From morning to night, dishes cooked with sweet sweets, this guide reveals everything to you: is this shortcrust pastry really quality? Is this yogurt as beneficial as it claims? Does this breaded fish deserve a place in your basket? Each double-page present presents 4 products to favor and 4 to avoid, accompanied by clear explanations, nutritional information, lists of ingredients … and a few surprises!Buying guide to eat better“Dr. Jean-Michel Cohen detailed and illustrated analysis of 700 products, as well as many tips for better consuming while respecting your budget. He gives us his advice to thwart the traps to the supermarket.
True Medical: Do you think it’s more difficult today to eat well?
Dr Jean-Michel Cohen: Of course. There are a whole series of traps, although we can cite two main ones: the economic trap (for example, when you buy a tuna tuna box, you buy oil at 80 € per kilo) and the quality trap – because the difference between distributor products and those of major brands is very random. Surprisingly, we sometimes find products from distributor brands much better than those of major brands.
Added to this is a confusion created by applications (Nutri-Score, Yuka, etc.) whose classification criteria are questionable. Understanding food labels has become very complicated. For example, on certain sweet or savory products we read “glucose syrup”, but if we omit the link with “fructose”, we actually consume glucose-fructose syrup. Ditto for vegetable oils – a vague term to actually designate palm oil.
Can we easily identify the “scams” in the supermarket without spending hours there?
I advise to prepare “lists” to prevent races from becoming a torture. This is also the reason for this book: to propose categories of foods good for health and easily identifiable … while giving clear indications to the consumer. For example, identifying the nature of oils (sunflower, olive, etc.) and eliminating those based on palm or coconut is essential. Also locating sugars is necessary: in particular avoid glucose-fructose syrup, but keep glucose syrup or sucrose. Finally check the “added sugars”, which, as their name suggests, have been added unnecessarily.
Also observe the protein/lipid ratio: in prepared dishes, the protein ratio must always be higher. As for ice cream and ice creams, do not forget that the real recipe remains simple (cream, milk, sugar), without hydrogenated fats or dehydrated milk powder.
“Finally, when you spot a good product on the shelves … keep your reference preciously”, recommends the doctor.
What are the trends observed this year?
The quality of vegetarian products is in free fall, whether vegan or vegetarians: their composition is catastrophic, very industrial, just like those of many halal or kosher products. That said, the category that has dropped the most in terms of quality in recent years is that of ready -made sauces: there are now an impressive quantity of thickening, gelling, emulsifiers … Industrialists have no limits.
On the side of dietetic cookies (such as Gerblé or Bjorg), micronutrient (magnesium …) intake is low. The micro added value of these cookies does not justify their price.
Conversely, my breakfast cereals have improved a bit, and so much the better. It is already progress. But the Nutri-Score remains problematic: the difference between the quality of a product noted A, B or C is often minimal. It would have been necessary to notation by product category, rather than a global and tote system.
Fortunately, many consumers are now turning to raw products. But a reality remains: the populations who need to eat well do not have access to these products. However, they too must be able to better consume at low prices. When a package of madeleines from a distributor brand costs € 1.09 per kilo against € 3.88 for a higher brand (much higher quality), it is an obvious form of inequality.