The Healthy Food Industry Loves Confusing You

Hello Broskiis!

Welcome to the fortieth edition of Tastes Like a Cheat Meal. You can read the others here: https://newsletter.proskii.in/ & https://proskii.substack.com.

If you’re new here, this is Proskii’s weekly newsletter. Both Rohit and I (Yash) hate long emails, so we keep these short and promise not to spam your loving soul.

SACH MAI!! AMRITSARI CHOLE KULCHO KI KASAM.

Have you ever stood in a supermarket, picked up a packet...

Read the front, turned it around, read the back...

Put it back on the shelf...

And quietly accepted that you have absolutely no idea what you’re buying?

You’re not alone.

Sometimes it feels like buying healthy food requires a nutrition degree, a magnifying glass and the patience of a saint.

Walk into any supermarket today.

Every second packet is shouting something: High Protein. Multigrain. No Maida. Natural. Made with Jaggery.
No Cholesterol. Zero Trans Fat.

At first glance, everything looks healthy.
Which is slightly concerning.

Because mathematically...
Everything can’t be healthy.

Think about it. Nobody prints the boring stuff on the front.

Nobody writes...
“Contains more sugar than you’d expect.”
Or...
“Only 6g protein in the entire packet.”

Instead, brands find the one thing that sounds impressive... And make it the hero.

Maybe it has oats.
Maybe it has jaggery.
Maybe it has almonds.
Maybe it has one vitamin added.

Suddenly... That’s the entire marketing campaign. Technically true?

Maybe.
The complete picture? Not always.

Imagine someone tells you, “This pizza has tomatoes.”

Great.

Tomatoes are healthy. That doesn’t automatically make the pizza a health food.

The same thing happens with packaged food.

A product can contain jaggery... And still be loaded with sugar.

It can contain millets... And still be low in protein.

It can say “multigrain”...
And still have refined flour as the biggest ingredient.

One good ingredient doesn’t cancel out everything else.

Honestly... Ignore the front for a minute.

Flip the packet.
Read the nutrition table.
Read the ingredient list.

See how much protein you’re actually getting. Check how much added sugar is inside.
That’s where the truth usually lives.

The front of the pack tells you a story.
The back of the pack tells you the facts.

Since day one, we’ve tried to avoid hiding behind fancy words.

We’d rather tell you-
Where our protein comes from.
How much protein is actually inside.
Why we chose certain ingredients.

And even when things go wrong...
Like destroying ₹5 lakh worth of cereal or dealing with delayed deliveries...

We’d rather tell you the truth than pretend everything is perfect. Because healthy food is already confusing enough.

Brands don’t need to make it worse.

A lot of you have been messaging us asking, “Where did Double Chocolate disappear?”

Don’t worry, it hasn’t gone anywhere.

It’s just out of stock at the moment because you guys have been showing it a little too much love.

The good news?
Double Chocolate will be back by 9th August.

Thank you for bearing with us while we restock.

We’ll let you know the moment it’s back. ❤️

Thank you for reading till the end. You’re a sweetu ❤️

Also, thank you for subscribing to the newsletter, sweetu x 2 ❤️

We’re working hard taki AAP CEREAL CHUNO, CHINI SE BHARE CEREAL KILLER NAHI. ❤️

See you next week.