Don't Be Fooled by Food Fraud
Oh, how easy it is to believe everything that we read. I mean, who believed that two guys actually discovered the body of Bigfoot, just because it said so on the Yahoo! homepage? Guilty as charged (of course, it turned out to be nothing more than a hoax and I, consequently, resigned myself to the fact that I'm nothing more than an idiot). Surely I'm not the only person who's taken for a ride once and a while by a misleading headline or, more germane to this website, tricky ad copy on food labels.
By now, we're pretty clued in to the fact that "Whole Wheat" doesn't always mean it is (in most cases, it's not whole wheat or whole grain unless it says 100-percent whole wheat on the label and/or has whole wheat flour listed as its first ingredient). We also know that simply being organic doesn't necessarily mean that a food product is completely free of any chemicals (be on the lookout for the Certified USDA Organic label for true organic food).
But where many of us go wrong is when it comes to food that is specifically labeled as "healthy." Hell, in many cases the word "healthy" appears in the brand name. Is this, then, to say that these so-called healthy products are anything but? Well, depending on the product, that possibility certainly exists.
So where does that leave us? When the afternoon rolls around and you're stomach sounds like a dying goat, eating something is a must. But what? Aha...a healthy option! But, what IS a healthy option? Apart from fruits, vegetables, and other foods we can say with certainty are healthy, there are some other options that aren't half bad for you (notice I didn't say healthy, though).
The website I Look Like Fit (http://www.ilooklikefit.com) offers some reasonably healthy microwave options to consider the next time your stomach is screaming for attention.
Here's a quick look at their list:
1. Healthy Choice Smoked Chicken Panini - 310 cal, 42g carb, 4.5g total fat, 25g protein
2. Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Southwest-Style Chicken Panini - 280 cal, 32g carb, 7g total fat, 20g protein
3. South Beach Diet Chicken Monterey Wraps - 220 cal, 26g carb, 7g total fat, 16g protein
4. Lean Pockets Chicken, Broccoli & Cheddar - 250 cal, 38g carb, 7g total fat, 10g protein
5. Stouffers Grilled Chicken Italian Panini - 350 cal, 31g carb, 17g fat, 20g protein
Again, I'm not sure I'd go as far as to call these foods healthy, buuuuuut all things considered, they're not bad options if they're all you have available (certainly better than heading to the vending machine for a bag of Cheetos).
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This is absolutely true; it can be frustrating to go into the grocery store to try to find healthy options, only to find out that many of the foods you think are good for you are actually not.
Thanks for keeping us informed and for the recommendations; I am not sure that I would call them "healthy" either, but "healthier" would fit.
ReplyThose Yahoo news teasers get me every time. You'd think I'd learn.....but no!
They've got these "healthy" cookies where I shop. I can't remember the brand. The phrase "Contains however many (maybe not even a significant amount of?) grams of OMEGA 3s" is plastered all over the package.
Anyone who can't venture a really good guess as to the primary ingredient in those cookies needs to start reading ingredient lists! ;) Oh and if you are a Weight Watchers packaged food buyer - check the lists on their desert and meal replacement products - the first ingredient the same as those "healthy" cookies.
ReplyI can't stand this happening, either. What gets me is when something screams that it has no preservatives or unnatural anything, but is loaded with unspecified natural flavorings, high fructose corn syrup, and all sorts of natural stabilizers. Sure, it fits into the advertising, but it falls short of the halo those words create in the mind of the consumer: healthy.
ReplyThis is so true! I need to lose over 70 pounds this year and will need to start reading the labels better. http://myyeartolose.blogspot.com/
ReplyI think companies marketing foods as healthy when they are not are even worse than those who openly sell junk food beacuse they prey upon our best intentions and our greatest weaknesses. I have been pursuing companies like this for months via my blog, with mixed success - more about that here:
Roll Call of Shame: Companies Who Don't Listen
ReplyI didn't know that about whole grain/whole wheat, next time I will look for the 100% label. Also I will look for Certified USDA organic. Great blog, thanks for the info.
ReplyFruit that has lots of Vitamin C would be the best healthy choice at this time of the year.
Let common sense be your guide I think it the best way forward
ReplyOur problem as a society is that when we say "healthy" we sometimes mean nutritious, but we usually mean low in calories, carbs, or fat. But that sort of diet food can be filled with chemicals and salt.
Most vending machines have some sort of nuts or trail mix available. They may not be "low cal" or "low fat", but they are by far the "healthiest" choice -- fiber, protein, good fats (all things that make you feel full). I'd pick the realest food available.
ReplyFood marketers are experts at duping us.... any of you been caught by 'Heath bars' which the eye sees as 'Health bars'
ReplyLOL! Maybe it was fortuitous, but the "Heath Bar" was named by it's inventors, Heath Brothers Confectionery which was established in Robinson, Illinois, in 1914!
ReplyYou want healthy foods? I've got the easy solution:
Cook your own meals.
When it comes to prepared foods, you simply cannot rely on the name of the brand or the product or the claims made on the side of the box. We've already determined that those mean nothing. On the other hand, when you cook your own meals, you know exactly what is going in and whether it's healthy or not. It takes too long, you say? Cook freezer meals for the week on weekends and just pop dinner in the oven after work. Use frozen veggies (plain) or no salt added canned veg. Get yourself a $20 crock pot from the local big box store. Bring leftovers for lunch to reheat.
All those frozen meals above? You can prepare them yourself on a Sunday, freeze them, and you're all set for fast food for the week or the month.
ReplyI agree 100%. As a person with diabetes, all those frozen foods listed would send my blood sugar sky high. Most contain more then the total carbs I can eat each day and still keep my blood sugars at a safe level.
Replycath I agree. As a diabetic, if I ate what they suggest my blood sygar would be awful. I have to be heavy on protein and light on carbs or I am doomed.
ReplyThought you would be interested in this short omega-3 video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIgNpsbvcVM
ReplyOh, don't EVEN get me started on so-called "healthy" processed diet food. My mom and my aunt are both on Jenny Craig and have both done WW in the past. On the JC program, they buy these packaged "foods" that are loaded with preservatives, sodium, and other questionable ingredients. When my mom did WW, she didn't eat a lot of real foods, she would load up on the Chicken Enchiladas Suiza and Mac and Cheese frozen dinners and WW desserts. Oh yeah, REAL healthy.
I try to limit the amount of processed food that I eat...sometimes I'll eat candy or non-dairy coffee creamer, but I don't pretend it's healthy, lol.
ReplyThe truth is that they label other food "unhealthy".
ReplyTell me isn't this a naked truth about food marketing lie?
The problem with defining any food as healthy is the question, "Healthy for whom?" People are of different metabolic types, and as Diocletian said so long ago, "One man's meat is another man's poison."
For instance, if you go to the www.lowcarb.ca site, you'll find 50,000 people who vigorously assert that a high-fat, low-carb diet is the key to health. Having lost 65 lbs. in 2008 on that type of plan, I'm inclined to believe it - for the people whose metabolism is designed for that type of eating.
Billions of people do just fine on different mixes of macronutrients: high-carb, moderate-carb. The point is that there's no one way of healthy eating for everyone, or even a single set of guidelines that apply to every person on the planet, even though we all belong to the same species. The best we can do is some written or lab assessments to try to determine our metabolic type, and use trial-and-error experimentation from there.
ReplyI would have to disagree with you there. Why is it that every other animal on the planet can be considered to have a species-specific diet but when it comes to us humans we are all unique and have individual diets?
We might have different preferences in foods but when it comes down to the nitty gritty we DO have a specie specific diet/an optimal diet.
Most people don't know the difference between real hunger and cravings. Most people don't know what it is to feel healthy.
People may be perfectly fine on different diets but most likely they are not thriving and most likely they are doing unseen damage.
We need to have a high diet in fruits and greens for optimal health and well being. We need to stop being addicted to foods, we need to stop comfort eating.
Rambling sorry!...
I think this world is in a terrible mess!
Reply...mainly because human groups have developed in so many different climates. Genetic subsets will thrive on different diets based on what their ancestors ate, very much like the species-specific diets you mention. I'm not suggesting there are different human "species," but some genetic subsets developed eating high fat, low carb diets while others developed eating high carb diets. You can't just erase millions of years of natural selection operating in distinct human populations, as it was the forces of food availability that, in part, drove that development.
ReplyIt we had become developed to such ways of eating then why is there so much disease? It has been shown in for instance The China Study (Campbell) that high protein in the diet causes cancer growth.
There are numberous studies that suggest cooking is detrimental to one's health.
etc etc..
If we had developed to handle these then we wouldn't be getting some of these modern diseases.
And have we really adapted to different climates? I mean, yes we have built houses etc to keep warm - but without them you wouldn't survive.
We can eat many different things for survival and if you eat for example a high fat diet all your life your body will handle it better than if you started eating it a high fat diet tomorrow. Just because you can handle it better than someone else doesn't mean it is good for you - if you were healthy you wouldn't end up with colds etc - if you were in optimal health you wouldn't feel tired and drained etc.
Just because you THINK you feel fine doesn't mean you are.
A healthy person doesn't get ill, like wel all do these days.
ReplyWhy is there so much disease? That's easy -- because the Western diet (and, sadly, the SAD -- neither of which any group is truly adapted to) has spread to many corners of the globe!
As for climate, I'm not talking about humans and other animals adapting to temperature but rather humans and other animals adapting to the produce and other natural foods available in specific climate regions.
For example, certain groups of humans have been living in extremely cold climates for millions of years... climates where hardly any produce grows. Their bodies have developed to handle a diet higher in animal products and rich fats than a group whose ancestors lived in a climate where fruits and vegetables grow readily.
This is simply a matter of evolution -- if those human and animal groups had not evolved to eat in that way, they would have died off (or migrated) long ago.
I'm not suggesting that fresh fruits and vegetables aren't good for everyone or that we should follow faddish blood type diets and other ridiculous things. Far from it! What I am suggesting is that some human populations are better equipped physiologically to handle the digestion and absorption of animal fats and certain other nutrients because their ancestors thrived on those things for eons.
(If this seems confusing, remember that it's basic physiology, the same way that some ethnic groups are more prone to certain diseases and more resistant to others. The human body has many small variations, and these variations are frequently tied to geography in the same way an African Elephant is somewhat different than an Asian Elephant.)
ReplyAt some point, we are responsible for seeing through the marketing hype. A bar or a cookie is not a healthy snack, as the basic ingredients will always be flour, sugar, and oil! On the other hand, fruits and veggies are healthy snacks, as they are mostly fibre, water, and some sugar.
There is no magic here (ie, cookies cannot be miraculously transformed into something relatively healthy), and these basic facts have been with us for centuries.
One can add healthy things to cookies, but that does not make a cookie healthy. If you can figure out a way to make a cookie with little flour, sugar, and oil and still have it taste good, and mass produce it cheaply, you will get rich.
This is not to say one can never eat cookies or ding-dongs for that matter - only that they should be seen as a treat and consumed sparingly, not regularly.
ReplyDiet maintainance is very good for health. one should not go for the fraud that is given for their food saying their food is good for health and other is not good. see the genuineness fo the product and take.
ReplyI somehow agree with Kelly that it is very hard to choose absolutely perfect meal for proper diet on daily basis as a human being we sometime go careless about foods. It all depends on us that how we correct our carelessness through other source like proper exercise and through natural supplements. Remember I am not saying that you can eat junk and then exercise with supplements. Just in the case of some carelessness it can be helpful.
Keep health above all
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