credit: George Burns, Harpo Productions

Today’s episode of Oprah is dedicated to type 2 diabetes. Over 24 million Americans are suffering from diabetes and a staggering 1.6 million are added every year. million of us are “pre-diabetic”, meaning we are on our way to fall off the cliff. This is crazy!

There is a very strong correlation between obesity and diabetes, and that’s why creating good eating habits at a young age is probably your best bet against the disease.

According to USA Today,

Oprah and her health team will encourage viewers to go to their nearest Walgreens pharmacy Friday to get a free blood glucose reading that will tell them whether they could be at risk for type 2 diabetes.

Walgreens is bolstering all its retail locations with nurses and pharmacists who will be on deck to handle as many people as possible.

This is (another) great initiative on Oprah’s part, and some great PR for Walgreens too.

Too bad Walgreens is also a contributor to many people’s obesity and diabetes problems. 100 years ago pharmacies sold medicine, not junk food and soda. Step into a Walgreen’s today and you’ll have to pass through the Snickers and Seven Up before reaching the back of the store to talk with a pharmacist. And waiting for the cashier at the checkout counter, you again have an opportunity to buy some candy.

While we commend Walgreens for the diabetes testing, it would be much braver for them to stop selling junk food altogether. Yeah, right…

What to do at the supermarket:

We will never tire of dishing you this advice – buy less processed foods. Eat more vegetables and fruits. Whole grains. And don’t be tempted to buy (junk) food at places they don’t belong (gas stations, pharmacies, bookstores, and the likes).

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New! Choose a better breakfast with CerealScan™ by Fooducate

USA Today has two stories out about a recent research project by Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The findings were presented in Washington DC as part of the annual meeting of the Obesity Society. Here’s what they found:

Cereals marketed to kids have 85% more sugar, 65% less fiber and 60% more sodium than those aimed at adults!

Some more interesting facts:

•The least nutritious cereals are  the most heavily marketed to children – Reese’s Puffs, Corn Pops, Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cap’n Crunch.

•Some of the products with the poorest nutrition ratings have health claims on the boxes.

•The average preschooler sees 642 TV cereal ads a year; most are for types with the worst nutrition ratings.

•Cereal companies spend more than $156 million a year marketing to children.

This study shines an even brighter light on the ludicrous Smart Choices Program, terminated this weekend, which elevated candy breakfasts such as Froot Loops and Apple Jacks to a “nutritious” status.

As Expected, the major cereal manufacturers have an answer though:

General Mills spokeswoman Heidi Geller says kids who eat cereal more frequently, including pre-sweetened cereals, “tend to weigh less than kids who eat cereal less frequently — and they are better nourished.”

The Rudd center put together a great website called Cereal Facts, that lets parents search cereals by name or manufacturer, and then receive a nutrition ranking, including information about the product.

What to do at the supermarket:

Look for cereals that are high in fiber (3 grams and up per serving), low in sugar (less than 6 grams), and low in sodium (less than 120mg). If your kids complain that they are not sweet enough – you can always add a spoonful of honey, maple syrup, or sugar to the milk.

Click here for a list of the top 10 cereals according to Cereal Facts. In the list are shredded wheat products from Kashi, Barbara’s Bakery, Nature’s Path and the big players too.

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The concept of a soda tax has been floating around for a while. The idea is to tax sugary drinks in order to help reduce demand and also foot the bill for obesity related disease treatment down the road. The penny per ounce tax will supposedly reduce consumption by a few percent and raise billions of dollars over the next decade.

Proponents claim that, just like tobacco taxes helped reduce demand for cigarettes, so will a tax on sugary drinks. Opponents claims that such a tax is unfair because there’s not one single cause for obesity. Why not tax butter and potato chips as well?

Even though there’s currently no pending legislation at the federal or state level in the US, the beverage industry is taking no chances, according to USA Today.

The American Beverage Association has begun a $2 million ad campaign to oppose a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, depicting it as a tax on “simple pleasures.”

Last month, the group joined forces with the National Restaurant Association and the Grocery Manufacturers Association to launch Americans Against Food Taxes, a coalition of 110 state and local groups.

Read more…

We don’t like soft drinks in the American diet. We wish people would consume less because soft drinks have no nutritional value and contribute to obesity.

But more taxes for Americans suck. We don’t like the government reaching in to our wallets. Here’s a better idea. Read more…

Unilever, uber food conglomerate, will stop using trans fat in its margarine spreads as soon as next month, according to an article in USA Today. This is great news for consumers, because Unilever is the number one seller of margarine tubs and spreads. It’s top brands are I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and Shedd’s Spread Country Crock.

“I call this the death knell for trans fats,” says Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at New York University.

The elimination of trans fats from the U.S. diet “should be written up as a business school case and studied,” says Michael Jacobson, director of advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has pushed for it. Trans fats have been reduced more than 70% in three years, he says.

read the entire article…

What you need to know:

Trans Fat is just plain EVIL. It has been unequivocally shown to increase the chances of heart disease because it raises the levels of LDL, the bad cholesterol, in our bloodstream. This leads to clogged arteries and other precursors of coronary ailments.

Trans fat is mostly man-made, and found in hydrogenated oils. These are vegetable oils that are “bombed” with hydrogen atoms in a process that makes them solid at room temperature.

The FDA has been requiring manufacturers to post product trans fat content on nutrition labels ever since 2006. Since then, lo and behold, trans fat is disappearing at a rapid pace.

Makes you wonder what would happen if the FDA would require labeling of ADDED SUGAR in products.

What to do at the supermarket:

You’re not 100% safe yet. There is still an irritating loophole though, whereby up to half a gram of trans fat can legally be labeled as 0. So in addition to checking the nutrition panel for 0 trans fat, look at the ingredient list to make sure there are no “partially hydrogenated vegetable oils“.

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Over the weekend, USA Today published a great piece about the cost of healthy eating. The bottom line is that for most people eating healthfully means paying more, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

The article comes at a time when more Americans are stretched for dollars, stressed out from the recession, and resorting more and more to comfort foods that are not always nutritious. As luck (?) would have it the cheapest most comforting foods are the ones that are the worst for our waistlines.

It’s a hard fact: Eating healthier can cost more. When you’re hungry, you go for what’s most filling, meaning calorie-dense foods with lots of added fat and sugar.

Dr. Adam Drewnowski, who directs the University of Washington Center for Public Health Nutrition has been researching the nutrition profiles of various foods for several years. He created algorithms to calculate the nutrient density of foods by examining each product’s nutrients to encourage (protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals) and nutrients to limit (saturated fats, sodium, added sugars). Running the calculations on database of thousands of foods showed unequivocally that nutrient dense foods tend to be more expensive.

However, there is hope.

Knowing how to eat well is based on “knowledge, money and time,” Drewnowski says. “If you’re trying to save money, you need to invest your knowledge and time into learning how to cook and finding the right foods.”

Here is a simple example – French fries are not a healthy choice, but the potato they come from is. Instead of getting fries at McDonald’s (saves time), why not bake potatoes (invest time in learning and cooking).

What you need to know:

Convenience is the key word here.

The entire fast food industry was born so that Americans could get food more conveniently an save time. TV Dinners were a great convenience to moms who joined the work force in the 1950’s and 60’s and no longer had time to cook at home. The tradition of convenience continues today with deli counters at the supermarket, precut salads, and ready made pasts sauces, soups, and whatnot.

These conveniences cost money. And if they are labeled as healthy conveniences, they’ll cost even more.

Granted, we need this convenience because we barely have enough hours in a day to survive, let alone spend them in the kitchen cooking.

But if we look at statistics, Americans are spending 2-4 hours a day in front of a screen, whether TV, Computer, or video game.

What if we took just 10% of that time and spent it on acquiring basic food preparation skills and employing them in our kitchen?

A trick that works for busy parents is to set aside a block of 3-5 hours on the weekend to cook for the entire upcoming week. Thank goodness for large freezers.

An important investment is teaching your kids to prepare foods. It can start with washing vegetables and drying them (preschool), continue with cutting (4th grade and up), and work on up to sautéing (junior high). Heck, by the time the kids are in highschool, not only are they helping you cook, they’re probably slimmer and healthier than their couch potato peers.  Not to mention the quality time spent together creating dishes.

Now let’s look at what ingredients you should to buy…

What to do at the supermarket:

As a rule, the less processed a food, the cheaper it is. Which means you should buy more fruits and veggies (even frozen or canned), bulk grains such as rice, and lean unprepared meats. Basic unsweetened dairy products such as yogurts are cheaper than the fruit flavored sugar laden kind. Adding a teaspoon of honey or a few chopped strawberries and spoonful of sugar is still going to be cheaper, not to mention healthier.

Most of what you’ll need is the in the perimeter of the store.

Here are some more suggestions in Fooducate’s Top Ten Tips for Nutritious Shopping in a Recession.

Good luck and bon apetit.

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In one sentence: Err on the side of caution – don’t buy a product with peanuts for the time being. If it hasn’t been recalled yet, it may be tomorrow.

As parents and slightly paranoid consumers, when someone tells us everything is fine, we worry. If that someone is an investment manager or the FDA, we worry A LOT.

While just 2 weeks ago consumers were assured that the PBS outbreak was limited, and that they need to watch out for only a few items, it now appears that almost any product containing peanuts in various forms  is being recalled. This is partly due to new findings about the subpar sanitary conditions at the supplier manufacturing plant, which included mold, slime, pests, and rodents. Yikes!

Peanut Corporation of America  expanded its recall to ALL products it manufactured at its plant in the past 2 years! The expanded recall includes dry roasted peanuts,  oil roasted peanuts, granulated peanuts, peanut meal, peanut butter and peanut paste. The firm has supplied hundreds of manufacturers across the country, so the results of this recall have had and will continue to have a ripple effect.

Some previous recalls are being expanded by manufacturers to additional products, and more states. The recal list is growing, almost by the hour. The FDA has contacted over 350 manufacturers concerning possible contamination.

But knowing how underfunded and understaffed the FDA is, does not add confidence that the parents are receiving timely advice. Nor does the fact that recalls are voluntary, which means manufacturers have the last say, instead of the FDA mandating a recall on day one of the outbreak.

What to do at the supermarket:

If you spot someone walking into a supermarket with a list of the 500+ products being recalled in order to find one that isn’t, please let us know. Right now,  parents are reading food labels carefully. May are avoiding anything with the word peanut in the ingredient list. Proceed with caution.

Here’s the Current Recall List: Read more…

More updates on the salmonella / peanut butter outbreak. According to USA Today:

Peanut butter and peanut paste manufactured by the Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) has been tied to the salmonella outbreak that has sickened 501 people in 43 states and is believed to have contributed to eight deaths.

Read the article…

Half of the outbreak victims are children under the age of 18. Children and the elderly are especially prone to sickness as a result of salmonella contamination.

A small consolation – The outbreak seems to finally be slowing down in the past day or two.

Here’s the Current Recall List: Read more…

You’ve probably heard about the most recent Salmonella outbreak. The culprit this time seems to be a batch of infected peanut butter, of all things. In his blog, Bill Marler deduces that the most probable cause is rodent or bird poop finding it’s way into a mix at the manufacturing facility.

While this is an unfortunate incident, don’t let it deter you from enjoying the many health benefits of peanuts and peanut butter.

Now for some interesting peanut facts, nutrition and buying tips. Read more…

flickr photo: Mr. T in DC

Need more vitamins? Get them from real food, not pills. This is the jist of a USA Today article Vitamins get ‘F’ in cancer prevention:

A flotilla of recent studies — including two papers published today — has sunk the notion that individual vitamin supplements prevent cancer.

Researchers have noted for years that populations with healthy diets — lots of vegetables, little junk food — are less likely than others to get cancer, says Peter Gann of the University of Illinois-Chicago, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new papers.

It’s been much more challenging to tease out the specific foods — or even compounds — that keep cells from turning malignant, Gann says. Is it the fish oil? The soy? The lack of red meat?

What you need to know:

For the most part, Americans can get all their daily vitamin and mineral needs by eating healthy balanced meals with plenty of fruits and vegetables. While a multivitamin supplement probably can’t hurt, it is not a replacement for a poor diet. There are, aside from all the known nutrients, many additional benefits of eating real foods that scientists have not even begun to understand. For example, the various interactions between different substances once in the digestive tract or in the bloodstream.

What to do at the supermarket:

Buy real food. Usually found in the store perimeter. Plenty of fruits and vegetables. Whole grains. lean meats. Low fat dairy. prepare meals at home; you’ll do away with preservatives and additives that at best do no harm, but may sometimes be what’s making you sick.

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High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), the sweetener everybody loves to hate, has starred in headlines recently, as well as in commercials sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association. Many believe that it is the reason we are all getting fatter. In fact, a 2004 study even suggested such a link.

ut now, USA Today reports, five new studies are showing the opposite – no link between obesity and HFCS consumption:

This week, five papers published in a supplement to Clinical Nutrition find no special link between consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity. One paper was written by Barry Popkin, a co-author on the original 2004 paper.

“It doesn’t appear that when you consume high-fructose corn syrup, you have any different total effect on appetite than if you consume any other sugar,” he says.

Read the article…

What you need to know:

High fructose corn syrup is cheaper than regular (refined) white sugar. That is why it has become very popular in the food industry, as it lowers the cost of manufacturing “processed foods”. The low cost, though, is artificial, and due to heavy government subsidies US farmers receive to manufacture corn. The huge excesses of corn lead to low market prices that wouldn’t make economic sense had the farmers not received their subsidy. Non diet soft drinks used to be sweetened with sugar, now it’s almost all HFCS.

Whether it’s sugar or HFCS, Americans are getting fatter, and one of the reasons is too many empty calories derived from sweeteners found in processed foods. The best approach is to try and reduce overall sugars consumption by looking out for sweet in food labels.

By the way, you can’t buy a jar of HFCS at the grocery store.

What to do at the supermarket:

Watch for sugar, HFCS and their many synonyms (Dextrin, Maltose, see more…) on food labels. You’d be surprised at the places sweet pops up. Always better to choose less processed foods and add your own sugar at home.

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