Food Label
Reading food labels isn't as easy as you think. Here's how to decipher nutrition labels so you can separate fact from marketing.
It's a fact of the grocery store that the most healthy food often has the least marketing muscle behind it. The best source of fiber and vitamins are fresh vegetables and fruit, and yet it's the processed, packaged junk food fortified with vitamin and fiber powder that screams for attention. The Center for Science in the Public Interest recently published a comprehensive report on the subject, a persuasive indictment delicately called "Food Labeling Chaos." http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/food_labeling_chaos_report.pdf
"Consumers need honest labeling so they can spend their food dollars wisely and avoid diet-related disease," said CSPI senior staff attorney Ilene Ringel Heller, co-author of the report. "Companies should market their foods without resorting to the deceit and dishonesty that's so common today. And, if they don't, the FDA should make them."
Like listening skeptically to a politician speak, however, you can often decipher the truth amid the lies and misdirection by carefully reading food labels. Here we take a look at nine of the most common ways food labels lie, so you can prepare before your next trip to the grocery store.
Made With Whole Grains
What you don't realize is that unbleached wheat flour is the main ingredient; whole wheat flour is the third on the list, "indicating that the product contains relatively little," according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Once again, one truth – the presence of whole grains, masks another, that whole grains make up an insignificant portion of the food. Some products that trumpet their whole grain credentials (like Keebler's Zesta saltine crackers) use caramel to mimic the brown color that results from the use of whole grains; in fact, according to CSPI, the crackers have almost as much salt as whole grains. Other purportedly healthy crackers have more sugar than whole wheat. So much for healthy whole grains (or truth in advertising).
0 Trans Fat
Like some kind of Frankenstein's monster, we stagger down the grocery aisles, arms outstretched, growling, "Trans Fat Bad!" And yes, they are bad. After numerous studies showed that these fats boost "bad" LDL-cholesterol levels and lower "good" HDL-cholesterol counts (they've been called "the most potent type of fatty acid in terms of increasing the risk of coronary heart disease") the U.S. required companies to disclose trans fat content in their foods.
But it's marketers who made our modern Frankenstein mutter: While some companies reformulated their products to reduce the use of risky fats, many just replaced trans fats with saturated fats. These reformulated foods are basically just as bad, but they scream one truth: "0 trans fats!" to obscure another: "still bad for your heart!"
Tastes Like Medicine!
Food isn't medicine ... or is it? Certain micronutrients, after all, can prevent diabetes, cure cancer, make you smarter, improve your sex life, polish your furniture, and, if you eat enough, make your fall in love again for the first time*...
In truth, the FDA allows food manufacturers to make certain pre-approved "qualified health claims" about the health benefits of nutrients in food, but only if those foods meet a range of healthy criteria, like low fat, cholesterol and sodium content. But, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, marketers have stretched this inch into a long mile. For instance, food makers can't say that their product "helps reduce the risk of heart disease" without FDA approval, so they say that it "helps maintain a healthy heart." That's why several public health groups, including the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, have voiced concern about this trend.
In the most famous recent example, the FDA stopped General Mills from labeling Cheerios with cholesterol reducing claims it wouldn't allow on some prescription drugs. Another, which the California attorney general helped stamp out, was the Kellogg's claim that its children cereals "support your child's immunity" because, even though some are 40% sugar, they are fortified with vitamins. "While a severe deficiency in those vitamins could interfere with the proper functioning of the body’s immune system (and any other system), there is no evidence that Cocoa Krispies actually improves a children’s immune status or wards off disease," CSPI argues. But Kellogg's is far from alone. Even as Kellogg's stopped that line of marketing, Ocean Spray cranberry juice and Juicy Juice berry beverage, Nestlé's Carnation Instant Breakfast and Kraft's Crystal Light all make similar claims.
Other foods make claims about boosting your kid's intelligence (Juicy Juice), or protecting healthy joints (orange juice), or improving heart health (Quaker cinnamon and spice instant oatmeal, which is almost one-third sugar).
Bottom line: Food is food, not medicine.
It's a fact of the grocery store that the most healthy food often has the least marketing muscle behind it. The best source of fiber and vitamins are fresh vegetables and fruit, and yet it's the processed, packaged junk food fortified with vitamin and fiber powder that screams for attention. The Center for Science in the Public Interest recently published a comprehensive report on the subject, a persuasive indictment delicately called "Food Labeling Chaos." http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/food_labeling_chaos_report.pdf"Consumers need honest labeling so they can spend their food dollars wisely and avoid diet-related disease," said CSPI senior staff attorney Ilene Ringel Heller, co-author of the report. "Companies should market their foods without resorting to the deceit and dishonesty that's so common today. And, if they don't, the FDA should make them."
You're standing in the grocery aisle, faced with a choice. On the one hand, there are the Thomas' English Muffins of your youth: white and filled with nooks and crannies practically screaming to be filled with pools of melted butter. On the other: Thomas' Hearty Grains English Muffins, which is "made with the goodness of whole grains." You reach, somewhat grudgingly, for the healthy option, since experts tell you that 50% of your grains should be whole grains.
Like some kind of Frankenstein's monster, we stagger down the grocery aisles, arms outstretched, growling, "Trans Fat Bad!" And yes, they are bad. After numerous studies showed that these fats boost "bad" LDL-cholesterol levels and lower "good" HDL-cholesterol counts (they've been called "the most potent type of fatty acid in terms of increasing the risk of coronary heart disease") the U.S. required companies to disclose trans fat content in their foods.
But it's marketers who made our modern Frankenstein mutter: While some companies reformulated their products to reduce the use of risky fats, many just replaced trans fats with saturated fats. These reformulated foods are basically just as bad, but they scream one truth: "0 trans fats!" to obscure another: "still bad for your heart!"
Tastes Like Medicine!
Food isn't medicine ... or is it? Certain micronutrients, after all, can prevent diabetes, cure cancer, make you smarter, improve your sex life, polish your furniture, and, if you eat enough, make your fall in love again for the first time*...
In truth, the FDA allows food manufacturers to make certain pre-approved "qualified health claims" about the health benefits of nutrients in food, but only if those foods meet a range of healthy criteria, like low fat, cholesterol and sodium content. But, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, marketers have stretched this inch into a long mile. For instance, food makers can't say that their product "helps reduce the risk of heart disease" without FDA approval, so they say that it "helps maintain a healthy heart." That's why several public health groups, including the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, have voiced concern about this trend.
In the most famous recent example, the FDA stopped General Mills from labeling Cheerios with cholesterol reducing claims it wouldn't allow on some prescription drugs. Another, which the California attorney general helped stamp out, was the Kellogg's claim that its children cereals "support your child's immunity" because, even though some are 40% sugar, they are fortified with vitamins. "While a severe deficiency in those vitamins could interfere with the proper functioning of the body’s immune system (and any other system), there is no evidence that Cocoa Krispies actually improves a children’s immune status or wards off disease," CSPI argues. But Kellogg's is far from alone. Even as Kellogg's stopped that line of marketing, Ocean Spray cranberry juice and Juicy Juice berry beverage, Nestlé's Carnation Instant Breakfast and Kraft's Crystal Light all make similar claims.
Other foods make claims about boosting your kid's intelligence (Juicy Juice), or protecting healthy joints (orange juice), or improving heart health (Quaker cinnamon and spice instant oatmeal, which is almost one-third sugar).
Bottom line: Food is food, not medicine.
Culinary Education Classes
Health & Nutrition: Health Starts Here
Culinary Education Classes: I'm cooking every sunday this month (1pm-4pm)
Where: Go to Whole Food Market in high street kensington - London
HEALTHY EATING PRINCIPLES
Plant based
- No matter what type of diet you follow — including those that incorporate dairy, meat and/or seafood — eat more plants, like raw and cooked vegetables, fruits, legumes and beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains
- Eat a colorful variety of plants to ensure you're getting the best nutrients for your body, which leads to feeling satiated
Whole foods
- Choose foods that are real, fresh, natural, organic, local, seasonal and unprocessed
- Eliminate the consumption of refined, highly processed foods and foods void of nutrients, such as artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats
Low fat
- Get your healthy fats from plant sources, such as nuts and avocados
- Minimize extracted oils and processed fats
- If eating a diet that includes animal products, choose leaner meats and seafood as well as low-fat dairy products
Nutrient dense
- Choose foods that are rich in nutrients when compared to their total caloric content; also known as foods with a high nutrient density
- Build your menus around plant-based foods to ensure highly nutrient-dense meals
- Choose foods with a wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants
- Look for the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI)
scoring system to guide you on healthier choices
TIPS TO GET YOU STARTED
- Look for the "Health Starts Here" logo around the store
- Visit the Whole Foods Market "Health Starts Here" area to browse our selection of books
- Learn to use the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) scoring system throughout the store to guide you on healthier choices
- Ask a Team Member about additional healthy eating support, including:
- Prepared Foods offerings
- In-store Healthy Eating areas
- "Health Starts Here" books
- Online recipes
- "Getting Started" program sites
- Lifestyle support clubs (select stores)
- Healthy Eating supper clubs (select stores)
- And more!
Healthy Baby!!
Go to my new blog, Slow Food Baby and share your ideas!
http://slowfoodbaby.blogspot.com/
Pumpkin with carpets, curry and ginger
(Recipe from Brazil)
Pumpkin with Capers, Curry and Ginger
500 g of pumpkin peeled in cubes
1 tablespoon of capers
1 tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon of curry
1 teaspoon of fresh ginger
grated salt to taste
Leaves the capers of sauce in water for 10 min. Drain and reserve. Heat the oil in a pot and join the curry and the ginger. Is going to fry a little. Increase the pumpkin and stir. Join the capers, season with salt and is going to cook in short fire with the pot covered. If necessary it will go, drop gradually, alone water for do not stick. Good appetite!!!
Thanks Michele Maia, vegetarian chef that create such a lovely recipe!
xxx Juliana
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