I have been trying to eat healthy for long enough that I know I have to read labels, but sometimes I still get caught off guard.

For years I've taken Kyolic garlic. When I started the Blood Type Diet and saw that garlic was neutral, I continued to take it. Then I noticed that the number two ingredient, is whey! I was horrified. I checked the other garlic labels in my health food store. Every single one contained either whey or soy oil. I wound up buying garlic tablets that don't seem to have any avoids at Walmart of all places. But I rarely take it any more unless a virus is going around.

My son used to get migraine headaches. We traced them to MSG, chocolate, and sodium nitrite. After years of reading carefully reading labels, I thought I knew which of the standard products were safe for him. Most lunch meat has sodium nitrite, but Oscar Mayer's oven roasted turkey breast did not. Since other brands without sodium nitrite had corn syrup or other offensive additives, I've been a loyal Oscar Mayer customer for years. For some reason, the week before my son came home from college, I glanced at the turkey breast label and saw "sodium nitrite". I wrote the company to complain. They answered, defending their decision and implying that they now add sodium nitrite to all their meat products.

Two nights ago dinner was almost ready, when I realized I needed another vegetable that I could eat. I keep some canned vegetables in the pantry for such occasions, and I grabbed a can of neutral English peas. The label said they had sugar in them. They had also changed the name from English peas to "sweet peas". When did this happen? At the store yesterday I read pea labels. Every brand had sugar, or worse, corn syrup! I'm going to check the health food store to see if they carry peas without sweetener. Otherwise, I guess it will be frozen or fresh peas from now on.

Will I trust products, even at health food stores, without reading labels anymore? No whey.