I just found the following in a recent article on food navigator USA.com:
According to a public opinion survey commissioned by the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), 82 percent of Americans think food companies should be making a greater effort to reformulate for more better-for-you products.
Although this is a high percentage, it compares with 90 percent in Britain, 89 percent in Spain and 87 percent in Hungary.
In my opinion this is a very backwards approach to improving health. The answer to eating healthier foods is not asking food companies to add even more things to our food, but rather to question the foods we are already consuming.
You don't need to add anything to an apple to make it healthy, and there is nothing better for weight loss than eating less food and exercising more.
I'm betting that we will soon see a green-tea enriched white bread.
BP
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8 comments:
I'm holding out for the Omega-3 Oreos myself...
Get this,
I saw a truck today on the highway that had a big advertisement on it for...Organic Oreos!
BP
The only reason they have to add nutrients is because they strip most of what the natural food already has to offer before it's processed. Say no to Franken-food!
I bet if you looked hard enough you would already find green tea enriched bread!
If we were to wait for food companies to put out healthier food as a way to improve ourselves, we would be waiting forever. The craziest thing I heard about lately is POWDERED Peanut Butter. It has the fat taken out (and sugar added) and you mix it with water!
I say take responsibility for your own health and eat real food!
Lady G, I just bought some Powdered PB a couple of days ago! Way to ruin it for me! LOL! Just kidding.
I'm doing an "alternate day" diet (I like to call it "intermittent calorie restriction,") so I'm really focused on calorie content. PB2 has only 54 calories per two TB., compared to 190 calories for JIF peanut butter. (I don't know about natural PB, but it's probably close to that. Maybe 170 or 180?) So for me, considering my dietary approach, how much I love PB, and how easy it is to overeat the stuff (I'm sure I could easily consume 500 calories of PB at one sitting,) it's a sensible purchase. But I can understand why someone would consider it to be an "unnatural" food. I guess it is. But I'm still going to try it! Hopefully it tastes good. It's certainly far more wholesome than most of the foods in our grocery stores.
But I do have to take issue with you implying that they're replacing the fat with sugar, which is misleading. They list 3.7 total carbs and one gram of sugar per serving, compared to 7 grams of total carbs and 3 grams of sugar for JIF peanut butter, so clearly that's not the case. JIF has all the fat and more sugar, too, so adding sugar to PB isn't really meant to "replace" the fat. I guess they think it enhances the flavor, and honestly, it probably does. I like the no-sugar added PB from the health food store, but regular PB is sweeter and more versatile.
At any rate, I think we can all agree that 50 calorie PB is better than junk food! Brad is right, we can't get too obsessive-compulsive about every single morsel of food we eat. Food is meant to be enjoyed, after all. Eat less, exercise more, eat mostly wholesome foods... sounds good!
I'm sure you've read Michael Pollen's books, The Omnivore's Dillema and In Defense of Food.
Both talk about what you're always talking about. Great, great reads for anyone asking "Why" to eat whole, local, fresh, and possibly "organic" foods, and the complete screwed-up-edness of our industrial food chain and the "food" we eat...
I saw Green Tea Ginger Ale in my grocery store last night...who wants to bet on when Green Tea Beer will hit the North American Market?
BP
PS - Billy I agree - Both of Pollen's Book are excellent.
Jordan, you make a good point. If the choice is overeating real PB and then feeling bad, or eating a packet of potato chips, then powdered PB is probably better.
However, if the choice was to add another processed food to your diet, or remove a processed food in favour of the whole food version, I would definitely prefer the latter.
Also, the bit about adding sugar was hearsay, sorry if that was false. I didn't have a container to check. Normal reduced=fat peanut butter often does have sugar added though!
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