Front-of-Package: Why Are Our Foods Covered in Chaos?

Imagine groceries with no front-of-package labeling. No health claims. No “Heart Healthy” badges, no “0g Trans Fat” banners, no “All Natural” swishes. No claims about fiber or sugar. How would the poor helpless consumer know what to buy?

If you insist you’d be just fine without the boisterous labels, don’t be so sure. In fact, consumers say they do use the information on food labels to help them make buying decisions, according to the International Food Information Council Foundation – at a rate of 68%.

In a recent blog post, New York Times writer Mark Bittman cites Marion Nestle’s call to fix a broken the food system. Topping Nestle’s list is fixing front-of-package labeling. Nestle wants first and foremost to put a halt to marketing food to kids. “Period. Just make it go away,” she said. She also urges a complete eradication of health claims unless they are backed up by universally accepted science – which, she says, would get rid of them all.

Sorting Out the Labels – With More Labels

Front-of-package labeling – claims that adorn food packages that are not limited to the back-of-package Nutritional Facts – include percentage claims (25% daily fiber!) functional claims (heart healthy!) and broad claims about healthiness (better for you!) and they are everywhere in the grocery store aisle. And despite a call by many public interest groups for fewer labels, those badges seem only to be growing. Some, at least on the surface, exist to help us make sense of the already mounting claims – more labels to make sense of the labels.

In a new video report, The Lempert Report breaks down some of this “sort it out” labeling. Some of these include:

  • Guiding Stars – Indicators of good, better and best (1-3) based on a nutritional algorithm. The program has been implemented in local Hannaford stores and has a complementary education component for grade schools. The badge is intended to help shoppers find an easy way to find healthy food.
  • Nuv-val – This label provides foods with a score of 1-100 based on over 30 nutritional factors. It was created with the intention simplify information about healthy food, and it can be found in many different grocery stores, many outside of the Northeast.
  • Great for You – This new badge from Wal-Mart is a pass-fail system based on whether a food meets the requirements of being healthy. We talked in depth about this label here.
  • Facts Up Front – Another label meant to cut through nutritional complexity, this effort puts facts like calories, fat and sodium amounts in bold on the front of packages where they can readily be seen. It comes from the Grocery Manufacturers Association, has government support, and will be growing in visibility this year.

The more labels there are to add to the madness, according the Lempert Report, the more it begs the question of which of the labels will survive in this quest to direct the consumer to the best foods. According to Nestle, there are few if any worth saving. Even labeling that attempts to do good are really just tools for selling, not for buying, she said. And concerns are deepest when they are most misleading.

Surprisingly Misleading Food Claims 

According to the Huffington Post, The 9 Most Misleading Labels include claims of real fruit, low sugar, and confusing serving sizes, among others. As part of the worst offenders, the article highlights two troubling label issues that might surprise you: fiber and caffeine.

  • Fiber: On a quest to get more fiber in your diet? Many people are, due to its benefits for heart disease, diabetes, digestion and weight maintenance. But even fiber claims may be misleading when they appear on things like yogurt and granola bars, for instance. While the fiber content may indeed by high in these products, it may come from isolated fibers that do not have the comparable effect of fiber from intact foods. There is a reason that eating beans, berries and bran is a better option for fiber than some processed foods with fiber claims – it’s just another argument for relying on real, whole foods for nutrition.
  • Caffeine: This labeling conundrum is misleading due to non-labeling. The problem is a potentially dangerous omission. You may know about it because it has recently been in the news. Because there are no requirements to disclose the amount of caffeine in products such as chocolate or energy drinks, it may not be obvious when we sip or chew that we are ingesting high amounts of something that can be dangerous and addictive. (Even a single serving of a coffee flavored yogurt contains 30mg of caffeine, and some energy drinks can contain up to 280mg!). High amounts of caffeine can lead to illness, anxiety, stomach problems and dependence.

Such labeling chaos has led to some organizations to push for reform. A 2010 report published by the Center for Science for Public Interest calls for making labels to be easier to read and for putting a stop to terms like “natural”, “0 trans fats”, and functional heart claims such as “heart healthy”. Other public interest groups have been vocal when it comes to more labeling which would inform consumers about foods that are genetically modified. Advocates for better labeling on beef, including claims it is “grass fed” are also at work on misleading claims. According to Onlygrassfed.com, this tricky claim means only that an animal has some access to grass, not that it is grass fed.

Until the chaos stops, every claim is backed by solid science, and every potential danger made apparent, it is, as always, caveat emptor at the grocery store. If you are weary of food label chaos, here are three uncomplicated ways to eliminate health claim fatigue.

Help for the Label-Weary 

Stick to the facts. Understanding the Nutrition Facts key on the back of food packaging (not the front) is essential. You can learn more from the Mayo Clinic’s interactive guide to the Nutrition Facts label. It shows which nutrients to limit and which to get more of. You can also take a look at our Nutritional Facts primer from a past post.

An ingredients list that’s easy to digest.

Avoid the claims. Foods that don’t have packaging, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, make their own case for health. Stick to the perimeter of the store to shop foods that are closest to their natural form and provide good health without the confusing claims.

Buy foods with fewer ingredients. This ingredient list for frozen wild blueberries shows exactly what you are getting: the whole fruit, and just the fruit, with its fiber, nutrients, and antioxidant content intact, the way nature intended.

Learn more About Labels

The FDA provides labeling information and the latest updates about label legislation at FDA.gov. You can also view an entertaining video created to help consumers get the facts about labels.

Cowboys & Aliens: Battling Food From a Faraway Galaxy

Have you ever looked down at the food you’re eating and thought, “Where did you come from?”

It’s no space age phenomenon – it can happen right here in 1873…er, 2011. You can get the feeling a spaceship arrived in your kitchen and took over what you thought was a decent, healthy meal.  Sometimes even the good guys – that is, the healthy, disease-preventing foods that provide antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients – can’t battle the forces that have brought your dinner plate to its knees.

That’s when you know you’ve entered a culinary battle royal coming to a kitchen near you: Cowboys and Aliens.

The Cowboys

Whether you consider your eats as urban as Sissy’s line-dancing Bud, or as free as a galloping horse carrying Alan Ladd, your culinary cowboys will always be characterized as foods that roamed the West when America was young. The cowboy foods are the good guys. They are the mainstays of your health: the foods that crusade against disease, fight cancer, maintain a healthy heart, and prevent obesity-related illness. They slap the dust off their boots and get to the work of dusting free radical from your cells.

Feeling like it’s your first rodeo? Here are some examples of culinary cowboys that will tip their Stetson to your well-being and longevity.

Caveman food. They pre-date cowboys by a smidge, but eating like a caveman isn’t that different from eating like a cowboy. Follow suit, and you’ve got a start on battling gastronomical evil forces. According to Superfood originator Steven Pratt, our genetic makeup remains the same as our cave dwelling (or ranch-roaming) ancestors’, but our lifestyle does not. The more modern our lifestyle and food choices, the more we need foods that cavemen used to get their nutrition in order to counteract our choices. That means eating berries, nuts, and foods that grow on trees and from the ground.

Food without labels. Food that requires no packaging and no ingredient label should serve as the basis of our cowboy diet. These cowboy-friendly foods – usually found at the perimeter of the supermarket or at farmer’s markets – are sold just as nature intended them to be, and they are the foods that do the most to keep us healthy as we traverse the frontier.

Local food. They may roam far and wide on their trusted steed in movies, but real cowboys were too busy handling things at home to stray far from the pasture. They ate food made and grown locally that was native to their surroundings. Taking advantage of local food means eating what local farmers grow. And, cooking with indigenous ingredients is often indicative of someone eating real, whole, healthy food. Not to mention, when you are eating locally, your dollars are kept close to home, and that means your helping your own, Pilgrim.

Clear origins. Cowboys brand their cattle so if they stray, there’s no question where they came from. Can you trace the origin of what you’re eating? What does that origin look like? Is it a farm or a factory? Is it a kitchen or a plant? Is it made by many hands or none?  Could you tour the facility that made it? Is it far away or close to home? Tracing the origins of what’s on your plate can be a great way to discover the real roots or the wicked source of the food you’re colluding with.

Eating with the Posse. Eating together is the cowboy way. What does that have to do with your plate? A lot, actually. Research shows that making and eating family meals is a key element in eating well and staying healthy. Cowboys also eat as much as they are hungry for, and they eat mindfully – they don’t scarf a bag of chips while they on a perilous journey into the sun.  They slow down and enjoy the victuals.

The Aliens

No food is bad. But some are just not of this world. Now that you know the cowboys, the aliens are easier to identify. Sometimes these advanced organisms are straight out of a Spielberg film, sporting one eye and two antennas, but sometimes they walk stealthily among us, their true identity hidden by an earthling-like smile that charms our eyes and our stomachs.

Extraterrestrials. Food activist Michael Pollan cautions against foods your “grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food”.  That usual means, in true alien style, that it doesn’t come from the earth. If your food comes in a tube or a carton, is sprinkled with colored sugar or iridescent cheese powder, Rooster Cogburn might have sauntered right by it without even realizing it’s food – and so should we.

Alien names. Do the ingredients in your food seem, well, alien? Unpronounceable, multi-syllabic words on your ingredient list is a sign clearer than a crop circle that there is something unearthly in your lunch. It could be hurting your health, or at least taking up calories that could be spent on those that improve it. Instead, throw your lasso around foods that have four ingredients or less, and when you can, those that have just one.

Alien claims. Whether they are “light”, “enriched” or “heart healthy”, alien foods try hard to assimilate, but if they require a label, it means they are trying a little too hard. The best foods come in their own packages (with the exception of frozen, which require packaging –  the good ones have just one ingredient) and make claims from nutritionists and scientists, not marketers.

Ageless food. According to the Lempert Report, shoppers are making more trips to the supermarket and spending less money per trip. These “narrow missions” could be part of avoiding aliens – that is, food that keeps forever. If your food doesn’t go bad, there’s a reason (see above). Frozen fruits and veggies or unfrozen foods that decompose like a giant parasitic egg bent on attacking Sigourney Weaver are foods that are real, whole, natural, and healthy. Keeping fresh, vulnerable foods around might require more frequent trips to the store, but you’ll be free to buy what you want without worrying it won’t get eaten.

Fight the Good (Food) Fight

Sure, sometimes we’re all itching for a good fight (or have a soft spot for Harrison Ford riding a horse), but if you’re interested in doing the best thing you can do for your health and longevity, give the food aliens a boot back into orbit. Knowledge and a few good cooking tools will serve as your magic bracelet – that’s all you need to saddle up and get yourself some colorful, antioxidant, nutrient-rich fixins that aren’t from a galaxy far, far away.

This Blog’s No Good For You

Why It’s Finally Time to Learn A Crucial Food Lesson

Blogger Pooja Mottl made a pointed observation about our collective health recently in the Huffington Post. Mottl says that despite supermarket recipe cards and countless blogs and articles about food and food preparation, “it’s not happening — we aren’t getting this ‘healthy food’ into our mouths.” Why? Simple, she says. We don’t know how to cook.

It seems like a bizarre assertion that with the last decade’s renaissance of food TV and food-themed media, Americans would still not be cooking. Could it be that many of us are involved in a grand food delusion in which we know the names of all the celebrity chefs but don’t ever pick up a spatula? Could it be that all of this food information is sliding right past us like the egg off of a McMuffin?

It could. The decline in cooking for ourselves continues despite rumblings that the recession has brought some families back to the kitchen. The fact is, everyone is working, and food companies are selling the antidote to our time-crunched lives. And it seems those food shows may be doing very little to actually help our skills – they just serve as more passive entertainment. Restaurant food sales continue to soar and packaged food companies thrive, and no one is donning an apron to pass down those valuable cooking skills to the next generation.

As Mottl points out, the consequence of not knowing basic cooking skills is relying on others to do our cooking for us. When our meals come from restaurants, prepared food shelves, and grocery store buffets, it heightens our intake of fat, salt and calories. The bottom line is that we can read this blog or any other blog, we can read articles or magazine tip lists about the benefits of wild blueberries and leafy greens, or the disease preventing properties of fruits and vegetables, or how to incorporate omega-3s into our diet. We can watch top chefs battle it out using fresh, exotic ingredients. None of this will help our health if we aren’t cooking for ourselves.

It’s Time: Learn How to Cook

Yes, Chef, cooking is power, and it’s time we rouse ourselves from the learned helplessness that is nurtured by the prepared food options that orbit around us. It’s time to learn the fundamentals of cooking our own food. Here’s why:

  • Cooking is an expression of creativity.
  • Cooking will give you a feeling of satisfaction.
  • Cooking will save you money.
  • If you cook, your kids will learn good habits.
  • Cooking means you’ll have control over what your kids eat.
  • If you cook, you and your family will be healthier, have fewer diseases, and live longer.

Here’s how to begin.

Buy some tools.
Stock up on some staples. Do you have a good knife? A saucepan? Getting the tools of the trade is an inspiring and necessary first step. Go on a culinary shopping spree, or collect them little at a time. If you are still using your grandmother’s rusty old baking pan, replace it for something new. You can always keep the old one – for posterity. 

Make space in the kitchen.
Tell the microwave to shove over and find your go-to space to set up your mise en place. If you’re struggling space-wise, consider investing in a moveable cooking counter. Or install shelves to move some of what’s on the counter up.

Stock the basics.
If there are no new edibles making their way into your house tonight, you’ll need to make something out of nothing, and that requires having the basics. Stock up on necessary spices. Keep rice and stock in the cupboard. Store frozen wild blueberries in the fridge. Can you make a family-sized frittata with nothing but eggs and a few random leftovers? Then you’ve arrived.

Learn the moves.
There is alchemy to food, and having the basic cooking techniques under your belt is a skill that will serve you beyond the recipe card. Know how to sauté, bake, braise, brown, chop, and mince. Learn from a friend, a book, a video or a class. Call your mom, or call your co-worker who’s a whiz with a spatula—they’ll be charmed by the compliment.

Save time to shop.
Cooking begins with groceries. Buying fresh daily may become an enjoyable new habit, but you know your schedule—if evenings disappear in a puff of Ramen noodle smoke, planning ahead is crucial.

Make cooking a ritual.
It’s not always possible to spend hours cooking a meal every night, and chopping onions may be Martha Stewart’s idea of relaxing, not yours. But if cooking is part of your life, the preparation that precedes it is part of the ritual of eating. Talk to the kids, catch up on the news…this is your life, and cooking is part of it. Enjoy.

Buy a book, subscribe to a magazine, or take a class.
You don’t have to cook your way though Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. If you love pasta, start with a book about pasta. Stir fry sound like fun? Start with a book about Asian cooking. Or, subscribe to a real cooking periodical so the new ideas keep coming to your doorstep. If classes sound like too much of a time investment, cooking classes are available online.

Share the love.
It’s a brand new day—and everyone can share in the glories of cooking. Take the burden off you and put it on another family member at least once a week, kids included.

Take it on the road.
Put your cooking to the test with a cooking group. Invite a family, some neighbors, or your yoga buddies over once a month and put your skills to work. Then, reciprocate by heading to their house the next month, where all you have to do is taste.

Create your own cooking “Couch to 5K”.
Call it the McChicken to Chicken Stew—give yourself six weeks to become someone who cooks. Create a schedule, walk before you run, and meet your goals. Your family and your body will thank you.

You will thank you.

.

Healthy Eating from the Farm

How To Be Part of a Rare Food Relationship

Farmers markets showcase the edible gems of the local community. Of course they provide access to a rich, fresh selection of foods to fill our kitchen and our plates. But farmers markets do even more good. If you take a moment to consider the benefits of these local gathering places ornamented with veggies, fruits, meats, cheeses and flowers, you can’t help but get the picture that the food extravaganza in your town is more than just colorful commerce.

First, and perhaps most importantly, farmers markets provide a remarkably rare opportunity for farmers and consumers to develop a relationship. Farmers meet the mouths that they feed, and consumers see where their corn is picked, what dairy farm their goat cheese comes from, and what goes into (and doesn’t go into) the foods they are toting home. It’s a wonderful way to develop a connection with our food and our local farmers while simultaneously providing them with direct remuneration for their dedication.

Furthermore, finding the freshest foods of the season can help us branch out when it comes to eating. Spontaneous buys based solely on availability and interest are not only allowed at farmers markets – they are part of the experience. Haven’t had okra for a while? Bell peppers missing from your plate? Been years since you made a blueberry cobbler? Use the season’s foods to take advantage of new ways of eating and to revisit old friends. And, farmers markets help you eat safely and organically. Looking for foods without antibiotics or growth hormones? Seek out organic farms, and ask smaller farmers about their growing philosophy. Some may not have the paperwork for organic certification, but they may still abide by a no-pesticide or no-antibiotic rules.

Finally, since one of the most important principles of eating well is to put a rainbow of hues on your plate, farmers markets are rife with color. One visit can be the in-road to eating your way through the color spectrum and radically enhancing your health. Start with wild blueberries, add some luscious deep greens, berries, or squash, and round out your bag with a few bright yellow and red tomatoes, and presto, you’ve got a rainbow in your bag.

Ready to go to market? Here are some ways to make it efficient and fruitful:

Set aside some time.
 
Don’t think of your trip as the same as popping in to the grocery store. You’ll want to browse the selection of wares, and you’ll need the patience to make your way through the crowds. Think of your visit as an event, where browsing, chatting, and enjoying the summer morning is part of the experience.

Timing is everything. 

While intuition says arrive early, about.com suggests that going early or late can mean you are market savvy. Early provides the best selection, while late can mean deals for items that farmers don’t want to tote home.

Comparison shop. 

It’s just Farmers Marketing 101 – browse the entire market first, then purchase. You’ll see many of the same foods showcased, and prices and quality always vary.

Connect.
 
Where else can you look the person who grew your food in the eye and ask them anything you want to? Farmers are a wealth of information. They’ll help direct you to products you want, give you tips for your own garden, and often provide you with a sample. They probably also know a favorite recipe for the wares they are selling.

Bring your own.

Don’t forget to pack: You’ll need reusable bags and cash – preferably ones and fives, so sellers can go easy on the change.

Have a meal plan.

It’s easy to pick up lots of items that look great, but when you get home, it might be hard to develop a meal around raspberries and zucchini blossoms. Hard core marketers suggest a little advance planning. You can leave some wild cards for those spontaneous purchases.

Do some taste testing.

This neat tip from ivillage.com can only be done at the market: Buy a sampling of fruit, peppers, tomatoes, garlic or whatever you fancy from several vendors, then take them home for a taste test. You’ll know where to bee-line next week, and you’ll learn about the characteristics and a particular fruit or veggie – in other words, you’ll be on your way to being a farmers market pro.

 A Note on Community Supported Agriculture, or CSAs

Helping yourself to the local bounty can be a major inspiration to be part of Community Supported Agriculture. CSAs are communities of individuals who pledge support to a farm by paying a set price to receive part of the farm’s bounty. As a shareholder, growers and consumers share the risks and benefits throughout the entire growing season, and take advantage of a weekly share of fresh seasonal foods for up to 25 weeks.

Find out more about CSAs and find a farm in your state or zip code. Part of a CSA this season? The Crisper Whisperer has great ideas for what to do with that box of wonders.

There’s More Online

At MyPyramid.com there are some practical tools to get the most out of the season’s riches. The MyPyramid Menu Planner will help assist you in your quest for health, and you can also search for a Farmers Market – their database contains 4,800 of the country’s markets.

Don’t Overlook These 3 Green Leafies

When it comes to greens, the two adjectives to keep in mind are dark and leafy. Green leafies are the most concentrated source of nutrition compared head to head and calorie to calorie with most any food in your diet. It’s the dark color that provides the clues that phytonutrients called flavonoids are close by, and flavonoids have disease fighting properties in spades.

We know from many sources, including Dr. James Joseph’s The Color Code that eating a diet rich in vibrant colors offers outstanding protection against disease. Dark, leafy greens have cancer-protective properties, are found to lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and have great value for those with type 2 diabetes. Putting dark, leafy greens on your plate means not only are you getting important phytonutrients, you’ll be getting a wealth of beneficial nutrients such as vitamin K, iron, and calcium. Best of all, greens comes in a low calorie package.

If your goal is to eat like a caveman  consider this: our cave dwelling ancestors would graze all day on greens, regularly taking in six pounds of leaves per day! It makes getting our 3 cups a day seem a little more achievable. It’s especially easy if you seek out variety. Noticing lots of lettuce on your plate? Is broccoli a mainstay that’s a getting a little too reliable? Get some greens with more gusto! Start by giving these emerald envoys of excellent health a chance.

Broccoli Rabe

Broccoli rabe (rhymes with bob) may have the broccoli moniker but it’s really a turnip. Despite its clusters of broccoli-like flowers among its spiky leaves, it hails from the turnip family and has a flavor to prove it.  Broccoli rabe is an extremely nutritious vegetable that is high in phytochemicals that help the body defend itself against some cancers, and it has the deep green color that we look for when we eat across the colors of the rainbow.

Broccoli rabe is remarkably versatile, too. Its distinctive taste makes it perfect for certain pairings, particularly salty, sweet or acidic foods. Garlic is a popular pairing as is sausage, olives, and tangy veggies like tomatoes and vinegars. It makes a nice addition to many meat and seafood dishes, and even makes brings out the beauty of a pizza.

For truly ingratiating rabe, start here:
Broccoli Rabe And Mushroom Frittata With Grape Tomato Salsa
Broccoli Rabe, Fennel, And Hot Sausage Pizza

Beet Greens

Beet greens are a beloved veggie-top all by themselves, and as part of the beet, they provide a nutritious twofer: you’ll be extracting two dishes from one veggie, and get maximum economical benefit. Mild and sweet, thanks to their natural sugars, they appeal to almost everyone, including kids that may balk at more daring greens.

Beet greens pass the fabulous food test because they are nutritious, delicious, and can be part of your diet in many capacities, including a simple sauté in olive oil, or tossed in a fresh salad. Some beet greens found in grocery stores can be tough and fibrous, so blanching in hot water is required. For use uncooked, consider removing the center, tougher ribs of the leaves and just eat the outer leaves. At farmer’s markets or packaged especially for salads, every inch of the beet green is generally tender and lovely.

Enjoy beet greens with goat cheese, an early summer favorite.
Try them cooked as a side dish.
Delve into this unique beet green pasta.

Kale

When you hear the term “leafy greens”, think kale. Kale is a beloved green that may remind you of cabbage. In fact, kale is part of the cabbage family, and is sometimes even referred to as “black cabbage”.  You know what that dark hue means: it’s packed with vitamins, fiber, calcium and iron and it has huge antioxidant capacity. It’s also a low-calorie way to get big nutrients.

You may be familiar with the supermarket’s curly kale that features ruffled leaves, but you’ll enjoy seeking out some other possibilities at farmer’s markets in an array of blackish, plum-red and purplish colors. Flavors range from somewhat bitter to sweet, so find one you like. It will be worth it for punch of nutrition it packs.

Because this green can be a bit tougher than others, it’s not a good choice for tossing in a salad, but it’s perfect for a soup or a stir fry. Kale can also be simmered for long periods (yielding a delicious liquor for sipping or sopping with bread) or blanched and sautéed in olive oil. Try kale in omelets, or braised or sautéed with onions and garlic. And if you can’t put it on pizza (you can!), then hey, what’s the point?

Get started with Roasted Kale, and go green with Kale Pesto.

Happy Eating!

Does Your Shampoo Make You Taller? 15 Silver Bullets To Steer Clear Of

Any insomniac who has turned on late night TV to be confronted with a barrage of infomercials can tell you there’s a quick fix for everything. Saggy abs? Try this. Cluttered closet? We’ve got the fix. Suffering the indignity of shelling a hard boiled egg? Here’s the solution.

Some claims are easy to see through—even if they seem convincing, experience tells us they aren’t the silver bullet. That’s because there is no silver bullet. We know our shampoo won’t make us taller and better looking, even if everything about it seems to imply that it will.

But sometimes we forget—we get lazy, we get vulnerable, we let our guard down—especially when we feel especially hopeful about a certain area of our life, like our weight and our health. Two sides of ourselves battle it out: we want to eat and enjoy food, but we also want to watch our weight. We want to be healthy in the long term, but in the short term we don’t want to spend hours on a treadmill. We love the nirvana of sugar-salt-fat combinations but know better than to indulge in them. That gap between what we know and what we long for is where the silver bullet claims wedge themselves.

Keep a mental note of dubious verbiage and keep it on your radar. Here are 15 examples to start you out:

  • scientific breakthrough
  • medical miracle
  • best
  • fast
  • secret
  • fortified
  • enriched
  • natural
  • for a limited time only
  • used by (famous celeb)
  • no trans fat
  • zero sugar (but high in fat)
  • zero fat (but high in sugar)
  • low calorie (for serving size & poor quality)
  • 97% fat free (3% fat by weight)

Today, there is compelling health research that helps us understand how food affects how our bodies work. Understanding that research can help us navigate a world tricked out with unhealthy land mines; it is essential to being an informed consumer. We want information, not claims.

We learned years ago from Eric Schlosser that for some foods to be labeled as “natural” they actually had to endure additional processing. While false claims on nutritional labels are under scrutiny, we still seem to be dodging silver bullets and wading through too-good-to-be-trues. Keeping our guard up means not falling victim to empty marketing promises and over-hyped claims that guarantee the latest and greatest—even when we know better.

Try the Fruit & Veggie Experiment

Try this experiment: Take a piece of paper and make three columns. In the first column, list the meals or snacks you ate yesterday. In the second, list the veggies or fruits (if any) that were part of each meal or snack. In the third, write what could have been included. Here’s a sample:

Then, put it into practice. Try sneaking in a fruit or veggie into as many meals or snacks as you can. This is not a suggestion to replace food (you can, but let’s start small). It’s a way for you to do one of the most powerful things you can do for your health: start getting your daily requirement of fruit and vegetables. It might be easier than you thought.

There are lots of ways to help you get your requirement. Here are 10 to get you started:

  • Add broccoli to your pasta dish
  • Ask for grilled asparagus with your entrée
  • Order a veggie sandwich or wrap
  • Thaw a serving of frozen fruit overnight for use the next day
  • Make low fat spinach dip on Friday night
  • Have a parfait for dessert
  • Have the roasted beet appetizer
  • Add two thick tomato slices to your sandwich
  • Serve your entrée or side on a bed of greens
  • Dress your salmon, tuna or chicken with wild blueberries

Trying the fruit and veggie experiment could change the way you look at food. It could even change your life.

Just the Facts (More or Less) – A Nutrition Label Analysis

Do the Super Chocolate Sugar-Os you had for breakfast claim to combat heart disease? Did that 20-ounce bottle of soda from the vending machine you polished off during lunch say it actually contains 2.5 servings?

If so, you are a casualty of Nutrition Labeling.

Nutritional Labels began showing up on food packaging in 1992 as a result of an effort from the Food and Drug Administration and the USDA to help consumers better understand the food they are eating. Since then, the ubiquitous black and white rectangle has endured criticism and ridicule as a tool to improve eating habits. For starters, they often present unrealistic serving sizes, and their polysyllabic ingredient lists can require a Ph.D. in Nutrition (or Philology) to translate.

These little boxes also epitomize the challenge of too much and too little. By leaving out the stuff we could use – such as daily values for trans-fats, for example, which can lead to the development of heart disease – they sometimes come up short by offering information without a way for the consumer to actually use it.

However, far from being the culprit, labeling is being touted as the key to a healthy diet – and it can be, if those labels provide accurate and helpful information. New regulations may make labels that are apprehendable by humans the norm. As part of efforts towards fighting the nationwide battle against obesity, the FDA is currently supporting a requirement by food manufacturers to post nutritional information on the front of packages where it can be seen, not in a little box on the back, and requiring more “practical” serving sizes and accurate health claims. As a result, your box of Super Chocolate Sugar-Os can only claim it is “heart healthy” if it comes with a treadmill and a pair of sneakers – and instructions to throw out the box.

Such regulations might make labeling part of the solution. Of course, conventional wisdom tells us that the best foods don’t have labels. They are found in the produce section, where the only packaging is bright, unblemished skin and lush leaves. But thanks to quick freezing technology, we know that frozen fruits and vegetables maintain all (or more) of the nutritional benefits of fresh food, as well as offering convenience, price and low waste…and frozen fruits and vegetables have labels, right?. As smart consumers, it seems we’ll never get away from reading labels despite our on-again, off-again relationship with them. It pays to be label-savvy.

As part of improving our label I.Q., we’re taking a look at a typical Nutritional Label created from a nutritional analysis done on wild blueberries to see what this “just the nutritional facts” box has to offer – and what it doesn’t offer up.

5 Nutrition Label Numbers You Should Know About

1) Serving Size & Calories

While many of us have grown wise to the scheme, we know that the “new math” demonstrated by the serving size/calories equation can trip up even a keen consumer. It’s why a bag of chips may seem low in calories, until you realize a “serving” is four chips. And, if you’ve ever eaten New York Super Fudge Chunk directly from the carton, you have a little field knowledge about the voluntary delusion these numbers cater to.

In the case of the wild blueberry label, there are 40 calories in 100 grams. One hundred grams is equal to a little less than ½  cup, and USDA’s Dietary Guidelines recommend 1 to 2½ cups (depending on age and gender) of fruits and vegetables a day. So, ½ cup of wild blueberries delivers one fruit serving, getting you well on your way to your quota, a mere 45 calories later. Not bad – blueberries are truly a naturally low-calorie food. If you ate wilds exclusively in an effort to get your daily requirements, you’d only be racking up between 90-225 calories a day.

While that’s low, we also have to consider nutrition-to-calorie ratio: healthy foods mean more nutrients per calorie, and that’s the key to achieving better health and lower weight. It’s why fruits and vegetables get high marks for health: their calorie to nutrition ratio is excellent, so in most cases (unless you are battling a broccoli addiction) the more you eat the better.

Also, wild blueberries have more skin per serving – cultivated blueberries create their serving-size bulk with a much higher pulp-to-skin ratio. That means higher antioxidant capacity and more nutritional punch per serving for wilds, another thing the label doesn’t tell you.

2) Fiber

When choosing foods, consumers are often looking for good sources of dietary fiber. Fiber is good for you because it can help prevent diseases such as heart disease and cancer. It’s also good for your digestive system, and it can help maintain a healthy weight.

The recommended amount of fiber is 25 grams per day. While processed foods are void of fiber, some high fiber foods can also be loaded with sugar and salt. So if we’re using high fiber numbers as a rule of thumb, we have already found ourselves in a sticky (if not a sticky bun) situation.

Whole grains are great sources of fiber, as are fruits, and this label indicates that each serving provides 4 grams of fiber. Blueberries are high on the fruit fiber scale, along with apples, pears and mangoes. One cup of blueberries per day would provide 36% of your daily requirement of fiber without stealth additives straggling along. Bravo!

3) Sugar

Sugar has become a nutritional expletive, but sugars are a part of a healthy diet, and there is no nutritional organization that calls for a limit on natural sugars. Most fruits and vegetables contain sugar, and sugar amounts are plainly labeled on food packages. What isn’t on the label, however, is whether they are natural or added, making the sugar amounts less helpful than they should be.

It’s up to us to avoid foods that are high in sugar but void of other nutrients, and to differentiate between sugars like sucrose and corn syrup that are added to foods and those that occur naturally. We can do that by referring to the ingredients list.

Our blueberry label indicates 7 grams of sugar. Because this label refers to the natural food and the data refers to just one ingredient (there is nothing added), these are natural sugars, not added ones. Frozen wilds have no additives (who needs them) and their nutritional makeup is exactly the same as a blueberry taken straight from the barren.

4) Carbohydrates & the Glycemic Index

The nutritional label indicates that this food has 13 grams of carbohydrates. What’s most interesting about this food, however, is a number behind the carbs that isn’t listed here. Perhaps it should be—it’s the Glycemic Index.

The Glycemic Index ranks carbohydrate foods according to their effect on the body’s blood glucose levels. Individual foods are compared to white bread or glucose and ranked on a 100-point scale, with white bread at 100. A GI of 70 or more is high; 56 to 69 is medium; 55 or less is low. At the high end of the scale are crackers and corn flakes; at the low end are non-starchy vegetables, fruits, beans, sugars and most dairy products. Consuming low GI foods causes a smaller rise in blood glucose levels than consuming high GI foods — an important consideration for people with diabetes. (Nutritionists are also interested in the effect GI foods may have on weight loss and appetite control. Research is currently under way to evaluate these claims.)
In a recent test, wild blueberries scored 53 on the Glycemic Index (GI) scale making them a low GI food. This translates into health benefits – low GI foods don’t escalate blood sugar levels, don’t cause mid-day “crashes” and don’t contribute to that diet-decimating cycle of eating and getting hungry, then eating, and then getting hungry. In addition to lowering diabetes risks, low GI goods can decrease risks of cancer, high cholesterol and heart disease. So, while GI numbers aren’t showing up on the label, they probably should be.
5) Vitamins & Antioxidants

Only two vitamins (A and C) and two minerals (calcium and iron) are required on the food label. Food companies can voluntarily list other vitamins and minerals in the food. And, when vitamins or minerals are added to the food, or when a vitamin or mineral claim is made, those nutrients must be listed on the nutrition label.

While we don’t see anything listed for “antioxidants” on this label, vitamins A, C and E provide antioxidants, and they have made an appearance here. In fact, Women’s Fitness reports that one of the top 10 great things about blueberries is their high capacity to deliver on vitamins. They have the highest antioxidant capacity of all fruits, they include anthocyanin, vitamin C, B complex, vitamin E, and vitamin A, and they neutralize free radicals which can affect disease and aging in the body. There is no antioxidant number on this label, but if we’re nutrition savvy, the data about vitamins that deliver the antioxidant power can help tip us off.

Furthermore, wild blueberries also outperformed selected fruits in an advanced procedure known as the cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) assay, a new means of measuring bioactivity inside cells. Wild Blueberries performed better in cells than cranberries, apples and both red and green grapes. Find that interesting? It provides guidance not just about whether to choose a fruit over a fruit cake, but what fruit you should choose for the biggest nutritional punch. While the presence of vitamins is evident on the label, it’s what’s missing about what those vitamins deliver that is not.

Bottom Line

What can we learn by looking at the label? In this case, we know that wild blueberries are a naturally nutrient-rich choice. At just 45 calories per serving, they are packed with antioxidants and deliver substantial nutrients for every calorie consumed. But their nutritional power isn’t always evident on the label: antioxidant capacity, pulp-to-skin ratios, and the glycemic index aren’t numbers that can be easily extracted here. And if this had been a more nutritionally “complicated” food, this label could have masked some important nutritional deficits as well.

Until labels and packaging tell us more of what we need to know and less of what we don’t, the bottom lime is: don’t be a casualty of the nutritional label game – know the facts about what’s behind the numbers before you buy.

Wild Blueberries Make a Splash in Health Magazine!

Bravo Wild Blues! Experts at Health Magazine are touting them as one of America’s Healthiest Superfoods for Women.

There are plenty of reasons to celebrate wild blueberries as a food that delivers mega benefits. They lead in antioxidant power, and antioxidants help fight aging, cancer and heart disease.

Health magazine also credits wild blueberries for their role in preventing memory loss, improving motor skills, lowering blood pressure and fighting wrinkles. Nutrition author Kate Geagan is quoted as saying “They’re truly one of nature’s ultimate antiaging foods.”

Other nutritional winners? Wild Alaskan salmon, oats, walnuts, and avocados.

See the Superfoods list at Health.com.