A guide to cutting through the healthy hyperbole with Blue Dinosaur

Specialising in making indulgent snacks without the guilt, Blue Dinosaur never uses chemicals, binders, flavours, preservatives, or anything artificial. With every Blue Dinosaur snack hand pressed and baked, it’s their mission to only ever make amazing food with real, wholefood ingredients.

Below, the Blue Dinosaur team share a quick guide to deciphering what those confusing ingredient lists really mean...

Being health conscious and making better choices in the “Google it” age seems like it should be a breeze. We have endless resources and information in the palm of our hands (when we’re not aimlessly scrolling through instagram), but at a time where there is as much noise as there are choices in the “health food” aisle, we don’t blame you for feeling overwhelmed or let down. 

WHY NATURAL FLAVOURS ARE NOT SO NATURAL
Where we find it gets misleading is when you see zero carbs or no added sugars only to purchase the bar and find its sweeter than a Tim Tam dipped in honey, or when you see natural flavours in the ingredients list. Let’s break it down:

•  Zero carbs or no added sugars - The usual suspects when you see zero carbs are sugar alcohols (made in a lab) sorbitol, erythritol, xylitol, and maltitol, they are sweet, cheap and nasty and overconsumption can lead to bloating, diarrhea and flatulence because they are not fully absorbed in the small intestine. Some individuals experience such symptoms even in a single-serving quantity.

• Natural Flavours - Natural flavours are complex mixtures created by specially trained food chemists known as flavorists. In addition to their original flavour source, these mixtures can contain more than 100 different chemicals, including preservatives, solvents and other substances. These are defined as "incidental additives."

However, food manufacturers aren't required to disclose whether these additives come from natural or synthetic sources. As long as the original flavouring source comes from plant or animal material, it is classified as a natural flavour. What's more, because the term "natural" has no official definition, flavours sourced from genetically modified crops can also be labeled as natural.

When in doubt, flip the pack and read the ingredients list, if it doesn’t match up to the claims & your beliefs or has tons of unnecessary or unnatural fillers, stick it back on the shelf and look for something with a minimal whole food ingredients list (hint; Blue Dinosaur Bars!).

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Blue Dinosaur's White Chocolate Bite can be found in the RY Autumn Box. Blue Dinosaur never uses chemicals, binders, flavours, preservatives, or anything artificial use code RYAUTUMN for 15% off until 21/5/21 at www.bluedinosaur.com.au