The Truth Behind Healthy Supermarket Foods
The Wall Street Journal takes a good look at items marketed as "healthier for you" on supermarket shelves, and as you can probably imagine, any actual health benefits vary greatly from product to product. Take all natural chicken, for example: if you buy "enhanced" or "plumped" chicken—it will say somewhere on the label that water, salt, and/or carrageenan has been added, but it will still be labeled natural—the sodium per 4 oz serving jumps from 45-60 mgs to 200-400 mgs.
Another problem category is anything with fiber added to it:
In many cases, the added fiber comes from purified powders, not the kind of fiber found in whole grains, beans, vegetables and fruits. The latter have been shown to lower cholesterol, reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease and may cut the risk of colon cancer. But there isn't much evidence that "isolated" fibers like inulin, maltodextrin, oat fiber and polydextrose have the same effect, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit consumer-advocacy group. The Nutrition Facts label doesn't differentiate between the kind of fiber counted, so check the ingredients.
"The added fiber is probably better than nothing, but it's not as good as fiber from natural sources like fruits, vegetables and whole grains," says CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson.
"The Fine Print: What's Really in a Lot of 'Healthy' Foods" [Wall Street Journal]
(Photo: rick)
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What you need to do is go directly to the meat counter in your supermarket and specifically ask for natural (non-additive) meats. You can sometimes do this by asking for Q6 grade meat.
This way you will purchase meat that has not been saturated in chemicals, preservatives, appearance enhancing ingredients, etc. All you are really doing is paying extra for the water-weight anyway.
If they don't have this, simply mention that you are only paying for the meat at checkout. The cashier will protest, but be persistent. Wait for a manager if you have to. Explain that you pay for meat, not water and would like a 50% discount on the price. 9 times out of 10 they will give it to you. Often they can't re-sell meat that has been given to a customer so the ball is really in your court here.
I've found that perishable food items are one thing that stores are very lenient in negotiating. You just have to be persistent and go all the way to the highest manager if necessary. Plus sometimes they give you the food just to keep the line moving.
Most of these things seem close to outright legalized fraud. Especially the injecting chicken with brine one. Still think you're "saving money" by buying all your groceries at Wal-Mart?
The health and safety of food supply should be a priority. We are ingesting laboratory created substances at an every increasing rate. Since there is no "control" group and no labelling to indicate what is being consumed, it will be virtually impossible to prove a causative link. We are in the middle of a giant human experiment, without our consent.
To wit:
No labelling to indicate you're eating genetically modified food.
No labelling to indicate you're eating irradiated food
No labelling to indicate Bovine Growth Hormone and antibiotics in milk
No labelling to indicate you are eating cloned beef.
The FDA has no power to force a recall (they can "request" - LOL).
The FDA has no funding to perform adequate inspections of food facilities, (often inspections are third-party, paid for by the factory itself)
The FDA inspects a tiny fraction of food imports. Besides the danger of toxic ingredients, proven over and over, what an easy avenue for terrorist attacks.
And let's not bother with the arquments over whether GMO and such is a danger or not, if you choose to not worry, great. But I have no ability to make a choice about what I eat, as the manufacturers are not required to tell me.
@johnva: Completely agree... After reading lots of labels from different brands of chicken found one with "only" 3% of added water. Haven't found one at a reasonable price without added water, but some of the most known brands carry as much as 18% (i.e. Pilgrim's Pride).
Buy whole fryer chickens (almost never 'enhanced') and cut them up, grind your own meat, grind your own coffee beans, make your own bread, etc. Take the extra step and do it yourself; this way your body is forced to think about the food process. Don't like doing this stuff? Find a friend who does and barter!
@SkokieGuy: But I have no ability to make a choice about what I eat, as the manufacturers are not required to tell me.
The other option is to source your food from people who will tell you what's in it. I spend an enormous amount of time and energy acquiring the food my family eats. My chicken hasn't been injected with brine and I know this with 100% certainty because I drove to the farm to pick it up, I know the couple who raised it, and I can see how they run their farm with my own two eyes. I know it's more than a lot of people are willing to do but it's worth it to me.
We need to take another whack at the "organic" and "natural" labels since the last time they were legally defined, the Conservatives basically handed a blank slip of paper to Big Agra and said, "Fill this in, won't you?"
That said, careful practices (proper sourcing (Trader Joes or Costco vs Wal-Mart or 7-11) and labels (beware packaged goods bearing shiny "organic!" labels), you can do well. Oh, and avoid processed foods like the plague.
But yeah, I agree with JohnVa, above: several evils need to be prosecuted for fraud.
@VA_White: I agree, and do patronize farmer's markets and am looking into a farmer's coop. I know what to do to avoid mystery food, but this level of detective work should not be required in order to consume healthful food.
I simply want information and truth about what goes into a product. Not an unreasonable idea.
I feel like my best bet at the supermarket is to look at the ingredients list. I know the ingredients I'm looking for and the ones I'm avoiding. I also try to go for obvious things like buying strawberry jelly that has the first ingredient of strawberries. I could stand to learn a lot more about nutrition (or chemical additives or whatever), but in the meantime I just grow a bigger garden every year.
So those Fiber One bars actually aren't that great for ya huh? Ah well, they're still decently low on calories and fat and make a good companion to the morning cup o' joe (and sure as hell beat a donut or a bagel with cream cheese)
Make your own chickens. It's easy and it saves money!
@johnva: Yes and also keep in mind that manufacturers make cheaper versions of items sold at Wally World so they can meet the price reqs. So far, I've only heard of this for toys and non-food items, but I wouldn't be shocked if food items sold there have more additives.
Better yet, go vegetarian. :)
It's really astonishing how much sodium is loaded into ordinary foods. You've really got to keep an eye on labels. It's a shame, so many of the foods you can buy in an ordinary grocery store taste like a mouthful of salt.
@SkokieGuy: when it comes to meat & milk, i do buy organic. it IS heavily regulated. if you think stuff they put in food is icky... wait till you read what they put in skincare & makeup products, which are TOTALLY unregulated. some fun skincare products have fun stuff like mercury, lead, even contain human / animal placenta in some cases.
I used to work at La Prairie, a very high end skincare co - they used sheep placenta since like 1920. only very recently (i guess ince they found out thay were paying $400 for placenta?) dropped this ingredient. Google cosmetics safety database. men are not immune - bizarro sh*t in shaving cream, deoderant, etc.
Don't get me started on supposedly labeled "all natural" products that have HFCS in the ingredients list.... (and on HFCS getting into foods like applesauce that you would normally think are healthy for you).
This is not counting the abhorrant amount of products out there that are labeled "healthy" and "good for you" when they are either processed, contain large amounts of sodium, or contain HFCS.
I find the only way to know if a product is suitable for consumption is to look at the ingredients list. I have also learned you must check every item, because that HFCS gets into the darndest things!
@VA_White: Take it from me: don't trust chickens. When that good farming couple goes to sleep, I'm sure a bunch of them, raised from bad eggs no doubt, go into the city and meet up with a dealer and mainline brine and God knows what else.
@VidaBlueBalls: "If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." - Carl Sagan
:)
There's a whole lot of b.s. there about what's healthy for you. A site that cuts through the mountains of unscientific crap is Junk Food Science, by a nurse named Sandy Swarc.
[junkfoodscience.blogspot.com]
She's a bit of a nitwit about copyright -- saying nothing from her site can be excerpted and linked (contrary to "fair use," which she apparently doesn't understand), so I don't put up links to her stuff on my site.
Still, she's right on, and has saved me a lot of worry about eating a number of foods I love.
Gary Taubes, author of Good Calories, Bad Calories, also cut through mountains of crap in his book. Just to give you one example, the food pyramid was compiled by an aide to George McGovern with ZERO science background.
Thanks to Taubes, I eat almost no sugar or flour in my diet, although I have wine and the occasional desert, and ever since I changed to this form of eating, I feel like I'm 17 and have the energy to write long into the night where I used to have to stop around dinner time.
Sorry, forgot: I also weigh less than I do in high school, without dieting, and even if I don't exercise a stitch all week.
The hardest thing is to make sure you're getting enough fat in your diet, especiallly with all the lowfat mania in America. I buy that 30 percent fat hamburger that's the cheapest at the supermarket...and bacon, on sale this week thanks to the swine flu panic, and all the people who assume you catch it from eating pork.
@Alessar: Yeah I agree with you Alessar. I too am on an sodium reduced diet and well I'm having problems finding meat that has not been 'enhanced' by some kind of sodium solution. As far as I am concerned all food producers do not care about any one persons health in the least. Adding so much sodium and fat to food that one serving is almost half of what one person should eat in one day. I have been eating allot more fresh foods and no processed.
@Amy Alkon: Interesting site.
"so I don't put up links to her stuff on my site" : Just go ahead and link if you wish; whats going to happen ?
I see she also attempts to prohibit 'archiving'. Ha ha !
@Trai_Dep: Yeah, government labels are meaningless without a whole regulatory apparatus to back them up. Conservatives have been gutting that for the last 30 years, and it's time we start going the other way again.
Isn't this sort of thing (food adulteration concerns) exactly what the FDA was created to regulate?
@Alessar: Yowza. Did these chickens happen to crap diamonds and lay golden eggs when they were alive?
@VA_White:
That's great but I work a full time job with a two hour daily commute. Between that and the activities for 3 kids I haven't got the time to go out of my way. I get MSG induced migraines and that crap is in EVERYTHING. So I shop as carefully as I can, but it sure limits our menu.
@VidaBlueBalls:
This is another time intensive endeavor just for normal food. I would rather put time into backing legislation that requires complete and accurate labeling. Did you know that as long as food manufacturers buy their additives already mixed they can be labeled as natural? When you see "Other Natural Ingredients" on the label it's not natural at all.
Yes, I'm on a soapbox, but they're poisoning our food supply and no one seems to want to stop them.
@SkokieGuy: Your post illustrates why manufactures are nervous about labeling. Many consumers-- enough to make a major impact on the market-- lack the scientific knowledge to evaluate things like the irradiation or genetic modification of food. Given that label, and nothing else, they will instinctively reject those items under the logical fallacy that natural things are safe and good. This will punish well-intentioned manufacturers who use scientifically-validated techniques to improve the safety and efficiency of the food supply.
Now, I'm not saying the system is perfect. Your concerns about the FDA are spot-on, and we could certainly use a more robust inspection program.
I guess it's kind of a philosophical issue: do you provide information to people who don't understand it and will use the information to their own detriment? I suppose the FDA/USDA could start an aggressive education program to explain these things and to what extent they have been tested, but those same people will instinctively distrust that information due to the neurological tendancy to discredit information that challenges your beliefs.
@1SQ: Given that label, and nothing else, they will instinctively reject those items under the logical fallacy that natural things are safe and good.
Maybe. 50 years ago, everything 'radioactive' or 'atomic' was great and we were all about things that had been scientifically created or adjusted. The natural=best paradigm is relatively new. It could swing back the other way.
I think that by not disclosing the information SkokieGuy listed, food manufacturers are making this into more of a problem. They should put more effort into explaining why what they're doing is useful (if at all) and it'll calm people down.
@tc4b: I made strawberry jam last night. I picked the strawberries on Sunday. Last night, I mashed up a bunch, stirred in sugar and pectin, and now I have jam.
It's totally worth it.
@bobloblawsblog: The cosmetics industry has been notoriously under-regulated for years. And you put that stuff on your skin, whatever you put on your skin your body will absorb. I think about that all the time when I go into Perfume-Fests like Bath and Body Works. Sure it smells nice but I don't want that in my system.
@1SQ: There are many reasons, not all of them directly impacting health, for consumers to choose what to buy and give to their families.
In a free market economy, this is a GOOD thing. Let them choose.
@johnva: Trader Joe's frozen chicken is only 3% added brine and typically costs less than the 15% plumped chicken available at Ralph's/AKA Kroger.
Also, a 3% brine will actually enhance the flavor of chicken without artificially plumping it up, as it helps the chicken retain moisture as it's cooking.
@CFinWV: I recently learned about all the toxins that go unregulated into beauty products. I was both shocked, and angry. Ive spent practically my whole life slathering on lotions and creams everyday for my dry skin. It scares me now to think about that. I just gave up a massive collection of Victorias Secret body lotions/shower gels on Ebay because of this. Stupid FDA.
Come on, people. Is it really so complicated to feed ourselves? I'm thinking that for centuries people have been putting food into their pieholes without fretting and studying and reading articles. How about just eating stuff that has ingredients in it you recognize: beans, corn, tomatoes, rice, etc. Large portions of in season vegetables, legumes and of grains, smaller portions of meat-based proteins (although we do not eat land proteins at home at all...DH eats meat when we go out). We typically have bean burrito makings in the fridge for a 2 minute meal, a marinated salad of some sort, a green salad of some sort, a reheatable casserole and a soup. I cook about twice a week and we eat on what I cook for lunch and dinner throughout the week. Yes there are times when I just want to shove food into my mouth and not be hungry anymore...and that's when you hit McDonald's for fries (or whatever your particular weakness is). If you eat healthy most of the time, then your body will forgive you if you eat crap on occasion.
Ummmm... a nurse is not an expert in this area. Be careful who you listen to! I would speak with an MD or a nutritionist. From what I've heard eating lots of fat and avoiding exercise is a pretty good way to have a heart attack.
@samoffer: It seems like you're saying "be as inconvenient and difficult as possible, and eventually you'll get your way." I'm all for getting the best price on things, but that doesn't sound like bartering- it sounds like taking the food first, and then sort of bullying the grocery store into giving you a discount because it's better than nothing.
@Alessar: gee, I often pay $1.99 for boneless skinless chicken. I don't buy "enhanced" chicken, if your basic meat/poultry has an ingredient label, than steer clear, I want chicken to be chicken!
@tc4b: Oh how I love smuckers strawberry jam, but since they load it with HFCS, I refuse to buy it. I have to deal with some european brand now, and while it is great, it is no smuckers.
@unobservant: could you share your recipe? I would prefer a recipe for a chicken that lays brown eggs please!
@Alessar: If you live in metro Boston, Mayflower poultry will debone chickens for you, or you can buy them fresh. $1.99/lb for a roaster. "Live Chicken, Fresh Killed"
There are likely "chicken butchers" of this nature in other large cities and areas with a healthy immigrant population.
Mayflower sells live chickens, but I prefer mine slaughtered and plucked :).
@unobservant: There's a big movement on for allowing suburban dwellers to keep chickens, but a lot of towns ban it.
I've actually had to stop buying some brands of boneless skinless chicken because they are now injected with solutions of broth, up to 20% by volume. First of all, I don't want to spend $9 a pound and have 20% of my purchase be broth. Boneless skinless chicken can in fact cook up a bit dry, that's why you typically marinade it at home before baking it or cut it into small pieces for a stir fry. Secondly, I am on a sodium-reduced diet for health reasons. For me, it's often a better deal to simply buy regular cut-up chicken pieces and spend the few minutes removing skin and bones. It saves quite a bit of money and lets me get the lean, healthy food item.