In this episode of PCOS Unfiltered, I sit down once again with Kerri, also known as the Sugar Knockout Coach. Together, we take the confusion out of nutrition labels and packaging claims that often leave women overwhelmed in the grocery store. Kerri opens up about her own health struggles—sugar cravings, hormonal issues, and years of eating ultra-processed foods—that ultimately led her to become a health coach. We dive into the practical steps you can take to better understand serving sizes, carbs, sugars, fats, and ingredient lists. From spotting sneaky seed oils and artificial sweeteners to recognizing the 70+ names sugar hides behind, this conversation is full of real talk and actionable advice. Whether you’re managing PCOS, looking to balance blood sugar, or simply want to feel confident in your food choices, this episode will help you see past the marketing gimmicks and make empowered decisions that truly support your health.
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In this episode, we cover:
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(0:02 - 0:16) Welcome back to PCOS Unfiltered, Nourish, Heal, Thrive. I'm your host, Lindsie, and today I'm so excited to have Kerri here with me again. We also know her as the sugar knockout coach.
(0:16 - 0:46) She is a fellow health coach who helps people break free from sugar cravings, understand what's really in their food, and make empowered choices for lasting health. Today, we're diving into the world of nutrition and ingredient labels, what to look for, what to question, and how to navigate all the confusing claims on packaging. Whether you're living with PCOS, managing blood sugar, or just want to feel confident in a grocery store, this conversation is full of practical tips you can start using today.
(0:47 - 1:02) But before I go any further, I have something very powerful to share with you. This October, I'm hosting a virtual event called Unwritten Healing Beyond the Diagnosis. If you're ready to finally go deeper than symptom management, this is for you.
(1:02 - 1:23) On October 9th, the 16th, and 23rd, you'll hear real stories of healing from women who've been where you are, including Carrie, and learn practical tools that actually work, mind, body, and beyond. Tap the link in the show notes to grab your free spot and find out more. You don't have to settle for managing it.
(1:23 - 1:40) It's time to rewrite the story your doctor never told you was possible. And as a reminder, the cont shared on PCOS Unfiltered is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the host and guests are not intended to serve as medical advice.
(1:41 - 1:59) Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or treatment plan. The information shared is based on personal experience and expert interviews, and is not a substitute for professional medical guidance. Now, grab your favorite snack, the healthy kind of course, and let's get into it.
(2:04 - 2:20) Welcome back, Carrie, my good friend Carrie, and fellow health coach. We had a blast last time you were on. But this time, yeah, we are talking about reading labels, nutrition, and ingredient labels.
(2:20 - 2:26) This is a super fun topic. I can remember back in the day with the jam we did this. Oh, yeah.
(2:26 - 2:34) This is 2.0. Yeah. Yeah. So let's just kind of dive in.
(2:35 - 3:09) So I still want to cover, you talked about it before, and especially with the event coming up for Unwritten, Healing Beyond Your Diagnosis coming up in October. There's a reason that you were chosen as a speaker, because you've been through that, and now you are coaching clients through those same struggles. So kind of, you know, I want you to just revisit where you came from, what's your story, what were you going through, and then bring in, yeah, where did the labels come into play during your own healing journey? It's so interesting.
(3:09 - 3:14) I love this topic. And yeah, this is 2.0 for sure. So thank you for having me.
(3:15 - 3:22) And as I mentioned last time, my God, my health journey. It's interesting. Like, I ate garbage, right? Like, let's just be honest.
(3:22 - 3:26) Like, I did not eat anything. I ate a ton of sugar. I love candy.
(3:26 - 3:34) I would eat chips. I was living on, like, Starbucks Frappuccinos. And I love to point this out, because the whole time people were like, you're so skinny.
(3:35 - 3:47) And I was total skin and bones, because I wasn't eating anything real. I was like a vegetarian at one point, which just meant I wasn't eating meat. I was eating pasta and potato salad.
(3:48 - 3:53) And- I did that too. Right? I'm a vegetarian. Eating zero vegetables.
(3:53 - 3:59) I ate soy burgers. Like, I've done all of it, right? That's why I'm like, there's no judgment in my program, because I've done it all. But I was sick.
(4:00 - 4:07) Like, as soon as it got cold out until it warmed up, I had a sinus infection. I had stomach issues. I had migraines.
(4:07 - 4:23) I had hormonal issues that landed me in the hospital. But before that, I went and saw my OB-GYN and she sat me down and was like, Carrie, this is serious. Like, what? Like, what are you talking about? Because I used to just get on and off the pill.
(4:23 - 4:29) Like, that was the cure. I'll just get back on the pill and then I'll get off it. Then I'll eat like- Like, I just did not eat right.
(4:30 - 4:41) So I got a health coach, got my sugar cravings under control. And it was really nothing short of amazing. I say that all the time because it was so different than how I was eating before that.
(4:41 - 4:51) And it was completely new to me. Like, we didn't sit around learning about nutrition at all. So I want to become a health coach and just help women with that.
(4:51 - 5:16) Really just educate them on the things that I didn't know that made such a huge, huge difference. And then I started coaching women and they would come to me like, I'm eating relatively clean. I'm like, well, what are you eating? And we talk some things out and I'm like, let's look at the labels, right? Like, oh, maybe we need to read your labels because in a perfect world and for the longest time, I didn't eat anything that wasn't in a can or a box.
(5:16 - 5:31) I mean, maybe some rice or some quinoa, but other than that, I was making everything from scratch. Obviously this isn't reality and we're busy. So how do we navigate that? Like really, we had to start reading labels and they were surprised by how much sugar is in everything.
(5:32 - 5:54) Lindsie, I know you've been there too, right? How much sugar is there and like sugar in unexpected places that they didn't think they even needed to read the label to see that there was sugar in it. Yeah, it comes in many, many forms, especially when the front, you know, sounds, makes it sound so great. Actually read that label.
(5:54 - 6:23) Yeah, we were just talking about this because I had my big wake up call like back in the day, you know, when I started, I think it was even after I kind of had my weight, my like health scare of my own and I kind of still converted to the healthier, more convenient options. But once I really kind of dove in then and progressed in my own journey, yeah, you start looking at the sugars and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe all this that's in there. So, yeah.
(6:24 - 6:51) So yeah, kind of leading right into what are the biggest misconceptions that people have when they look at nutrition labels? Well, let's not even talk about the front of the box. I think we'll get into that a little bit later, but just when you're looking at the nutrition facts label, the first is serving size. And I've done this and I actually, I brought some cereal we're gonna look at in a few minutes, but the serving size on this is a cup.
(6:51 - 6:59) When I eat cereal, I'm not eating a cup of cereal. Like I'm, right? Nobody does. I wasn't anyway.
(6:59 - 7:06) And even like a serving size of salad dressing is two tablespoons. I mean, come on. Like I am soaking my salad in that sometimes.
(7:07 - 7:22) And so we look at this and this is a serving size and there's 11 grams of added sugar in one cup. And I would probably eat like three cups, 33 grams. So we have to be mindful of a serving size.
(7:22 - 7:44) What is one serving? And I don't really even worry about calories. I have my folks because I, when I talk to women about sugar and cravings and I deal with a lot of people that have pre-diabetes and type two diabetics, like the sugar and carbs, we'll look at that. But it looks a lot smaller when you're thinking the serving size is your bowl, but it's really a cup.
(7:44 - 8:07) So I can convince myself that it's okay. And that's really what the companies want you to do, right? So like I said, you look at the front and there's all these health claims, but you have to turn it around to get the whole picture, to read the fine print, if you will. It's marketing in disguise, they call it greenwashing.
(8:07 - 8:18) And I mean, I'm a sucker for a pretty label, especially on sugar, there's a lot. And there's so many health claims. So you really just need to know what the heck you're looking at.
(8:18 - 8:28) Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's, they're out there to make money. So, you know, it sounds good on the front and then they put it on that end cap for you too.
(8:28 - 8:37) And you're like, oh, this seems great. I'll just grab this and not even pay attention. And then the cart it goes and home and in our stomachs.
(8:37 - 8:46) So, yeah. And even now I still have to catch myself sometimes. I definitely, I'm a big label person now.
(8:46 - 9:10) Yeah. My husband always laughs, but I mean, it's true because even I'll see something new at the store, maybe I'll be like, oh, but at the same time, it's great for me to know some of this stuff because if my clients are asking about it or if I'm looking for a better option, but a lot of the times, probably 90, 95% of the time when I flip it over, I'm like, nevermind. Yeah, nevermind.
(9:10 - 9:14) Yeah, I do that too. I'm like, oh, and then the first ingredient, I'm like, ooh. Yeah.
(9:15 - 9:21) Ooh, yeah. Yeah. And sometimes even just looking at the length of the ingredient list.
(9:21 - 9:27) Like sometimes I just do that and I immediately I'm like, nope, that's out. Don't go any further. Too many ingredients.
(9:27 - 9:35) Exactly. Yeah, yeah. What are the key components of a nutrition label that everyone should understand? I mean, you mentioned serving size.
(9:35 - 9:51) I think that's a huge one, but what else would you say? That's a huge one and it's so funny because as a person who never cared about what she was eating, never read a label and some people listening to this might be like that. So we have our beautiful nutrition label. Yes, serving size.
(9:51 - 9:56) That's the first thing you really should look at. I don't worry about calories. I know some people do.
(9:56 - 10:01) That is on there as well. So take a look at that. Fats is the next one.
(10:01 - 10:17) I'm just gonna go down the list as you see it on the nutrition label. So it's interesting because I used to be really scared of fat, right? We all used to be scared of fat, but we wanna stay away from trans fats and it will list on there. Now they have to list.
(10:17 - 10:27) If there's any trans fats, do not. You don't want any of that. I was told that it's closer to like plastic than actual fat or anything healthy that the body can use.
(10:27 - 10:36) So that is an absolute. If you see that, just turn it away. And a lot of the foods that we grew up with have trans fats in them and they've tried to change them.
(10:36 - 10:52) So they should be listed. And if you're like, what does this look like? As we talk about like actual ingredients, it can say, you know, hydrogenated oils, modified oils, fractionated oils. These have been chemically modified.
(10:52 - 11:02) So it's not food at that point when it has trans fats on them. Like pie crust, stuff like that. They're still out there.
(11:03 - 11:08) Like they're still there. And even some of the healthier versions. So look at that.
(11:08 - 11:24) I do have some clients because we are so scared of fat still, still, to look at saturated fats. And those are things like our coconut oil. And some of you should have them in moderation depending on health issues, right? You discuss with your doctor and I'm depending on health issues.
(11:25 - 11:36) Total carbs. This is another one I love to chat. So some of my folks come to me and because their doctor has told them, I'm not, they need to be low carb.
(11:36 - 11:51) And so I say between nine and 10 grams and less per serving. So how do we figure out our net carbs? I'm gonna do a little math here, my mathematicians. So on the label, you're gonna take your total carbs.
(11:51 - 12:11) You're going to minus the dietary fiber, which is such a great conversation if we could talk about whatever, because fiber really helps everything be absorbed and broken down slower. And so it can lower the carb count. So just a little something to think about in there when we talk about eating and creating a plate.
(12:12 - 12:28) We'll do another talk on that. And then sugar alcohols, you can take that away too, right? So here, let's see, there's 30 grams, total carbs, 30 grams, minus three grams of fiber. So that's still 27 grams of carbs.
(12:28 - 12:35) There's no sugar alcohols in here. So that's the total carbs. Be aware of that if you really are watching your carbs.
(12:35 - 12:43) I know my diabetic folks, they really need to look at that. And that's in one cup. That is in one cup of our healthy organic cereal.
(12:43 - 12:56) Yeah, yeah, healthy. Which, yeah, okay? Still way better than Froot Loops, okay? And sometimes if you're transitioning, but this is not healthy. This is just a stepping stone.
(12:56 - 13:16) And so now, since we're talking about how crazy are some of these, let's look at how much sugar is in a cup here. This has 11 grams of sugar, added sugar, right? Because there are some things that just have sugar that's naturally occurring, but we want to talk about added sugar. And I know Lindsay and I talk a lot about our programs about this.
(13:16 - 13:31) Like that is what is the thing, the added sugar. And we like to keep it to five grams or less per serving. And this has 11 grams of sugar in a cup, only one cup.
(13:32 - 13:49) There's lots of names for sugar, lots of names. So if you're like, I still wanna eat this, then we're gonna be like, you need to look at the ingredients, okay? Is there high fructose corn syrup in there? And if there is, please do not have it. There are so many different names for sugar.
(13:49 - 14:04) I think we're up to like 72 different names for sugar in the ingredients. Yeah, and I give that out in my programs, like just start being aware. So continuing protein, this list, there is some protein in here, three grams of protein.
(14:05 - 14:20) And then the ingredients. As Lindsay mentioned, how many ingredients are there? Are there three, are there 23? Yeah, that's true. Like, yeah, if you just, like I said, if you just look at it and see the length, like that's an indicator right there.
(14:20 - 14:33) Probably, yeah, probably not. And then the second thing is, can you pronounce it? If you're looking through and you're like, what is this? Yeah, probably something you don't wanna eat. Yeah, yeah.
(14:35 - 14:52) And so like, I mean, obviously 72 different names of sugars, but some common ones, like if it's a dex, you know, a dex is something. If it ends in os, I know that's another big one. What other ones would you say are kind of the- Syrup.
(14:53 - 15:04) Yeah, anything syrup. Or I love this. Now, listen, I will use some coconut sugar in baking sometimes, but it will say right out, this is coconut sugar, this is beet sugar, this is agave.
(15:04 - 15:17) And we're like, yay, this is a better version of sugar. Like beet sugar is still sugar. And if there are 11 grams of beet sugar in there, it's still 11 grams of sugar that your body has to process.
(15:18 - 15:34) Exactly, yeah. So yeah, just because I know there's a popular organic brand of granola that I used to like and eat a lot. And yeah, it was kind of like that scenario because especially it was all organic ingredients in it.
(15:34 - 15:56) And they were all things that could pronounce, but the sugar content, the added sugar content that was in there. And yeah, I think it might've been coconut sugar, maybe even another form, but it was like a, more of a whole form of sugar. But there were still, I think, yeah, close to 11, 12 grams, I bet, per serving size, which may have only been a couple of tablespoons too.
(15:57 - 16:22) And then we're also like, why are we adding sugar to some of these things that already are naturally sweet tasting? Like dried fruit, why? Yeah, oh, I know, that's a big thing. I have trouble finding dried fruits that don't have, that aren't coated in sugar or have some form of an added sugar. That's, yeah, that's crazy.
(16:22 - 16:27) And going back to the granola, I started making my own. Yeah. With no sugar.
(16:28 - 16:33) Yeah. And it tasted great, I mean. Yeah, yeah.
(16:33 - 17:10) Yeah, yeah. So there's definitely some eye-opening pieces there. How can, I guess we kind of talked about this, but how can people spot hidden sugars or unhealthy fats on a label? Is there anything else? And so some of the things that we talked about, the os, you know, is it glucose? Is it sucrose? Is it lactose? Naturally occurring in milk, right? Maltose, dextrose, there's so many things, but like look for syrups or things that actually just say sugar, like we said.
(17:10 - 17:27) I mean, just because molasses is a better, easier form to digest, how much molasses is actually in it is the thing. And trans fats, like really, really just, those are the things. And some oils.
(17:28 - 17:39) So there is a very popular dressing out on the front. Gluten-free, it's, you know, it's organic. It doesn't have any artificial sweeteners.
(17:40 - 17:58) The first, first ingredient is canola oil. Ah! Yeah. When you look, so look for these, if you only remember like to look for this, like hidden sugars, trans fats, and then what kind of oils are actually in it, especially when it's an oil-based something like a salad dressing.
(17:58 - 18:09) Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil is really, really good. I mean, a lot of mayonnaise is made with garbage oil. I was raised on them, right? No judgment, we all like them.
(18:10 - 18:32) But now you can get ones made with avocado oil and even the ones that say olive oil on the front, you have to turn it over because it's not only olive oil. It's great to put it in there to tell you on the front that it's made with olive oil, but it's made with terrible oil. So if it's not olive oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil in there, I would avoid it.
(18:33 - 18:36) Yeah. Yeah, that's a great point. I was gonna actually gonna bring up, there's a butter.
(18:37 - 19:03) I don't even know what it, like I used to use it back in the day, but I know on the front it says like made with avocado oil, but literally the label is every other bad seed oil you could imagine plus avocado oil. Yeah. But that's just a perfect example because on the front you think, I might even say like made with like olive and avocado oil.
(19:03 - 19:09) Okay. But when you look at the label, there's a whole bunch of other oils in there. And it's crazy.
(19:09 - 19:30) And that's, yeah, like you said, the salad dressings I think are another big culprit for that. I mean, even with the oils, breads, that's another one that like sugars and the bad oils that are in something like you wouldn't really maybe think about too much, but they're in a lot of breads, unfortunately. Yeah.
(19:30 - 19:38) And so they're really great at the marketing on the front. And when we're busy, I'm like, oh, this has olive oil in it. Yay, great.
(19:38 - 19:43) And I make my own mayonnaise, but sometimes I can't. And so, oh, just grab this. Yeah.
(19:43 - 19:47) Yeah. No, I know it's not worth it. It's really not.
(19:47 - 20:11) Yeah. And I know like, so for me, like personally and even when my clients like ask me about a label or ask me about a product or something a lot of times, because they're still kind of trying to take the easy way out and not leaning into eating whole foods yet. But I'm like, what's the ingredient list say? And so, yeah.
(20:11 - 20:25) Why would you say that's even more important looking at the ingredient list versus the actual nutrition facts themselves? So, okay. The ingredient, the nutrition facts is like the preview. Like here's the quick, whatever.
(20:26 - 20:39) You're like, okay, I can kind of get an idea of what's in there. But the story, the real story is in the ingredient list because, so I have a client as we were talking about, love ketchup. Okay.
(20:39 - 20:52) And I'm like, okay, can we get the one that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup? Then she was like, I need to cut out sugar. Sugar-free ketchup. There is a brand I like, but most of them have artificial sweeteners in them.
(20:53 - 20:57) And so, yay. That sounds great. She looks, it's low calorie.
(20:57 - 21:07) There's no sugar. But unless she actually read the ingredients, she would see that there's artificial sweeteners. And sometimes you just like, it's just so heartbreaking, right? Look what I found.
(21:07 - 21:10) I'm so excited. Right? And it tastes so good. I've had to do that before too.
(21:11 - 21:15) Yes. Right? Yeah. It tastes so good.
(21:15 - 21:19) So it can be like, oh, this has very few calories. There's no sugar. It sounds amazing.
(21:20 - 21:34) And then it's more of a science experiment because artificial sweeteners. And this, I don't know how much you see this with your folks, but because I deal with people and sugar cravings and they still want to taste something sweet. And so they lean on artificial sweeteners.
(21:35 - 21:43) And I'm like, what is the sweetener in it? When it's sugar-free, that's a long conversation. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
(21:43 - 21:49) We could go down that rabbit hole, I'm sure. Oh my gosh. About how those are probably even worse then.
(21:49 - 22:04) They're definitely worse for you. They're processed, they're chemicals. Again, it's just, it's something that is made with chemicals and I ate Splenda for a very long time because I knew I was eating too much sugar, but I still wanted something sweet.
(22:04 - 22:16) Yeah. And so I ate a lot. So it's really just taking back your power and looking at the ingredients and being informed and you get to decide.
(22:16 - 22:21) We always say you vote with your dollars. You vote with your dollars. You don't have to buy any of that stuff.
(22:21 - 22:27) And if you do, you know what? It's okay. Just try something new. Yeah.
(22:29 - 22:50) What would you say? We already kind of talked about this, but I still want to kind of reiterate it. What would be some red flag ingredients you recommend that people avoid or if they're not ready to go all in, at least limit, you know, if they're starting off? So I always go to the oils. I feel like the oils is a huge, huge piece.
(22:51 - 23:02) And so I know I mentioned that the amount of ingredients. So Alex loves these seaweed snacks. They are literally three ingredients, right? Seaweed, oil, and salt.
(23:03 - 23:10) Most of them are made with canola oil. So I'm like, ugh. So I have to search to get the ones that are made with avocado oil.
(23:10 - 23:15) There is a brand. They're right next to each other. The packaging almost looks exactly the same.
(23:15 - 23:48) And so I think you just need to kind of decide what is it that, you know, what are you not going to put up with? And the oils, if you start removing that, I would say oils and artificial sweeteners, you can make such a huge difference in the way you feel and the quality of what you're eating. And so when I'm talking about artificial sweeteners, I'm not talking about Stevia, which people consider to be artificial. I'm talking about Splenda, which is a generic name, sucralose.
(23:49 - 23:58) It's so funny. A friend sent me an article not too long ago that was like all the reasons why sucralose is bad for you. And the article literally said, but not Splenda.
(23:59 - 24:04) Oh, we're not bashing Splenda. Because they don't want to get in trouble with Splenda. I'm like, this is chemical.
(24:04 - 24:10) It's a chemical compound, which makes sucralose. So Splenda and sucralose are the same thing. Yeah.
(24:10 - 24:15) And or aspartame or sweet and low. Sweet and low. Yeah.
(24:15 - 24:28) And those, they're still out there. They're still in foods. And the sucralose, I've eaten so much of it that if I, if somebody gives me something and I taste it and it's a healthy, you know, this is a sugar-free chocolate covered almond.
(24:28 - 24:35) And the second I taste it, I'm like, oh, that's got sucralose in it. You can just taste it. It tastes like a chemical.
(24:35 - 24:44) Diet Coke. Like the diet stuff, which I'm sorry guys, artificial sweeteners and all the diet stuff. Those have to go.
(24:44 - 24:51) Those are poison and they're actually keeping you addicted to sugar and. Yeah. Yeah.
(24:53 - 25:05) That's all I'll say about that. Cause that breaks a lot of people's hearts, especially when, you know, my diabetic, my type two diabetes folks, like they didn't get type two diabetes because they don't have a sweet tooth. You know, like they have a sweet tooth and they want to continue.
(25:06 - 25:15) They feel like you're taking everything they love away and it's artificial sweeteners just have to go. Well, and that's what I was just going to say. That's a really, really great point.
(25:15 - 25:48) Especially just talking about those, you know, those two top things with the oils and the artificial sweeteners, because yeah, you have to kind of pick like, okay, what area am I going to focus on first? And then maybe even take it down to like one of the ultra processed packaged food items that really contains that. Like which, because if you really start diving deep into this and you do go all in, yeah, you're going to go nuts. Because if you're eating a lot of those ultra processed foods there's not going to be anything left to eat.
(25:49 - 25:53) Yeah. And you're just, you're going to fail miserably. You're going to set yourself up for failure.
(25:53 - 26:28) So you really have to think like, okay, so do you want to focus on seed oils first? Or yeah, those artificial sweeteners or sugars in general, because that's going to start eliminating some things, but it's still going to leave some things where you might be able to find some better alternatives, at least in the meantime, as you kind of transition. So that does bring up a really, you know, a really good point there too, because you really, as much as you might want to go all in and think this might be a solution, you really have to take a step back and decide what you want to look at. And some people are great at that.
(26:28 - 26:40) Like some people can dive all in because they're so sick and they're over it. But I think the average person, and we're busy, it becomes overwhelming. And then you're like, there's nothing I can eat.
(26:40 - 26:49) I mean, I have a client right now who, I mean, she has type two diabetes. And like, they're like, you are at a point where you can't have any of it. And now it's like, ah.
(26:50 - 26:56) Yeah, yeah. Because then that's all you think about when you're told you can't have it. That's all you think about.
(26:56 - 27:24) And even now, I mean, thinking about my journey, even as I was like, you know, prepping for this with you, it's like thinking about my journey. There's no way, even though I am one that's probably not the norm that can give up things pretty easily, I don't think I'd be where I am today if I would have just gone like cold turkey with a lot of stuff back in the day. I had to kind of learn that process on my own and I've learned all of that stuff.
(27:25 - 27:37) I now, you know, I think I'm better for my clients that way too, because I've gone through it. You know, same thing with you. So yeah, there's definitely a little, take a step back. (27:37 - 27:39) It's a process. You have to remember that. It's a process.
(27:39 - 27:50) So when I first got so sick and I was like all this new information, I mean, for four months, I cut everything out. All I was eating was vegetables and protein. I didn't even have a piece of fruit, okay.
(27:50 - 28:02) And I was like, this is the way. And then after four months, I was like, but now I'm bored and what do I eat? And then that's when you gotta start reading labels and finding other things. Yeah.
(28:04 - 28:25) And we can also kind of talk about this a little bit. I mean, yeah, sugar's addictive. So you can actually, if you do try to take, if you really look at how much sugar you take in a day and you try cutting all of that out, you could actually go through withdrawal symptoms, just like anybody that could be trying to, cut out alcohol or drugs.
(28:26 - 28:35) I mean, it's a lot of the same symptoms. So that's still something that you also have to think about too, because you don't wanna put your body through that kind of stress either, if you're really. Terrible.
(28:35 - 28:39) Yeah. Been there, not fun. Yeah, exactly.
(28:41 - 29:32) How can people tell if an ingredient is natural or highly processed? Well, if we're going back to labels, again, like how many things are in it, right? How many things are in it and can you pronounce them? And so as I'm looking at our little thing here, right? I'm like, I can pronounce all of this, except, oh, there's sunflower oil in here, right? So then we're like, really, can you pronounce it? Or this is what I tell my folks, and it's a little bit of work at the beginning, that's why start with one or two things or one or two snacks. If you're like, I don't know what that is, or I can't remember what Carrie said about sunflower oil, just Google it. Or there's some apps out there that I love, you scan and it will tell you.
(29:33 - 29:46) And not only does it like give you a rating, you click on it and it will tell you why it's not good and it will tell you the oils. And so you can start to make this connection because I didn't know all that. I was raised on canola oil and corn oil.
(29:47 - 29:55) That's what we put in our food when we baked. I loved to bake as a kid. And that's what, you know, you get like the package of brownies and you put the canola oil in.
(29:55 - 30:05) Yeah, oh my gosh, Crisco. My mom used to go through the tubs of Crisco, I think with all the baking she did. Uh-huh, yeah, and my grandma too.
(30:05 - 30:13) It's funny, because my grandma passed a couple of years ago. She was 96 and we looked through her old recipes. Crisco was in so many of them.
(30:14 - 30:25) So it's really just kind of, just take a moment and kind of look at this stuff. Again, you can make it overwhelming or you can say, I'm gonna switch out my cereal. And even if you pick something like this, that's not perfect, it's transitioning.
(30:26 - 30:31) Exactly. And that's the thing, right? Progress over perfection. We don't need to be perfect.
(30:32 - 30:50) Exactly, yeah, that's a great point. Thank you so much to Keri for joining me today and sharing all of her expertise on reading labels and decoding ingredients. I know this is going to help so many women feel more confident and empowered in their food choices, especially those living with PCOS.
(30:51 - 31:07) For those listening, if you want to learn more from Kerri, check out all her info in the show notes to get her tips, resources, and programs. And remember, understanding what's in your food is not about perfection. It's about making informed choices that support your health, your hormones, and your life.
(31:07 - 31:23) If today's episode spoke to you, just imagine what's waiting for you inside Unwritten. This event is going to be raw, real, and so full of hope with speakers who get it, tools that help, and a community that truly understands. Click the link in the show notes to find out more and join us in October.
(31:24 - 31:37) Your story isn't over, it's just Unwritten. Thanks again for tuning in to PCOS Unfiltered. I'll see you next time when we continue exploring real strategies for healing, nourishing, and thriving from the inside out.