fresh fruit juice instead? At least it still provides fiber for our body. Or even better, plain water, where the calorie intake goes down to zero?

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