Former President Bill Clinton was released from the hospital a few days ago after undergoing a procedure to bypass a clogged artery. In a statement to reporters at a childhood obesity event of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Clinton blamed his poor health on

“the habits I acquired in my childhood, mostly the way I ate and the way it interacted with my own biology and propensity to produce bad cholesterol…I ate too much fried food, too much ice cream, too much everything”. read more…

Fried food – too much fats, too much salt. Ice cream – too much fats, too much sugar. Too much everything – calorie overload. Not a recipe for a healthy life.

What you need to know:

Former president Clinton. First Lady Michelle Obama. Cabinet members. All are involved in some way with our nation’s obesity epidemic. Clinton, like Obama realize that adults who have developed bad habits are much harder to turn around compared to children who have their whole life ahead of them. We all remember president Clinton’s uncontrollable burger cravings. That’s why he and Mrs. Obama are focusing on ways to combat childhood obesity. They’re hoping to affect food consumption patterns at a young age.

Unfortunately the junk food companies know this too. “Get ‘em while they’re young, and they’ll stay loyal to your brand forever”. The consumption patterns their marketing efforts have yielded so far (and continue to shape) will eventually lead millions into hospitals for treatment.

Unless we parents take action.

What to do at the supermarket:

Instead of taking Clinton’s negative remarks of “too much this or that”, let’s focus on the positives, on things you want to get your kids to eat and enjoy. This means real food, with real flavors. Expose them to fruits and vegetables from the minute they can start to chew. Even if they don’t like something, try multiple times, showing them a good example by eating the same. Eventually they will come around and start to eat produce as well. Maybe not everything, but at least french fries and ketchup won’t be your only option.

Get the family into a water drinking habit, relegating sweet juices or sodas to “uncontrollable” events such as holidays or parties out of the home. Tap water is safe, clean, and delicious in almost all parts of the country. And it’s much easier to grow up drinking water than having to switch from soda to H2O as an adult.

By helping your children to develop sophisticated taste buds, you will encourage lifelong appreciation of real food tastes, with less reliance on sugar/fat/sodium. This triumvirate is the lowest common denominator used by the junk food industry to mask all the other band ingredients and make everything seem great.

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Ice cream by the pint is probably the ultimate comforter for bereft lovers after a break-up. And while it may help cheer you up for a few minutes, it is not necessarily going to help battle depression. According to a European study, there is a relation between what we eat and our psyche. From the NY Times:

A study of over 10,000 Spaniards followed for almost four and half years on average found that those who reported eating a healthy Mediterranean diet at the beginning of the study were about half as likely to develop depression than those who said they did not stick to the diet.

While the study does not prove causality, it is interesting to see a link between diet and mental health, not just physical health. Many people who refuse to eat healthily claim that they rather enjoy life than obsess about their weight. But what if unhealthy eating patterns also strain your mental health?

Interesting.

What to do at the supermarket:

According to the study

The elements of the diet most closely linked to a lower risk of depression were fruits and nuts, legumes and a high ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fats, the study found.

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The consumer watchdog group CSPI published [PDF] a provocative list of 10 healthy foods that have been involved in large scale contamination in the past few years:

1. LEAFY GREENS: 363 outbreaks involving 13,568 reported cases of illness
2. EGGS: 352 outbreaks , 11,163 illness
3. TUNA: 268 outbreaks , 2341 illness
4. OYSTERS: 132 outbreaks , 3409 illness
5. POTATOES: 108 outbreaks , 3659 illness
6. CHEESE: 83 outbreaks , 2761 illness
7. ICE CREAM: 74 outbreaks , 2594 illness
8. TOMATOES: 31 outbreaks , 3292 illness
9. SPROUTS: 31 outbreaks , 2022 illness
10. BERRIES: 25 outbreaks , 3397 illness

The group is not trying to scare us away from these foods, it is simply pointing out a fact that the FDA must do a better job of enforcing safety regulations on growers, shippers, and manufacturers. The FDA should be given the tools by law:

the United States Senate should follow the House and pass legislation that reforms our fossilized food safety laws

What you need to know:

Food Safety is something we take for granted when everything is OK. But a rushed trip to the emergency room, fevers, cramps, bloody stools, or worse remind us how fragile we are vs tiny contaminants that find their way into our food. And the grave responsibility of the entire supply chain in providing us safe food.

While we believe that most companies try to maintain high standards of safety, there is always room for improvement. Unfortunately, many times the pressure to cut costs is at odds with additional safety measures.

Just this past January the great peanut butter recall exposed how easy it is for one bad apple (or in this case peanut) to infiltrate hundreds of food items.

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The American Heart Association has just published a report on sugar consumption [PDF] in its Circulation Journal. Not surprisingly, Americans are consuming way too many teaspoonfuls of ADDED SUGAR in our diet.

How much? 22 teaspoons worth on average!

If you think that’s not typical, just add up a  breakfast cereal (3 teaspoons),  lowfat strawberry yogurt (3 teaspoons), one can of soda pop (8 teaspoons), 3 teaspoons for three cups of coffee during the day, and a serving of ice cream for dessert (4 teaspoons). You’ll have reached a similar amount. And that’s not counting natural sugars.

Added sugar is found in refined and processed foods such as snacks, breakfast cereals and soft drinks. Sugar is also naturally found in fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. And though our body reacts to sugar pretty much the same way no matter the source, when we eat fruits we also get the benefits of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber that helps us feel fuller, longer.

The by the AHA is interesting because traditionally the organization has endorsed some sugary foods as heart healthy. Companies have paid, and still pay, to get the AHA symbol on products that are low-fat, regardless of their sugar content. It’s good deal for both sides – the AHA gets much needed funds, and the companies get an “objective” approval of their product’s nutritional value.

Perhaps now the AHA will take a more holistic approach to is endorsements, and stop recommending foods that have taken out the fat but added sugar as compensation. Removing one “bad” nutrient and replacing it with another “bad” one has not done consumers any good. Just ask the 24 million diabetics and 1 million additions each year.

The nutrition panel on food products displays the total amount of sugar in a serving. Unfortunately it doesn’t tell us how much is naturally present and how much has been added. In some categories such as cereals, pastries, and sweet snacks, you can bet that most of the sugar, if not all, is not naturally present.

The FDA would do wisely to require added sugar to appear as a separate line in the nutrition panel. Until then, we’ll have to guess.

What to do at the supermarket:

The less processed a food, the less added sugars. Consuming sugars from natural sources such as fruits is excellent and tasty.

Most people, by just quitting soft drinks and drinking coffee straight, can drastically cut their refined sugar intake.

Leave the few teaspoons of added sugar to a nice scoop of ice cream over a fresh hot brownie.

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Here’s irony for you. Walgreens’ coupon of the week is for a $10 ENTIRE MEAL (complete junk food meal). On the same web page is  a link to their DIABETES center.

The meal includes a Digiorno pizza, a 12 pack of Coke, and quart and a half of Dreyer’s Ice Cream. We did some number crunching to see just how bad this meal can be.

The Entire Meal consists of 5160 calories, 672 grams of sugar, 54 grams of saturated fat, and 4700 mg of sodium. If consumed by 6 people, that leaves us with 860 calories per person and 112 grams of sugar! That’s almost half the daily caloric intake, virtually without any healthy nutrients. It’s 28 (yes, TWENTY EIGHT) teaspoons of sugar in a single meal.

No wonder there’s a link to Walgreen’s “Diabetes Center” right on the same page.

Shame on you Walgreens. Read more…

July is National Ice Cream Month, and in honor of our favorite dessert, we’ll post some interesting articles in the coming weeks.

Today, a look at Breyers and Dreyer’s, two leading brands that people often confuse with each other. Dreyer’s is owned by Nestle, and Breyers by Unilever, both huge European food corporations.

Breyers started on the east coast and expanded west; Dreyer’s – in the opposite direction. Dreyer’s adopted Edy’s as their brand name east of the Rockies, but Breyers did not reciprocate out west.

So which company makes better ice cream?

What you need to know:

Taste is a matter of choice, so we won’t comment. But we did want to check if  there was any nutritional advantage to one brand over the other.

Breyers was once famous for its very short ingredient list – milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. However, since being acquired by Unilever, and as a means to cut production costs, the ingredient list has changed and includes Tara gum, Guar gum, ice-structuring proteins, mono and diglycerides, corn-syrup, and something called Natural Flavor. For the most part, these additives are harmless, but you should inspect ingredient lists to make sure there are no artificial colors.

Today, both companies carry multiple lineups of products, divided into names such as “Light”, “No sugar added”, “All Natural”, and “Carb Smart”.

Keeping ice cream tasty while reducing its caloric foot print is not an easy task. Replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols is an easy first step, but yields a slightly off taste, and for some people causes bloating and gas.

Taking out the fat is a bigger challenge. After all the “cream” in “ice cream” is milk fat. Dreyer’s introduced a new processing method a few years ago called slow churning, which enables reaching the same creamy consistency of regular ice cream using a third less cream. Usually a spoonful more sugar is added to compensate for the loss of fat (17 grams vs 14 grams).

From a nutritional perspective Dreyer’s and Breyers are very simialar. A comparison of half cup serving of regular Vanilla ice cream is shown below.

What to do at the supermarket:

Here’s our ice cream philosophy – Ice cream is NOT a nutrition product. It should not be treated as one. It should be a fun and tasty treat consumed in moderation. Better a cup of creamy rich Vanilla ice cream once a week, than five half cups of subpar “1/3 calories less” product consumed almost daily.

Don’t eat ice cream as a meal replacement. Don’t eat straight out of the bucket in front of the TV.

Do add a scoop on top of fruit, or in a tall glass of ice coffee.

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Unilever, one of the largest food conglomerates in the world, has recently announced it is adopting a holistic approach to sodium reduction in its global food portfolio.

The European based corporation is the owner of famous US brands such as Colman’s (mustard), Hellmann’s / Best Foods (mayonnaise), Knorr (sauces, stock cubes, ready-meals, meal kits, ready-soups, frozen foods), Lipton, Mazola, Ragú (pasta sauces), Skippy  (peanut butter), Slim Fast (diet products), and Wish-Bone (salad dressing). Unilever is also the world’s largest ice cream manufacturer, owning Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Good Humor, and Klondike in the states.

What you need to know:

Salt is composed of sodium and chloride. 1000 mg of salt contain 400mg of sodium. Our bodies need salt but over consumption leads to high blood pressure, hypertension, and other nasty diseases. And boy do we over consume.

Around 75% of the sodium we use is from processed foods. And since most of the food we eat nowadays is processed,  there is no escape.

The modern consumer, pressed for time and looking for convenience, is ingesting almost twice the recommended allowance of sodium per day (2400mg of sodium  is the recommended value).

If manufacturers of processed foods substantially reduce the amount of sodium in their products, it will have an immediate effect on most of the Western world.

Problem is that food tastes better when salty. And since companies don’t want to lose market share by selling unbecoming foods, we have been drowned in salt for decades. No company would like to take the first risky step of sodium reduction, right?

Wrong, Unilever has stepped up.

Though some may say Unilever is taking a foolhardy approach that will hurt its revenues, this is actually a smart move.

Unilever is taking preemptive measures before EU food authorities mandate it. The UK’s Food Standards Authority has already notified manufacturers that by next year (2010) guidelines will be in effect for several food categories. And stricter regulation may follow suite in coming years.

Basically, Unilever is doing something it would have had to do in any case. But by creating a media buzz around it, they gain credibility as a responsible food purveyor and a leader in nutrition.

As an aside, Unilever is also very active in promoting front of package food labeling called “Choices” in Europe. A similar plan, dubbed “Smart Choices”  has been introduced in the US. The idea is to enable consumers to know in a quick glance if a certain food passes a certain nutrition benchmark.

What to do at the supermarket:

The best way to drastically reduce sodium consumption is simply by preparing food at home. If you don’t have time, and do buy canned soups or frozen dinners, opt for the low sodium options. You can always sprinkle a bit more salt on top at home if it is not salty enough for you.

Soup mixes such as Knorr’s can be brutal in terms of sodium content, so watch out. Also, look for salt in strange places like cookies, cereals, and breads. You’d be surprised.

Products with more than 600-800 mg of sodium per serving are to be avoided as much as possible.

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flickr photo: matski_98

1. It has many names – Tartrazine, E102 , FD&C Yellow 5, C.I. 19140, or just plain Yellow 5.

2. Yellow #5 is a synthetic, water soluble, lemon yellow dye used as a food coloring.

3. A partial list of foods including Yellow #5: cotton candy, soft drinks, energy drinks, instant puddings, flavored tortilla chips such as Doritos, breakfast cereals, cake mixes, pastries, pudding powders, soups, sauces, flavored rices such as paella,  powdered drink mixes, sports drinks, ice cream, ice pops, candy, chewing gum, marzipan, jam, jelly, gelatins, marmalade, mustard, horseradish, yogurt, noodles, and pickles.

4. Yellow #5 is one of the cheapest synthetic colors available, and sold all over the world.

5. The more expensive, natural food colorings are turmeric (a spice) , annatto (tropical tree derivative), betacarotene (think carrots’ orange pigments), or malt color.

6. Various levels of allergic reactions and intolerance reactions have been caused by this food coloring, especially among asthmatics and people with aspirin intolerance.

7. Some studies have linked various immunologic responses to tartrazine ingestion, including anxiety, migraines, clinical depression, blurred vision, itching, general weakness, heatwaves, feeling of suffocation, purple skin patches, and sleep disturbance.

8. Despite mounting evidence, The FDA considers Yellow #5 a safe food coloring. Let it be noted that, in the past, the FDA banned the use of other food colorings. This, after research showed them to be carcinogenic.

9. A major study published in the UK in 2007 linked food colorings with hyperactive behavior in children. As a result, the FSA (UK’s FDA) has called manufacturers to voluntarily ban food colorings in their products. Most companies are obliging,  due to consumer pressure and FSA encouragement.

10. Consumer groups in the US, especially the Center for Science in the Public Interest, have called food colorings, and especially Yellow #5, the “Secret Shame” of Food Industry and Regulators. A ban from all foods is their request.

11. Yellow #5 may also be also found in vitamins, antacids, soaps, cosmetics, shampoos, moisturizers, and crayons.

12. Organic foods may also contain Yellow #5 or other food colorings, because the USDA considers a processed food organic if it as at least 95% organic by weight. Since food colorings are used in tiny amounts, a bran muffin with a touch of artificial yellow is still considered organic.

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Häagen Daazs ice cream is probably one of man’s best inventions, a true elixir. Undoubtedly the recipe was handed down from the heavens to help us mortals live a better life. It’s ice cream at it’s best, ambrosia for $7 a pint.

And it’s fattening, much to our dismay.

A pint will set you back 1200 calories, 100% of your daily fat allowance and 200% of your daily saturated fat allotment. True, the serving size is a quarter of a pint, with 4 half-cup servings per container, but show us someone who knows when to stop…

Ice cream is a fun treat if you eat healthy and indulge every once in a while. At least it’s money well spent compared to other “snacks” that don’t match up in flavor.

Now if they could only make their ice cream a bit healthier…

That’s why we were happy to read [thanks slashfood] about a new product line from the company, called Häagen Dazs Five:

All-natural ice cream crafted with only five ingredients for incredibly pure, balanced flavor… and surprisingly less fat!

Curious to know what’s new, we checked out the ingredient list of Häagen Dazs Five Vanilla Bean flavor to see what has changed from the classic formulation. We expected to find a drastic reduction in superfluous ingredients (including evil preservatives and whatnot). Here is what we discovered:

New formula: SKIM MILK, CREAM, SUGAR, EGG YOLKS, VANILLA (VANILLA BEAN FLAKES, VANILLA EXTRACT).

Classic formula: CREAM, SKIM MILK, SUGAR, EGG YOLKS, NATURAL FLAVOR, GROUND VANILLA BEANS.

Guess what – the classic formula has exactly six ingredients. And despite the “FIVE” logo, the new formula also has six! (Vanilla bean flakes and vanilla extract count as two separate ingredients by our book, not one).

We continued to check the nutrition information. serving size is half a cup in both formulas.

New formula: 220 calories, 11g (17%) fat, 7g saturated fat (35%), 0 trans fat (not really zero just rounded down)

Classic formula: 290 calories, 18g (27%) fat, 11g saturated fat (54%), 0.5g trans fat

We see here that more skim milk is used in the new formula than cream, and the result is less fat and less calories. The big questions is how much of a difference in taste does this reduction in fat cause? And is the 25% saving in calories worth it?

What you need to know:

This Five campaign is a nice marketing move by Häagen Dazs, but will not likely help you with your diet. As usual, don’t let marketing tricks fool you to believe that products are beter for you.

The market pressure is so high, that food companies can’t rely on selling a solid good product anymore, they need to constantly innovate and keep consumers interested in buying more and more of their new products. Trying out all sort of weird flavors (Hello Ben and Jerry’s) is one way. Line extensions are another, hence HD’s Five. It’s not really about our health.

What to do at the supermarket:

Five Shmive, our favorite flavor is Dulce De Leche, and nobody is going to stop us. We promise to limit ourselves to the manufacturer suggested half  cup serving size…

What do you think about the taste of a new Five product compared to the classic formulation? Let us know in the comments below..

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flickr photo : PinkMoose

“No additives or preservatives” sounds like a promising claim on a food label. But you’ll be hard pressed to find products in the supermarket that don’t contain at least one food additive. Even organic products use them, and unless you bake your own bread, avoid all processed snacks, and drink nothing but water, you won’t be able to avoid them.

Food additives are natural and artificial substances added to food in order to improve and preserve its flavor and appearance.

Some additives, such as salt used to cure meats, have been around for millennia. In the 20th century, advances in chemical and food engineering brought endless innovations in additives, resulting in the products currently lining supermarket shelves all around the globe.

Below the fold is a rough categorization of additive types. Some additives belong to more than one category. For example, sugar is both a preservative and a sweetener. All additives are safe for consumption, according to the FDA. Consumer groups, though, are concerned about the effects of some artificial additives on human health. Read more…