Health Logo
Okay, so in my previous blog I was saying how lousy I am in keeping up with the most basic of a beauty regime. There is only one thing I need to say about that. I ran out of the products from the brand I have been using for years! Clinically proven...on my face...that it works wonders and when the products ran out (apparently always few months BEFORE bonus) so technically, I am am err..useless without them. The only thing in my possession which I use daily is their liquid facial soap and other than that, Im stuck with the 'freebies' I received for buying a certain amount of their products. Trust me darlz, if you're going to just buy say...twice a year, better do some investment to get their trial size products coz they work wonders...and they don't cost a thing. But anyway, the only good thing which is coming out of it is that I am slowly making up for my lost 'youth' ever since I ran out of my beloved SPF protection sunscreen from this cosmetic line. How I make it up? Well, I happened to have a trial size tube of the sunscreen which is giving me back my lost youth coz trust me on another thing also: aircon + hot sunny sun sun.....Baaaddd for the skin. I sit in a room which is like an igloo. No matter how I try to increase the temperature, it will not help. Somehow, I am one who refused to be defeated by sleep, coldness or heatiness during work but now, I cant live without my oversized jacket. To think that this jacket, I had actually dumped it at one corner of my office table in the headquarters before the attachment. Oh, and upon my return later, someone stuffed it inside a goody bag from a previous Fitness Day because I guessed she figured out it must be mine. I mean, since it was lying beside my shoe bag. Hrmph. But anyway, it provides me with a sense of comfort especially during lunch when I dont go out anymore due to fasting. Oh, and dozing off while reading the magazines in the nearby library proves to me that it's better for me to not get out at all. Maybe should bring this jacket back home coz I tend to get imsonia at times and it may come in handy when I blanket my head over with the jacket. That's how I fell asleep fast in my workplace cubicle. Till I was unaware I was actually drooling on the exercise book cum logbook. Okay, sorry to the kids whose birth cert numbers had to be written over my err..drool stain thereafter..hee..Hey, Im concerned about the environment too so tearing off those pages will not work!
Actually, I want to highlight about this concern which I am having for months off and on about how misleading certain brands of food can be towards potential customers. And now, they are hiding behind this healthy logo which is a symbol of a triangle given by a certain govt subsidiary aimed at promoting health among Singaporeans. They award the symbols once they have met the 'strict' criterias. Why the inverted commas? Okay, when things like the instant noodles get the healthy logo which they proudly declare on their advertisements, I have my concerns. No doubt, maybe it is given because it contains 'NO MSG' or 'Less Salt'..but I dont care. A processed food is a processed food and processed food is bad health and should not be eaten on a regular basis.
Now you know how gullible customers can be especially when they're Singaporeans and whatever is good for them, they take them up in drones. Just like this so-called revolutionary device available in the pharmacies to cure short sightedness which I often get questions on how useful such products are. Just look at the exorbitant price of 500 plus dollars that parents of children are so damn eager to get or..to my knowledge..have already bought the product..until I told them there is no scientific evidence but they still try to rebute me. They refused to buy a pair of spectacles but can spend such a high amount for a product which doesn't allow daily usage but only twice or thrice a week. What the... I can only say few things: the improvement is short term. There is no cure. End of story. You just wasted your money. Okay, not in their face for the last one.
So basically, my point is that this is just a marketing gimmick. No doubt, they did get the endorsement but as customers, we must be prudent. Maybe in the past, this health logo did help in the decision making for people as to which one is a healthier choice. But now, it is practically everywhere. Some obvious things like milk....received the symbol..bread..received the symbol. Since when they're bad food?! Unless of course they put lead in the milk, as long as the milk is low fat or it is skim milk, why do they still need the health logo? Then worse still, most milk cartons from various brands have this symbol so people may just grab and go coz all have what the symbol.
Actually, I know that food with such symbols can drive up sales so Im not surprised that the people who are in the approving line may get huge volumes of requests to be given the symbol or logo. I supposed that could be the reason why they added an extra line which says that we must eat all foods in moderation. So, it is just a lazy way of saying, that they put that logo for the sake of putting it but no matter what, all kinds of food can be eaten as long as they eat moderately. Then what's the use of putting the logo? I think there is nothing wrong with the logo but they must not let the logo to be used too frequently. I just think the biggest blow to me especially when I am a fan of the logo, is when instant noodles received the logo.
Look, I don't know much about nutrition and Im no dietician. But being a fellow consumer, I feel sad that to be healthier, we need to sacrifice a bit of our pocket money for the so-called additional health benefits. Okay, here's some things which I discover while reading this foreign health journal which talks about the various products out there that claim to have nutritional benefits and charge us extra for it. But the truth is, they are not providing us with any 'extras' worthy of our money. For example, a bread company selling a type of bread that claims to have 'high fibre' and then, charge higher than a normal bread with no extras whatsoever. Just the basic nutritions. Then, if the consumer doesn't know much about nutrition and they will think that 'oh, high fibre. Heard high fibre is good for health. Okay, mz buy. Oooh..expensive. But nevermind, it's for the sake of my health, I shall get it'. Actually, upon closer inspection on the serving need of two breads, it will provide fibre content of 3.4g. Do you know that a human body needs 3g of fibre daily? So in actual fact, they are just providing an additional 0.4g of fibre and they term it as 'high fibre' already. Some breads that I see, exactly meets the daily fibre requirement of 3g. Yet the price is more than fifty cents higher than their usual white bread which may even provide the same dose of fibre content but only thing is that, they are made from enriched white flour which drives health nuts away which has high carbo and sugar level.
Don't even get me started on the instant noodles again. Do you even know wat is 'no msg ADDED' mean? It doesn't mean that the product is totally void of msg which actually stands for monosodium glutamate. Instant noodles in much more than the msg. It also depends on the way the hardened noodles is processed to solidify it (one way is to deep fry it), and may also contain MSG which in a way, help the noodles to stay longer and taste nicer. So the no 'MSG added' thing could be a gimmick which may lure those people who specifically dont eat instant noodles due to their high MSG content to buy them as it is finally 'healthy' after they receive the logo.
Okay, I need to go to bed now but I can only end off with one note: always look at the nutritional label and if you don't know what certain terms mean, can look up in the internet for fast information. But tat is before you buy. Just take note and see if it is worth your money and that you are truly receiving the right nutritions for your body. So happy looking up!
Actually, I want to highlight about this concern which I am having for months off and on about how misleading certain brands of food can be towards potential customers. And now, they are hiding behind this healthy logo which is a symbol of a triangle given by a certain govt subsidiary aimed at promoting health among Singaporeans. They award the symbols once they have met the 'strict' criterias. Why the inverted commas? Okay, when things like the instant noodles get the healthy logo which they proudly declare on their advertisements, I have my concerns. No doubt, maybe it is given because it contains 'NO MSG' or 'Less Salt'..but I dont care. A processed food is a processed food and processed food is bad health and should not be eaten on a regular basis.
Now you know how gullible customers can be especially when they're Singaporeans and whatever is good for them, they take them up in drones. Just like this so-called revolutionary device available in the pharmacies to cure short sightedness which I often get questions on how useful such products are. Just look at the exorbitant price of 500 plus dollars that parents of children are so damn eager to get or..to my knowledge..have already bought the product..until I told them there is no scientific evidence but they still try to rebute me. They refused to buy a pair of spectacles but can spend such a high amount for a product which doesn't allow daily usage but only twice or thrice a week. What the... I can only say few things: the improvement is short term. There is no cure. End of story. You just wasted your money. Okay, not in their face for the last one.
So basically, my point is that this is just a marketing gimmick. No doubt, they did get the endorsement but as customers, we must be prudent. Maybe in the past, this health logo did help in the decision making for people as to which one is a healthier choice. But now, it is practically everywhere. Some obvious things like milk....received the symbol..bread..received the symbol. Since when they're bad food?! Unless of course they put lead in the milk, as long as the milk is low fat or it is skim milk, why do they still need the health logo? Then worse still, most milk cartons from various brands have this symbol so people may just grab and go coz all have what the symbol.
Actually, I know that food with such symbols can drive up sales so Im not surprised that the people who are in the approving line may get huge volumes of requests to be given the symbol or logo. I supposed that could be the reason why they added an extra line which says that we must eat all foods in moderation. So, it is just a lazy way of saying, that they put that logo for the sake of putting it but no matter what, all kinds of food can be eaten as long as they eat moderately. Then what's the use of putting the logo? I think there is nothing wrong with the logo but they must not let the logo to be used too frequently. I just think the biggest blow to me especially when I am a fan of the logo, is when instant noodles received the logo.
Look, I don't know much about nutrition and Im no dietician. But being a fellow consumer, I feel sad that to be healthier, we need to sacrifice a bit of our pocket money for the so-called additional health benefits. Okay, here's some things which I discover while reading this foreign health journal which talks about the various products out there that claim to have nutritional benefits and charge us extra for it. But the truth is, they are not providing us with any 'extras' worthy of our money. For example, a bread company selling a type of bread that claims to have 'high fibre' and then, charge higher than a normal bread with no extras whatsoever. Just the basic nutritions. Then, if the consumer doesn't know much about nutrition and they will think that 'oh, high fibre. Heard high fibre is good for health. Okay, mz buy. Oooh..expensive. But nevermind, it's for the sake of my health, I shall get it'. Actually, upon closer inspection on the serving need of two breads, it will provide fibre content of 3.4g. Do you know that a human body needs 3g of fibre daily? So in actual fact, they are just providing an additional 0.4g of fibre and they term it as 'high fibre' already. Some breads that I see, exactly meets the daily fibre requirement of 3g. Yet the price is more than fifty cents higher than their usual white bread which may even provide the same dose of fibre content but only thing is that, they are made from enriched white flour which drives health nuts away which has high carbo and sugar level.
Don't even get me started on the instant noodles again. Do you even know wat is 'no msg ADDED' mean? It doesn't mean that the product is totally void of msg which actually stands for monosodium glutamate. Instant noodles in much more than the msg. It also depends on the way the hardened noodles is processed to solidify it (one way is to deep fry it), and may also contain MSG which in a way, help the noodles to stay longer and taste nicer. So the no 'MSG added' thing could be a gimmick which may lure those people who specifically dont eat instant noodles due to their high MSG content to buy them as it is finally 'healthy' after they receive the logo.
Okay, I need to go to bed now but I can only end off with one note: always look at the nutritional label and if you don't know what certain terms mean, can look up in the internet for fast information. But tat is before you buy. Just take note and see if it is worth your money and that you are truly receiving the right nutritions for your body. So happy looking up!
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