Simple Solutions to Avoid Artificial Food Dyes & Sweeteners
Have you ever felt overwhelmed walking through the grocery store, trying to figure out which products are actually better for you? With all the “expert” advice online and confusing claims on product labels, it’s easy to become lost
Here’s the good news: Choosing healthy options doesn’t have to be so complicated.
I believe we’ve overcomplicated and lost sight of the basics of sound nutrition: Eat real food!
Eat Real Food
What is real food? Whole, unprocessed food from the earth, brought to us by Mother Nature herself: fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices, greens, beans, nuts, and seeds. These foods are the starting point of using food as medicine, as outlined in our Club Fx™ Pillars.
While we may not always be able to stick to the “real food” guidelines mentioned above, we can certainly make smarter choices when we keep that advice top of mind.
Two ingredients that are far from being real food are synthetic food dyes and artificial sweeteners.
Artificial Food Dyes Explained
Synthetic food dyes are made from petroleum-derived substances, which means they do not occur in nature. They have also been associated with potential health risks.
Labeled as Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, *Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, or Yellow 6, the mere presence of artificial food coloring in packaged products is a red flag that the food inside is highly processed and of low nutritional value.
Become a label detective and scan the ingredient list for artificial food dyes in products like soda, sports drinks, salad dressings, cereals, condiments, snack foods, mac and cheese, pickles, popsicles, ice cream, applesauce, yogurt, candy, desserts, and more.
The easiest way to avoid food dyes is to opt for brands that use whole fruits and veggies or natural alternatives to color their food. These will show up in the ingredients panel as annatto, beet, paprika, vegetable juice, spinach, spirulina, or turmeric. Yes, all examples of real food!
Discover these and many other Club Fx™-approved foods at Heinen’s that use natural alternatives to artificial dyes:
- Three Wishes Fruity cereal uses vegetable juice.
- Actual Veggies veggie burgers (in the Meat Department and Frozen Department) use beets, carrots, sweet potato and kale.
- Nuts for Cheese Super Blue (in Specialty Cheese Department) uses spirulina to make their Super Blue vegan cashew-based cheese.
*Note: The US Food and Drug Administration banned the use of Red 3 in January 2025, but keep in mind that manufacturers have until 2027-2028 to reformulate their products.
Artificial Sweeteners Explained
Although it can be tempting to reach for lower-calorie products made with artificial sweeteners, I caution you to think twice because these sweeteners can cause sugar cravings, increased hunger, elevated blood sugar, weight gain, and an imbalance of healthy bacteria in your gut.
Artificial sweeteners are common in some brands of flavored yogurt, chewing gum, soda, energy drinks, flavored water, candy, protein powder, nutrition bars, and more!
To spot an artificial sweetener, read the ingredient list for acesulfame potassium, sucralose (Splenda), aspartame (Equal), and saccharin (Sweet-n-Low).
The great news is, just like natural food coloring, Heinen’s carries a variety of products with natural Fx™-approved zero-calorie sweeteners like monk fruit extract, allulose, and stevia leaf extract.
Some examples are:
- Quantum nutrition bars
- Protein powder: Ancient Nutrition Multi Collagen Protein or Ancient Nutrition Plant Protein+
- Catalina Crunch cereal
- Zevia zero sugar soda
- Olipop prebiotic beverage (in the Wellness Cooler)
Key Takeaway
Remember the suggestion to “eat real food” and make this mantra the guidepost by which you form your food choices. This way, when you come across a breakfast cereal with Red 40 or Blue 1, a little alarm should sound in your brain that this isn’t real food… but turmeric and beets absolutely are!
