We all want to make better choices when it comes to our food, and supermarket packaging makes a lot of promises. But when you’re training hard for general health, performance, or a challenge, what you eat needs to do more than sound healthy. It needs to be healthy.
At Foundry, we’re big on simplicity and substance. We encourage people to focus on foods that fuel their performance and recovery. That means knowing how to see past the clever wording on food packaging and being confident in your choices. Because when your training matters, so should your nutrition.
Packaging Isn’t Always Your Friend
It’s easy to assume that a product boasting “low fat”, “reduced sugar” or “natural” is a good option. But here’s the catch: the more labels a product has, the more likely it is to have been modified in a way that does more harm than good.
Take reduced-fat yoghurts or snacks, for example. To make up for the flavour loss from removing fat, manufacturers often add thickeners, artificial sweeteners, or other additives. These ingredients don’t contribute to your recovery, training or long-term health.
Similarly, ‘zero-sugar’ fizzy drinks often contain artificial sweeteners, which may impact gut health and appetite regulation. While a one-off won’t hurt, regularly relying on these products can undermine your efforts, especially when training with intention.
Real Food, Real Results
The closer your food is to its natural state, the more beneficial it tends to be. Foods that have been reared, grown or harvested with minimal processing—meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, eggs, whole grains—will always provide more value than anything that needs a marketing campaign to convince you it’s healthy.
One way to simplify things is to buy more from local producers, butchers, and greengrocers where possible. Even in supermarkets, aim for the outer aisles with fresh produce, meat, and dairy. Most packaged and processed goods tend to live in the middle aisles.
Food Labels
You’ll often see front-of-pack nutrition labels showing traffic light colours for fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt. Green means low, amber means medium, and red means high. These colour-coded systems can be helpful, but they don’t tell the whole story.
A food might be low in fat (green), but that doesn’t automatically make it a healthy choice if it’s high in sugar (red) or loaded with artificial ingredients. Likewise, something with a red label for fat might still be a good choice if it’s a naturally high-fat food like salmon or nuts.
It’s also worth noting that these front-of-pack labels are typically based on a 100g serving. Many snack products are smaller than this, meaning you might be getting more sugar or salt than you realise, especially if portion sizes aren’t clearly stated.
Ingredient lists also matter. Ingredients are listed in order of quantity, so if sugar, glucose syrup, or palm oil appears in the first three items, it’s a sign that it’s best left on the shelf.
Use the traffic light labels as a guide, but decide based on the ingredients and how the food fits your diet.
Look at the Ingredients, Not Just the Claims
Rather than reading the front of the pack, turn it over. If the ingredients list is longer than your weekly shopping list, filled with things you don’t recognise or wouldn’t cook with yourself, it’s probably worth leaving on the shelf.
When you’re training consistently and working towards a fitness goal, your food choices don’t need to be perfect, but they do need to support your energy, strength, and recovery. That doesn’t come from food engineered in a lab. It comes from real ingredients, consistent habits, and understanding what you’re putting in your body.
Keep It Simple, Keep It Sustainable
There’s no need to be obsessive or overly restrictive. At Foundry, our approach is always realistic and sustainable. We help our members build nutrition strategies that support their goals without sucking the joy out of life.
Start by choosing foods that don’t come with marketing slogans. Prioritise meals you make yourself, using ingredients you understand. Eat like an adult. Fuel your body so it can perform, not just look good.
If you’re unsure where to begin or want to examine how your food supports your training, we’re here to help. Our trainers are equipped with practical nutrition information and real-world experience to help you get more from your training.
Come and visit one of our personal training gyms in London, and we’ll help you create a plan that fits your lifestyle and performance goals—no misleading labels required.
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