And now, an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal, on the changing eating habits of Major League Baseball players and clubs. Players usually eat their meals at the “clubhouse”. Traditionally, the club fare was not much different than the stadium food – hot dogs, soda, and candies.

But today more and more clubhouses are offering healthy choices, and some are banishing the junk food altogether.

And eating better is not all. Clubs are trying to educate their stars as to the benefits of better eating choices:

The Los Angeles Dodgers will ship their players to Arizona next week for a six-day health-food boot camp. The Kansas City Royals are planning to put up posters in the clubhouse offering nutritional advice. And the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays both say they’re experimenting with the idea of preparing foods for the players that are rich in antioxidant grains like quinoa, teff and spelt. more…

The interesting fact is that many times the demand comes from the young players themselves, not necessarily management:

This past season, six members of the Los Angeles Angels approached the team’s dietician, without prompting, to ask her to write them “food plans” to improve their diets.

This is great news. Sports stars are a great influence in the media, especially on youngsters. If the role models on the playing field are also positive examples in the nutrition battleground, perhaps more children will opt in for healthy snacks and nutritious meals…

Hey! Mr. Bud Selig (MLB Commissioner) – how about an MLB sponsored campaign for fruits and vegetables? Imagine all those orphaned carrots, apples, and Brussels sprouts looking for a bigger than life hero to adopt them and bring them into the community of cool…

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Minute Maid, a subsidiary of the Coca Cola Company best known for its lines of fruit juices, has been reprimanded, albeit lightly, by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB). NAD found that commercials for it’s “Enhanced Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored 100% Juice Blend” made memory boosting claims which are not scientifically supported.

The commercials (see above an example) are actually quite cute, but are they truthful? And what exactly is in this confusingly-long-and-hard-to-remember-product-name blend? Read more…

Earlier this year, Glacéau, a subsidiary of Coca Cola, introduced yet another vitamin water, dubbed Vitamin Water 10, due to its low caloric content of [fill in the blank] calories per serving.

The “center for responsible hydration”, as Glacéau like to call itself on their flash website, informs the consumer that it’s naturally sweetened, has only 10 calories and tastes great.

Sounds like a big deal. So we went ahead and checked what all the fuss was about. Turns out there are 3 different sweeteners added to the water, not one.

Read more…

You’re in your thirties, forties and fifties.

You’re trying to eat better than you once did.

You’ve gained a few pounds since highschool, and maybe even have a medical condition. You’re not eating all the stuff you used to, whether it’s a refined taste you have acquired over the years, or limits you’ve imposed on yourself due to health considerations.

You’d like your children to eat healthfully as well. But that’s where problems  arise.

You’re not alone. If you are a parents to children under the age of 3, you still  have a chance to succeed because you control almost of every facet of their day, including meals. But it’s all downhill the minute kids go to preschool, kindergarten, grade school and onwards.

Here are a few reasons why it’s an uphill battle:

1. The law of the lowest common denominator. If your child has an apple for snacktime at school, but another kid is munching on twizzlers, what snack will both of them want tomorrow?

2. Childhood heroes sell (out). Movie tie ins are a very lucrative business for Hollywood. Entire licensing departments exist at all the major studios whose task is to sell the rights to use images in conjunction with sales of junk food. In just one example for this summer, Burger King is promoting Star Trek, Transformers, and G.I. Joe.

3. Convenience. The kids have to eat at school. You need to prepare their lunch every day. Or do you? What about some pocket change for little Johnny to get something at the school cafeteria? Or better yet, at the fast food diner conveniently located 2 blocks away from school.

4. Junk Food tastes good. It’s hard to argue with kids, whose taste buds are more responsive to sweet than complex tastes.

5. More convenience. You had a long day in the office, and the last thing you want to do is spend an hour cooking dinner in the sweltering kitchen when you get home. How simple, and cheap, it is to pick up a ready meal at one of the many drive-in windows spread around town.

6. The law of diminishing moderation. You don’t want your child to be totally clueless, plus the grandparents will have a fit if they can’t bring little Sally a chocolate treat when they come over this afternoon. What starts out as our good willed intentions to let kids enjoy a sweet snack once in a while, becomes once a day, and then once every few hours. Before you know it, things get out of control, and the majority of the snacks consumed by your kids are of the wrong kind.

What you need to do:

There is hope. But it requires strong willed parents who can help their children feel good about their food choices, and not feel like social outcasts.

It’s important to start your kids off right from the minute they’re weaned off milk/formula. Set rules that are reasonable (one chocolate snack a day) and stand by them. Show your kids how to prepare meals. Take them to a community garden. Teach them to read nutrition labels. Have them read about the risks of obesity and other diet related health problems. Eat together.

Talk with other parents at school. Talk with the teachers and school administration about improving the nutrition of school food.

If enough parents band together, perhaps law number one above will not be relevant anymore.

What do studios need to do: stop selling out childhood heroes to the highest paying burger!

What Junk Food Execs need to do: stop pushing crap at American kids. Think about your own children and multiply by 100 million!

And the government: Please, make them stop! You know they won’t do it on their own.

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There’s a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange that is having its best year ever. Sales are up, even as the nation is reeling from one of the worst financial catastrophes in its history. Its revenues are up, even as its direct competitors are struggling.

This company is run like a tight ship. An excellent stock to invest in, no doubt. In the last 5 years, the stock has gone up fivefold. That’s better than even Google or Apple.

In top business schools around the world, this company is a study in excellence – students read entire books dedicated to this corporation. They learn how to build operations, sales, marketing, global teams, and brand, all based on the leadership of the company’s executives.

What is this company and what is it selling?

McDonald’s, a symbol of the American way, has been selling us burgers, fries and shakes for 60 years. Our grandparents tried it in the 50’s and 60’s, our parents grew up to love it, we loved it as kids, and now our children love it too. Sounds perfect, right?

But there is one flaw. McDonald’s and its fast food peers are slowly but surely creating an obese nation. In an interesting article published today by Stacey Folsom  of Corporate Accountability International, we learn that the great profits of McDonald’s come at a great price to the nation. Diet related illness costs the US 120 billion dollars annually.

Is McDonald’s paying for these fees? Absolutely not. We are. The fast food chain’s PR department blames everyone but themselves for another record breaking year of obesity. The article tackles each of the company’s claims:

“It’s not our food that’s to blame, it’s a lack of exercise.” (In fact, recent studies have shown that we’re exercising almost the same as we did 30 years ago)

“It’s not our marketing to kids that’s to blame, it’s all the video games and internet media that distract our kids from physical activity.” (that’s why they also have a website for kids with lots of fun games…)

“We’re a leader in offering healthier menu choices.” (like salads with more calories than big macs?)

“It’s not our responsibility that kids are getting sick from eating too much of our food, that’s on parents.” (That’s why fast food joints conveniently like to be located next to schools, right?)

As we posted in yesterday’s rant, the system is malfunctioning.

McDonald’s growth in shareholder value goes hand in hand with the growth in our waistlines.

Which will stop growing first?

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Last week we got a refreshing email from the Fruit Guys, who run a fresh fruit (and vegetable) delivery service in key metropolitan areas across the country. here’s their story:

The Fruit Guys is a green and sustainability-focused company that delivers farm-fresh, organic & conventional fruit to offices across the country. The FruitGuys recently launched their home delivery service, making it easy for everyone to access the best locally produced fruit. Each fruit crate delivered includes a delicious mix of bananas, oranges, apples and seasonal fruit. During peak season 70-90% of the fruit mixes offered are locally grown within the regions they serve (East Coast, Midwest, West Coast) and literally go from the farm to home or office within 3-4 days.

And in the San Francisco Bay area they do veggies too.

Would we want to try out a fresh crate?

Who could refuse.

We had the box shipped to faithful reader Zack S and his family, and here is what they said. Read more…

We recently reviewed several healthy snack options,  fruit leathers, and freeze dried fruit. Today, a look at another option – Bear Fruit Bars. We’d like to thank reader Sarah S, a Fooducate Product Tester, for her feedback.

Bear Fruit Bars are manufactured by a small company called Mountain Organic Foods and come in four flavors – Organic Apple, Organic Apple Cherry, Organic Apple Raspberry, Organic Apple Blueberry. As you can see, the main motive here is apples. The Bear guys operate an organic  orchard in the Hood River Valley in Oregon.

So how did these organic snacks stack up?
Read more…

As children, we loved visiting The Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. Besides all the cool spacegear, a special treat awaited us at the souvenir shop – Astronaut Dessert in the form of freeze dried ice cream. Strawberry and Chocolate flavor. Melt in your mouth heaven for a 9 year old.

Fast forward to present day, Freeze Dried Partners LLC has recently introduced a line of freeze dried snacks called Funky Monkey, made from real fruit. There are 4 flavors, 3 of which are USDA Organic. From the manufacturer:

Funky Monkey Snacks contain no added sugar, preservatives, colors or flavors.  The snacks are made using a proprietary freeze-drying process on whole slices and large pieces of fruit.  The process, not used on any other snack available in the U.S., removes approximately 97 percent of the moisture content of the fruit, providing a crisp, crunchy texture, while retaining nearly all of the fruit’s nutrients.

Funky Monkey Snacks are a healthier and more natural alternative to dried fruit or fruit snacks.  Dried fruit does not preserve all the nutrients of fresh fruit, and fruit snacks often contain added sugars (including high-fructose corn syrup), colors, flavors and preservatives.

Below are the results of our taste test and nutritional analysis. Read more…

Mott's for Tots® Juice

Would you pay more for beer that was watered down by 40%?

What if we told you it was healthier or you?

Mott’s, icon of everything apple, is offering your kids the same deal, but for apple juice.

They’ve introduced a line of juices for young children – Mott’s for Tots, with 40% less sugar, but 10% more expensive. Not a lot of food science went into this formulation. Mott’s simply replaced 40% of the juice with good old water. Marketing science – yes.

What you need to know:

Why water down  juice?

Apples, like many other fruit, are sweet. They contain plenty of sugar. A medium apple has 18 grams (3.5 teaspoons).

When squeezed into juice, the sugar content is even higher. An 8 fl oz serving of apple juice has 23 grams of sugar (4.5 teaspoonfuls). Mott’s for Tots has only 13 grams (2.5 teaspoonfuls). Parents that would like to reduce their children’s sugar consumption now have a panacea. Just imagine all the thank you letters pouring into Mott’s mailroom:

“Thank you Mott’s; it was just too hard to add water on my own…”

This is a sweet deal for Mott’s. It costs shoppers $3.59 for a 64 fl oz bottle of “regular” apple juice, but the healthier tots version is $3.99. This is a 10% premium for the consumer. But the profit margin is even higher for Mott’s. Remeber, 40% of the juice is not juice anymore but water (Mott’s calls it purified water; just between us though, this means filtered tap water that costs close to nothing).

If you can get your kids to drink water from the get go, do it. Apple juice can be a nice treat here and there. But avoid making it a daily ritual. Pouring anything other than water in baby bottles or sippy cups, is a dental disaster. Even in the tots version, the amount of sugar loving bacteria that forms around juice cloaked teeth is a thousandfold more than the herds of buffalo roaming the great plains 300 years ago.

What to do at the supermarket:

Get your apple goodness from real apples, especially local and in season (July-December). Apple juice should be no more than an occasional treat. If you really must drink it, store brand is just as good as branded juice, at significant savings of up to 30%. And in these rough economic times, really do yourself a favor – water down the juice at home.

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flickr photo: Jason Riedy

From the New York Times:

Misshapen fruit and vegetables won a reprieve on Wednesday from the European Union as it scrapped rules banning overly curved, extra knobbly or oddly shaped produce from supermarket shelves.

“It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the ‘wrong’ shape.”

Read the article…

Remember the old adage “don’t judge the book by its cover”?  Similarly, people judge food with their eyes. Marketers and retailers get it. That’s why, at any given supermarket produce section, fruits and vegetables seem like soldiers standing at attention. They are stacked neatly one on top of the other, uniformly shaped, big, bright, and shiny. Perfect. Except, that is, for their flavor. This is because supermarket produce is bred for transportability, long shelf life, and of course, the eye-candy factor.

What to do at the supermarket:

For exceptional flavor, some people bypass the supermarket and head to the farmers market, where deformed, usually small fruit and vegetables await. Not always sightly, but one bite into an heirloom tomato is enough to convince folks that tomatoes were meant to taste like this.

For those of us who do prefer the convenience of the supermarket, check out the organic section. Although the produce may not appear as sexy, in many cases it packs a flavorful punch.

Lastly, choose produce in season. Tomatoes do not grow year round near your home. When you buy them in winter, they have been picked green and traveled many miles and many days to get to your plate.  Apples may have been picked months ago and chill stored until their time came to dress the shelf at your local A&P.

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