What’s in Your Food? Understanding Ingredient Lists Can Help You Feel Better Fast
🕒 6-7 min read
Just popping in? Catch the quick essentials:
Learning to read ingredient lists helps reduce digestive symptoms, increase awareness, and make confident food choices.
Start by skipping the front of the package and going straight to the ingredient list on your next grocery trip.
Wondering if high-FODMAP ingredients are behind your symptoms? Take my free FODMAP Quiz to find out.
If you’re ready to make simple, manageable changes that support your digestion and energy, this post is for you.
📌 Keep reading - or save this post for when you’re ready to feel like a more empowered shopper.
It’s a typical errand day. You’re walking through the grocery store, picking up your usuals, doing your best to make healthy choices. Maybe you’re a little rushed. Maybe even a little tired. So when you spot the brand you always get, you toss it in the cart without a second thought.
Maybe you chose it because it has more fiber, or it’s labeled “all natural.” Maybe it just has a healthy-sounding name. Either way, it feels like a good choice, so into the cart it goes.
Week after week, it’s the same grocery list of seemingly healthy options. Lather, rinse, repeat.
But… why don’t you feel healthier?
As a Holistic Nutritionist and Gut Health Expert, I’ve seen this exact scenario unfold again and again, year after year. And here’s what I know:
Stopping to read the right part of a food label, the ingredient list, can make a meaningful difference in how you feel.
Let’s take the confusion out of label reading so you can feel like a more informed, more empowered shopper, and support your digestion and energy with every grocery trip.
The Ingredient List: Your Underestimated Ally
Reading the list of ingredients might not sound exciting and honestly, that’s probably why it’s one of the most overlooked tools in everyday gut health.
From a young age, you were taught to focus on calories, fat grams, and sodium content. Maybe you’ve even gotten really good at scanning for those numbers. And the front of the package? That’s where the psychology kicks in: bold fonts and healthy-sounding claims like “whole grain,” “all natural,” or “light.” It feels like you’re doing everything right.
But here’s the thing: the claims on the front of the package and nutrition facts don’t always reflect how a food will actually make you feel.
That’s why the most overlooked part of the label is also the most important.
The simple act of reading the ingredient list on your usual go-to items can give you the quickest wins when it comes to improving digestion, boosting energy, and even supporting your mood.
Want to dive deeper into how different foods make you feel? Download your FREE 7-Day Food & Observation Journal
Once you understand how to scan the ingredient list, you can notice what’s really in your every day foods and how those ingredients might be influencing your digestion and overall well-being.
8 Common Ingredients That Can Impact Your Digestion and Energy
Reading the list of ingredients matters because certain ingredients can directly affect your gut, contributing to bloating, abdominal discomfort, heartburn, irregularity, and even shifts in your mood.
Many of the ingredients below are known to trigger inflammation in your gut, which can interfere with your body’s ability to break down and absorb food properly. Others tend to ferment easily in your digestive tract. Both inflammation and fermentation can lead to gas, bloating, distention, altered bowel habits, discomfort, and heartburn.
Knowing which ingredients to watch for can be a game-changer when it comes to reducing digestive symptoms.
Top 8 Ingredients to Watch For
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Preservatives (e.g., sodium benzoate, sulfites)
Artificial Colors (including titanium dioxide)
Artificial Sweeteners (e.g., sucralose, saccharin, and aspartame)
Emulsifiers (e.g., carrageenan, maltodextrin, polysorbate 80, carboxymethyl cellulose)
Trans Fats (often listed as “partially hydrogenated oils”)
Excess Sodium
FODMAP Ingredients (e.g., inulin, chicory root, sorbitol, and xylitol)
Not sure what FODMAPs are? Check out my blogs: [FODMAPs 101] and [How to Spot FODMAP Triggers].
Not every ingredient on this list will cause symptoms for every person. But observing how your body responds, and noticing how often these ingredients appear in your everyday foods, can offer valuable insights.
This is about awareness, not restriction. Knowing what to look for helps you connect the dots, reduce symptoms, and make more informed choices that support your digestion and energy.
Wondering if FODMAPs could be behind your bloating or digestive symptoms? Take the FODMAP Quiz to discover your next best step.
Your Label-Reading Game Plan
Here’s how to make label reading a simple, empowering habit:
1. Skip the front of the package
Terms like “high fiber,” “all natural,” or “heart healthy” are often marketing claims that don’t reflect the full picture of what’s inside. Ignore the hype on the front and flip to the back.
Reading labels helps you move past the marketing on the front of the package and focus on what actually matters: what’s inside. This habit builds informed, empowered food choices, not restriction.
2. Go straight to the ingredient list
This is where the important details really are. Look for shorter ingredient lists with food you could recognize if it was on your kitchen counter. (What does carboxymethyl cellulose look like anyway?)
3. Use the list of top 8 trigger ingredients as a reference
You don’t need to memorize this list. In fact, just getting rid of “artificial” and any ingredient you couldn’t pick out of a line up is the easiest way to upgrade your label reading expertise.
4. Compare brands and make simple swaps
If your usual brand contains several of these ingredients, check some of the other brands on the shelf around it. Often it can be a simple trade to a similar item with fewer or none of the top 8 ingredients.
5. Prioritize foods that don’t need a label
This might go without saying. The closer you are to a whole foods diet, the less you have to read labels, and the less you have to worry about these ingredients.
Reaching for whole, unpackaged foods like fresh produce at a farm stand naturally limits the top 8 trigger ingredients and supports better digestion with less effort.
Thankfully, you don’t need to overhaul your pantry overnight to feel the benefits.
Start by noticing which of these ingredients show up in your food choices and how often. That simple awareness, paired with new knowledge, can be the catalyst for small, thoughtful swaps each grocery trip. Over time, those shifts can make a real difference in supporting your digestion, energy, and overall well-being.
Want help making those small, powerful pantry swaps? Check out my blog, The Ultimate Pantry Upgrade for simple tips and a gut-friendly checklist to make your next grocery trip a whole lot easier.
Final Thoughts: Progress Over Perfection
Reading labels (or really, any change you make on your health journey) isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being more informed. Each time you pause to check an ingredient list, you’re practicing a powerful form of self-awareness. Over time, that awareness becomes second nature and gives you the confidence to eat in a way that truly supports your gut and your goals.
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© Stephanie Walsh and Walsh Approach, 2025. I pour a lot of care into creating this content, so please don’t copy or reuse it without permission. You’re always welcome to share excerpts or links if you give clear credit back to Stephanie Walsh and Walsh Approach.