I'm guilty of picking up my favorite all-natural, healthy, vegan snack with no trans fat or added sugars and trusting that I am going to be a happier person at the gym tomorrow. But this is not necessarily the case, especially with the FDA approving some of these words with little-to-no requirements for companies to go pasting them all over the products your doctor would tell you to stay away from.

"All Natural"

The definition of "All Natural" according to the FDA:____________________.

That's it. There is none. Companies could potentially get in trouble for labeling it this if the product has artificial colors or flavors, but the overall definition of "All Natural" is up for interpretation. Things like high fructose corn syrup and sodium injections are totally fair game for your favorite "All Natural" products.

"No Sugar Added" or "Sugar-free"

According to Bloomberg, "No sugar added is an optional disclosure." If the Nutrition Facts labels are in percentages of recommended daily values, companies are under no obligation to distinguish between naturally occurring sugars and added sweeteners. So your "no sugar added" apple juice could actually be a mixture of sucrose, maltose and high-fructose corn syrup, so long as it contains a bit of apple juice.

If something is labeled as "Sugar-free" it often contains sugar alcohols which will result in the FDA approved "less than .5 grams of sugar per serving," but a side effect of eating sugar alcohols is diarrhea, so that has to be more healthy, right?

"Healthy"

"Kind Bars" recently fought against the FDA to be considered "healthy" and won. The original regulation stated that snack foods needed to have certain regulations in regards to fat, cholesterol and other nutrients, including having less than 3 grams of fat, but the apricot and almond flavored "Kind Bars" are labeled healthy and they have 10 grams of fat. So what does this mean for us? The rules are up for debate and as long as companies can argue their case, "healthy" is a fluid term.

“Helps maintain a healthy heart"

This statement requires absolutely no FDA approval at all. This sentence is entirely meaningless. It is not good for your heart and if you believe it, you are a victim of the system.

"Zero Trans Fat"

Doritos and other chips often claim "Zero Trans Fat," but if something is "Zero Trans Fat," it can still contain .5 grams per serving. Therefore, if you have two servings, you are taking in enough trans fat to make a noticeable difference in your diet and your doctor to say "hey, stop doing that."

"Made with Real Fruit"

This product is not made with real fruit. In 2012, a woman filed a law suit because she was upset her strawberry fruit roll-up contained only a minuscule amount of pear-concentrate, and absolutely no strawberries or strawberry concentrate. There was a change made that products depicting photos of fruit on them claiming to be fruit flavored need to contain even the smallest amounts of that fruit in them, but companies are under no obligation to disclose what percentage of fruit is in their products.

How could you do this, Betty Crocker?

"Multi-grain" or "Made with Whole Grains"

Companies are not required to disclose what percentage of each ingredient they use when claiming to be "Multi-grain" or "Made with Whole Grains." So you could be buying "Multi-grain" bread with only 10 percent whole grains and the other 90 percent white flour.

"Free Range"

Although I love to think the mother chicken of my favorite "free range" eggs are roaming the country side happily living their lives, that is not the case.

"Free Range" eggs, according to the FDA, require your chickens to have exposure to the outdoors, but enforce absolutely no requirements in relation to amount, duration and quality of outdoor access. So have they seen the outside? Yes? We'll call them free range chickens then.

Read your labels and do your research, kids. Your life depends on it.