Health News with Steven and Mady - Using YUKA and Decoding Food Labels Like a Pro

Your grocery cart can be a wellness plan or a trap, and the difference often hides on the back of the box. We break down how to shop with confidence using the Yuka app—a free barcode scanner that scores foods and cosmetics on nutrition, additives, and overall health—so you can make quick, informed choices without second-guessing every aisle.

We start with real product scans to show why some staples earn high marks while others sink under hidden sugars. Maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup, and sugar aliases like dextrose and sucrose create a sweet fog that drives cravings and blood sugar spikes. From a soda with 65 grams of sugar to ketchup loaded with multiple syrups, we show how to spot and swap the worst offenders without sacrificing taste. Then we move to the sneaky stuff: carrageenan in plant milks and processed dairy that may irritate the gut, and nitrates and nitrites that keep deli meats picture-perfect. If you love bacon or turkey slices, we share practical ways to choose versions labeled no added nitrates or nitrites and balance your plate.

Colorful doesn’t mean clean. We unpack the reality behind Red 40, Yellow 5, and other petroleum-derived dyes showing up in candy, cereal, and even pasta. If your yogurt or snacks look neon, we offer easy, kid-approved alternatives colored with fruit and veggie extracts. Next, we decode what organic actually means and how to use PLU codes: four digits starting with 3 or 4 for conventional, five digits starting with 9 for organic, and five digits starting with 8 for genetically modified. You don’t need to go all-organic overnight—focus on the dirty dozen, upgrade meat and eggs when possible, and build from there.

To make it simple, we wrap with a three-step label method: read ingredients before marketing, research anything you can’t pronounce, and favor short lists—peanut butter should be peanuts and maybe salt. Try our 10-scan challenge at home and in-store, then replace at least three low-scoring items with better picks. Food is either helping you or hurting you; a two-second scan can change the trajectory of your day. If this guide helped, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves a good grocery hack, and leave a quick review so more shoppers can find smarter choices.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:10

Cross Loops Podcast presents Health News with Stephen and Maddie. For those who want to be in the know.

Steven Killfoil 0:31

Good morning, Cross Roads. Welcome back to Cross Roads Podcast, Health News with Steven and Mady. I'm your host, Steven Killfoil.

What The Yuka App Does

Mady Killfoil 0:42

And I'm your co-host, Mady Kill foil.

Steven Killfoil 0:45

Today we are talking about something that can absolutely change your grocery game forever.

Mady Killfoil 0:51

Yes, we are talking about using the Yuka app while you shop and how to read food labels without needing a chemistry degree.

Live Scans And Scores Explained

Steven Killfoil 1:04

If you've ever stood in the cereal aisle thinking, uh, is this healthy or is this just cardboard with sugar? Today's episode is for you. So what is Yuka? Well, let me tell you, there is an app and it has this cute little carrot on it, and it looks like this. Mady's going to show you on the phone there. The Yuka app is a free mobile app that lets you scan the barcode of food and cosmetic products. You can scan it and it gives you a score from zero to 100 based on nutritional quality, additives, and overall health products. We scanned this blueberry steel cut oatmeal, and as you can see here, it gave us a score of 90 out of 100 because there are one, no additives. It's an excellent amount of fiber, some protein, low in calories, low in salt, saturated fat, low sugar. It's a very healthy item to buy. That would be uh, yes, you can buy that for sure. It's like having a tiny nutritionist in your pocket without the hourly consultation fee.

Mady Killfoil 2:26

And it doesn't care about fancy packaging, it doesn't care if the box says natural, farm fresh, or made with love by grandma.

Steven Killfoil 2:36

Yeah. Grandma can still sneak in maltodextrin, Mady.

Mady Killfoil 2:41

Grandma would never. Well, maybe on sale week. This is how you are going to use the app in the store. After you downloaded the Yaka app for your iPhone or your Android, you open it, you scan the barcode, you wait two seconds, and then watch your dreams either soar or shatter.

Steven Killfoil 3:06

Y eah, if it's if the scores are in green, great. If it's in red, put it back on the shelf.

Pantry Villains: Hidden Sugars

Mady Killfoil 3:13

Definitely. And don't get emotionally attached to crackers, please. Yes.

Steven Killfoil 3:19

So let's talk about some ingredients that you should absolutely avoid. Let's talk about the villains hiding in your pantry. One of those bad boys is maltodextrin. Now, maltodextrin in itself sounds harmless. It kind of sounds like a friendly dinosaur. But guess what? It spikes your blood sugar faster than table sugar. It's often located in healthy snack bars. So if you're watching glucose levels, this one is a problem.

Carrageenan And Gut Irritation

Mady Killfoil 3:55

Definitely. I remember uh I messed up my uh blood sugar level a few years ago when we kept buying the Stevia family package from Walmart, and we thought that we're doing just great. And then at one point, when I saw that my blood sugar level kept going higher and higher, I started to pay better attention to uh what I was putting in my mouth and in my body. And when I turned around the the bag, remember, and I looked, the first ingredient was maltodextrin. Oh my god, I just oh I wanted to scream. So yeah, be very careful. Okay, the the second um ingredients that that you should avoid, like the plague, are high fructose, corn syrup, and then corn syrup and dextrose, sucrose, sucrose, glucose, because those are just other names for for the sugar, and the companies love synonyms, but they it's just like the sugar is using an alias. So we scanned uh can uh soda and guess what? Besides the bad ingredients, sucrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, natural flavors, which can hide uh any other type of sugar derives, artificial colors, phosphoric acid, it had pay attention, 65 grams of sugar in 20 ounces. Can you imagine that? Or equivalent to 13 teaspoons of sugar. Will you put 13 teaspoons of sugar in your 20 ounces bottle of water or something? I mean, this is insane. And then we scanned a bottle of ketchup from uh coming from one of the companies uh under Heinz uh umbrella, and it had tomato concentrate made from red ripe tomatoes, and usually concentrate means sugar, distilled vinegar, the third ingredient was high fructose corn syrup, the fourth ingredient was corn syrup, then salt, spice, onion powder, and natural flavorings, again, more sugar, and I will tell you all, I will I will uh remind you because we said this before in some other episodes, they are putting sugar in our foods because it's making us addictive. You will want more and more and more. Sugar is giving uh the signal to the brain that you want more, you are craving for more. So you go, you turn around, and you buy more and you eat more. And this is how people are getting uh obese and sadly very, very sick.

Steven Killfoil 7:08

Our next one that we need to be on the lookout for is called uh carrageenan. Now, carrageenan is a thickener or a binder, uh a gelling agent, um, uh suspending and emulsifying stabilizer. This was created in the laboratories at uh pharmaceutical companies for the food industry. And it's carcinogenic. And it's carcinogenic.

Mady Killfoil 7:40

Nobody's telling you that.

Steven Killfoil 7:41

Nobody's telling you that. And you know, you can find it in toothpaste. Oh great, but often it's uh uh found common in plant milks and processed dairies, yeah, because it's a stabilizer. Exactly. Some studies suggest that it really irritates the gut lining. So if you find that your stomach sounds like a drum solo after drinking some almond milk, you might want to check that label for that uh carageenan.

Nitrates, Deli Meats, And Dyes

Mady Killfoil 8:09

Yeah, and if it doesn't say carrageenan, it can be hidden under the name of uh or symbol, whatever you want to call it, uh E407. Very, very, very dangerous. Absolutely. Number five on the list, nitrates and nitrates. Woo! And the processed meats all the time in in the in the bacon, in the ham, hot dogs, like I said, deli meats. Oh, this this is just unbelievable. Uh, they are used for preservation and and color, and guess what? That perfect pink, that's chemistry. This is why they are adding it to to keep the the color uh pretty for the the consumer and make you buy it. So look for uncured or no added nitrates or nitrates. This is what we are buying, and we finally found um uh a type of bacon uh at sprouts that says no added nitrates and nitrates.

Steven Killfoil 9:19

So it was hard to find too because uh exactly almost all the bacons that you find in most of the stores, including Costco and Walmart, all have nitrates or nitrides, and it's on the label, it says it clearly

Mady Killfoil 9:32

Because it's a preservative event. Yeah, yeah, this is why they are they are using it like crazy. So

Steven Killfoil 9:38

Another thing you should be on the lookout for are those artificial food dyes, those pretty little colors of red, yellow, and green, pink hearts, orange moons, yellow stars, blue stars, green clovers, and blue diamonds. Remember the wonderful cereal Lucky Charms? Yeah, all those food dyes, not good for you, not good for you at all. Even those lovely little lifesavers that we all enjoyed as a kid. Goodness gracious. Listen to what it says on the label for lifesavers. Made from the first ingredient, corn syrup. Second ingredient, sugar, yay, water, modified corn starch, gelatin, less than 2% of citric acid, natural and artificial flavors. Those are hidden sugars again. Mineral oil. They put mineral oil in my lifesavers. Oh my god. And the colors are red number 40, blue number one, yellow number five, and carnuba wax. They put car wax in my lifesavers. Yuck. All those number yellows and reds that I read you all are carcinogenic. This is why Kennedy is pushing so hard, thank God, to remove those. And very much so he should, because most of those color dyes were made from petroleum products. One of them is tartrazine, and you can find them in cereals, jellos, pastas, pancake mix, sodas, even in your mac and cheese. And you thought mac and cheese was healthy.

Mady Killfoil 11:29

Yeah, you better make it yourself and and buy the good organic uh uh cheese from uh from Costco. Exactly. You shave it yourself.

Sponsor Messages

Steven Killfoil 11:39

So if your yogurt is glowing in the dark, that's a clue. Yeah. Red 40, yellow five, yellow six, these are petroleum-derived dyes. Food should not look like a science project. Definitely. All right, well, before we expose any more pantry villains, let's take a quick break and thank those amazing sponsors who help Keith Health News with Steven and Mady running strong.

Mady Killfoil 12:11

This episode is proudly sponsored by authors Stefan McDermott, author of the powerful book Achieve Optimal Brain Health with Nutrition.

Steven Killfoil 12:23

If today's episode has you thinking, wow, what else is in my food? This book goes even deeper.

Mady Killfoil 12:32

It breaks down how the foods you eat affect your brain, memory, mood, and long-term cognitive health.

Steven Killfoil 12:42

Simple language, practical guidance, real science, no fluff.

Mady Killfoil 12:49

If you care about mental clarity, focus, or protecting your brain as you age, this is a must read.

Steven Killfoil 12:58

You can grab your copy today on Amazon.com. Just search for Achieve Optimal Brain Health with Nutrition by Stefan McDermott. Our second sponsor today is that jolly old elf. Let's hear it great deal. And speaking of great joy, the Santa Steven. Our second sponsor is the Santa Steven. Whether it's private home visits, corporate events, parades, tree lighting ceremonies, or personal letters straight from the North Pole.

Mady Killfoil 13:36

Santa Steven and Mrs. Claus bring authentic, heartwarming magic to every event.

Steven Killfoil 13:44

It's not just a visit, it's an experience families remember for a lifetime.

Mady Killfoil 13:50

Book early because Santa's schedule fills up faster than a grocery cart on Saturday morning.

Decoding Organic Labels And PLUs

Steven Killfoil 13:58

Visit the Santa Steven online at https://www, gigsalad.com/ the_santa_steven_aubrey with A and reserve your date today. And now back to scanning those labels. How to identify organic foods? So what does organic actually mean? Look for that USDA organic seal. That seal means no synthetic pesticides, no GMOs, no artificial preservatives, no sewage sludge fertilizers. Also, check produce stickers for the following. And I'm gonna let Mady tell you a little bit about these.

Mady Killfoil 15:06

If it starts with the sticker that's on the produce that you want to buy, starts with three or four and has four digits, it's conventionally grown. If it starts with nine and has five digits, it's organically grown. And this is what you want to look for. And if it starts with eight and has five digits, it's genetically modified. And you definitely do not buy it to buy that. Definitely don't buy it. We cannot emphasize enough. Eight will not make you feel great. No, but if your apple has a nine at the beginning, you're doing well. So tips when buying organic, prioritize organic for the dirty dozen, like berries, spinach, apples. Meat, choose organic or grass fed if possible. Eggs, look for pasture raised or organic. You don't have to buy the whole store organic overnight.

How To Read Ingredients Lists

Steven Killfoil 16:11

Start where it matters the most. So let's decode labels. Step one read the ingredients first, not the marketing. Remember, we talked about that a little bit. The grocery stores all natural and all kinds of wonderful names that mean nothing. It's just marketing, period. So step two, if you can't pronounce it, research it. Google it. Look it up. And step three, a shorter ingredient list is usually better.

Mady Killfoil 16:53

If your peanut butter has more than peanuts and maybe salt, walk away.

Steven Killfoil 17:01

Well, unless, of course, it's peanut butter flavored birthday cake dip, then just know what you're choosing.

Mady Killfoil 17:10

Yeah, that doesn't sound good. Yeah.

Weekly Challenge And Closing

Steven Killfoil 17:14

Well, here's your challenge this week.

Mady Killfoil 17:17

Okay, first, download the Yuka app from your Google or Apple Play Store.

Steven Killfoil 17:24

Scan ten items in your pantry at home.

Mady Killfoil 17:28

And be emotionally prepared because you might be surprised.

Steven Killfoil 17:32

Oh, I think they'd definitely be surprised. Then scan ten items at the store where you shop.

Mady Killfoil 17:40

And replace at least three of the worst offenders. I can guarantee you you will find better options. Definitely.

Steven Killfoil 17:50

Definitely. Healthy living doesn't require perfection.

Mady Killfoil 17:55

It requires awareness and research and study on your part.

Steven Killfoil 18:00

Use the tools available. Scan before you buy.

Mady Killfoil 18:04

And remember, food is either helping you or hurting you.

Steven Killfoil 18:11

We'll see you next time on Cross Roads Podcast Healthy News with Steven and Mady.

Speaker 2 18:20

Stay healthy, friends. Do your research. Be diligent. Until next time, we'll see you at the top. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Speaker 1 18:59

In the know.