India, Jan. 16 -- Shopping for groceries - online or in person - has only grown more confusing, as countless brands sell nearly identical products with similar marketing. That means the burden of picking well falls on consumers. Dr Saurabh Sethi, a gastroenterologist trained at AIIMS, Harvard and Stanford, shares a simple checklist on social media to help shoppers choose foods that are kinder to blood sugar and metabolic health. Dr Sethi urges buyers to ignore front-of-pack buzzwords such as natural, low-fat or keto, and turn straight to the ingredient list on the back, which will reveal how a food affects blood sugar, ingredients do. Because ingredients are listed by weight, the first three tell you what the product is mostly made of. If sugar, refined starch or refined oil appears early, the food is more likely to trigger blood-sugar swings, he warns. Contrary to what some labels imply, low-fat or fat-free foods often pack more sugar or starch as a tradeoff. That can lead to stronger glucose spikes than the full-fat versions. If most ingredients look unfamiliar to an average shopper, the product is likely heavily processed. Simpler foods are more likely to deliver steadier blood sugar, Dr Sethi notes. Added sugar hides under many names, from cane sugar to dextrose, corn syrup, rice syrup, fruit juice concentrate and maltodextrin. Different names, similar effect: they can all spike glucose. Net carbs equal total carbs minus fibre, so fibre helps slow digestion and blunt sugar spikes, Dr Sethi shares. Beyond fibre, foods that mix carbohydrates with protein, fibre and fat deliver steadier blood-sugar responses than carb-only options....