The Box Talks

But what is it really saying? 


I teach nutrition classes to elementary school students during the week, and of course every school participates in "Box Tops for Education." A realization just hit me yesterday -  none of the foods I buy have a Box Top for Education label. None. Why is that?

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Each tiny cardboard clipping earns your school 10¢ - which can add up quickly! What a great way for the food industry to give back to the kids and families whose nutrition they are compromising.


Ok, shame on me, who am I to criticize anyone who is giving money back to schools? Well, consider the fortune food industry giants make off the families who buy products with Box Tops. And further promotion of their products from the webpage full of coupons for all these products as well. 


Let's look at the products with Box Tops for Education, and see why they don't appear on my pantry shelf. 

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Some of the nearly 150 products that carry the Box Top: 

Betty Crocker Cake Mix
Bisquick Pancake Mix 
Nestle Juicy Juice 
Cheerios, Lucky Charms, and 50 other types of cereal 
Pizza Rolls 
Welch's Grape Jelly
Hamburger Helper 
Progresso Soups
Pillsbury Cookie Dough, Cinnamon Rolls, Crescent Rolls, and many more
Yoplait Go-Gurt 
38 snacks - including Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit Gushers, and every cartoon character fruit flavored snack out there 

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The ONLY fresh produce brand with a Box Top are (with limited availability):

Green Giant Fresh Broccoli 
Green Giant Fresh Cauliflour 
Green Giant Fresh Head of Iceberg
Green Giant Fresh Romaine Hearts 
Frozen Green Giant Vegetables (2 varieties) 
Land O Lakes Eggs  


I think I found perhaps one Brand that I might consider buying, Cascadian Farm cereals and granola bars. 


Except for the Green Giant/Cascadian Farm items, ponder this - 
NONE of these food products are for meals made from scratch, yet I try to make most things from scratch. 


NONE of these food items are what the USDA recommends for a healthy diet: fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, seafood, lean meats; things that I eat often.  


NONE of these foods are foods I would recommend. Or consume. Or let anyone I love consume. 


Imagine my hypothetical child, wanting to contribute to her class' collection of Box Tops because there is a school wide contest to see which classroom can raise to the most - yet I refuse to purchase products with this label. Imagine arguments while grocery shopping - I don't have children but I do remember being one, and I remember how it went; children really can have a lot of influence over their parents consumption. 


And don't get me wrong - it's not because of the label itself, but because the products with the labels are refined, processed, and don't follow my biggest rule: 

EAT REAL FOOD. 

(See Michael Pollen for definitions on real food.) 


Update: Really? You can buy them on Ebay? Why not just donate the money to your school. Ugh. 

The Super Bowl on Food

Congratulations to the Packers! 

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My husband is pretty stoked, to say the least.

What we decided to have for dinner: a green salad and golden carrots, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. 

I love this dressing from Newman's Own; it's simple, a healthy fat, and goes well with any type of salad! 

What the commercial$ during the Super Bowl would have us eat: 

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What we drank: 

What the Super Bowl adverti$er$ would have us drink: 

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The beer "America" drink$: 

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Good Beer that we drank: 

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What we take to school/work/play: 

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 Me encanta andar bicicleta con mi amiga Krystal!

Ok, so maybe Jared and Ross don't take the canoe to work... but they do use their own two FEET! 

What the Adverti$er$ would have us take to school/work: 

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Well, at least the Chevy Volt supports reducing fossil fuel emissions - just use it with a carpool buddy! 

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Is this what the United States of America eats?

Some thoughts: like I mentioned in a previous post, 2/3 of the US population is either overweight or obese. Is it any wonder why after seeing the commercials for fast food, processed food, carbonated beverages, and luxury vehicle after vehicle on the most watched TV event of the year? 

Alright, I realize that we can all make our own decisions, and many of us do actually know what's healthy and what's not. I also realize that most people are not easily swayed to change their habits. Certainly there is a relationship between consumer demand and what products are offered - if the consumer didn't demand the unhealthy, processed foods, would the food industry create it? 

Well... consider this: from 1990 to the publication of Marion Nestle's book Food Politics in 2003, "116,000 new packaged foods and beverages have been introduced." (pg. 25) And imagine what another decade has brought! 

Not only has there been an addition of hundreds of thousands of processed foods, but there is an incredible amount of money that goes into advertising. Nearly 70% of advertising and marketing dollars go to fast food, pop, and processed foods. (Nestle, Food Politics, pg. 22) "$36 billion in food-marketing dollars ($10 billion directed to kids alone) are designed to get us to eat more, eat all manner of dubious neofoods, and create entire new eating occasions, such as in the car." (Michael Pollan, source) On the other hand, the USDA 2010 budget for food and nutrition services is $93,365. 

Look at McDonald's latest advertising scheme that I saw all over Washington this past summer: 

"Served in Seattle... Grown in Pasco"

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Sure, that's true, because Washington is the #2 producer of potatoes in the nation after Idaho. The potatoes are "local" if you purchase them in Washington, but they're the same potatoes you'd be eating in Colorado, or Minnesota, or Florida. I'm sure you've heard of greenwashing, and now we have an example of localwashing. 

Side note: I guarantee any Olympic athlete you've seen on a McDonald's commercial DOES NOT actually eat it. Or, check out all this video that Ross' cousin Blake shared with me: not obese guys singing about a Whopper. Is a salad really "chick food," or is it a marketing scheme?

All people are capable of making their own food choices and decisions. Food Stamps are now debit cards that can be used at any grocery store, farmer's markets, and to my dismay, gas station convenience stores as well. There is choice. And clearly there is a demand for these processed products; people keep buying them and value fast, cheap foods. However, I didn't see a single vegetable advertised during the Super Bowl tonight. Oh wait - yes I did - there was a tomato and lettuce on the Wendy's chicken sandwich. ?!?!?

If hardly any money is going into education and advertising for healthy, whole foods, and billions of dollars are going into advertising for processed foods (see above: Coke, Pepsi, Doritos),  then perhaps the FOOD INDUSTRY IS CREATING THE DEMAND.

New USDA Guidelines and then... Mine.

Recently, the USDA released "new" guidelines to "help Americans make healthier food choices and combat the obesity epidemic." An astonishing 2/3 of Americans are overweight (BMI>25%) or obese (BMI>30%). If you are curious - here is a state-by-state map of obesity trends across the U.S. (Fascinating - Colorado is the leanest state, while Mississippi is the fattest. See where your state stands up! I am proud of my home state.) 

 From mypyramid.gov 

The new guidelines are not surprising, but the idea is that they can be presented in a clear and easy to understand way so that more people can grasp what they guidelines actually mean. It does seem strange that we need the government to tell us how to eat - Americans in general have lost a lot of traditional food knowledge (things our grandparents and great-grandparents knew) when Americans started eating from fast food restaurants and cooking with canned soup. The evidence that big industry and big advertising dollars completely changed nearly an entire culture's diet is astonishing - and the incredibly high incidence of obesity is the result. 

From the USDA press release:

• Enjoy your food, but eat less.

Tip: Eating off smaller plates and bowls will make this easier! And - well, only eat when you are hungry as opposed to when you're bored, or watching TV, or driving. 

• Avoid oversized portions.

Restaurants are notorious for this! Split meals, or put half your meal in a to-go container before you even start eating. 

• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. 

Simple enough - just make sure they are REAL fruits and vegetables, whole foods. 

• Make half your grains whole. 

Or all of them!!!! Nutrient losses from refined (white) flour (from Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley) 

Nutrient	% Loss
Thiamine (B1)	77%
Riboflavin (B2)	80%
Niacin (nicotinic acid)	81%
Pyridoxine (B6)	72%
Pantothenic acid	50%
Vitamin E	86%
Calcium	60%
Phosphorus	71%
Magnesium	84%
Potassium	77%
Sodium	78%
Chromium	40%
Manganese	86%
Iron	76%
Cobalt	89%
Zinc	78%
Copper	68%
Selenium	16%
Molybdenum	48%

• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Or drink rice or soy milk. Be cautious of going on a completely fat-free diet: vitamins are fat soluble so you need fats for your body to utilize them! Go for healthy fats - poly and mono-unsaturated fats like olive oil or canola oil. 

• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.

Or avoid these processed foods all together and cook from scratch! Then YOU control all the ingredients. Ross and I make a large pot of soup a week then enjoy it as leftovers throughout the week, and it's super easy. Oh, and we make all our own bread. 

• Drink water instead of sugary drinks. 

The greatest source of discretionary calories in today's average American diet comes from beverages - the greatest culprit, pop. I would recommend starting right this moment and never drinking pop (soda if you insist), Gatorade, energy drinks, Kool-aid, or Sunny-D again. All of these beverages contain public enemy #1 - High Fructose Corn Syrup. HFCS comes genetically modified "Liberty Corn" and is subsidized by the government.  Drink water, REAL fruit juices, coffee and/or tea.

Here's another suggestion: eliminate HFCS entirely from your diet, read the labels and refuse to buy anything that contains HFCS. You will automatically steer clear of highly processed foods that contain high levels of sodium and artificial ingredients, and will be on the way to a healthier you! 

There was a great story on NPR yesterday from Talk of the Nation, which highlights the new guidelines and also discusses why the USDA isn't simply telling you to eat less red meat, or stop drinking pop: part of the USDA's mission is to promote American agriculture, and both the FDA and USDA are tied up in politics and lobbied by the Beef Council, the Dairy Council, the Council on Biotechnology, etc. So, that's what you get when government regulatory agencies supporting human health and nutrition are influenced by industry - 66% of your population overweight or obese. Clearly something hasn't been working. 

A solution? Follow these three rules from Michael Pollan: 

Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much. 

Check out Mark Bittman's (the author of my favorite vegetarian cookbook!) article "A Food Manifesto for the Future" here from the New York Times. Here's something that could be monumentally more effective that new, refurbished and spruced-up USDA dietary guidelines. 

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In general, this is what he is argues needs to happen to the food "system" in the US. I agree. 

• End subsidies to processed food
• Start subsizing small farmers who sell actual food for direct consumption
• Break up the bureaucracies at the USDA and the FDA
• Ban factory-farm style animal feeding
• Encourage and subsidize home cooking
• Institute a junk food sales and marketing tax
• Encourage recycling while reducing waste
• Require truth in labeling
• Invest in sustainable agriculture research

And check out this fantastic cookbook for all your from-scratch cooking needs! 

Here's to a healthy you!!!!! 

What exactly is in your store-bought bread?

Readers beware: your bread purchases are about to change forever - for the better! Don't worry - I have also included lots of options of how to make or buy REAL bread.

First, things that are in my bread; flour (usually both white and wheat, this time rye), salt, sugar, water, yeast, sometimes a fat.

The things in store-bought bread: 

This a table taken almost entirely from Andrew Whitley's book Bread Matters, pgs. 8-13. Any of my additions are added in italics. 

Ingredient	What does it do?	What’s the problem?
Flour	Main ingredient: source of carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals, vitamins and other micronutrients.	Many nutrients are depleted in refined (white) flours.
Added to refined flour: Nicain, reduced iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Calcium Sulfate	Restores lost vitamins and minerals to refined flour.	Synthetically derived; why not just use what nature provided before it was refined?
Water	Necessary to make flour into dough.
Salt	Adds flavor; strengthens the gluten network in the dough; aids in keeping the quality of the bread (as a water attractant and a partial mold inhibitor.)	Under pressure from food agencies, the bread industry is gradually reducing levels of salt in bread.
Yeast	Aerates bread, makes it light in texture, and may contribute to flavor.	Excessive use may lead to digestive problems. (Jenn’s note: ever wondered where gluten intolerances came from?)
Fat	Hard fats improve load volume, crumb softness, and keeping quality. Hydrogenated fats have been commonly used, thought plant bakers are phasing them out.	Not essential in traditional breadmaking, though often used. Hard to do without some fat in industrial bread. (Jenn's note: the fat in the label above is from canola and/or soy, which are generally derived from GM crops unless certified Organic.)
High Fructose Corn Syrup	HFCS is an artificial sweetener derived from corn that has undergone an enzymatic process to convert glucose into fructose. Bakery items use HFCS 42 – meaning 42% fructose and 58% glucose.	All HFCS is derived from genetically modified (GM) corn. It is labeled “generally recognized as safe” by the FDA, yet has health and environmental concerns and some HFCS contains mercury, a neurotoxin.
Non-fat dry milk	Is used to decrease staling rate, and improve crust color and softness.	Not essential in breakmaking, yet adds additional nutrition and calcium.
Flour Treatment Agent	L-ascorbic acid (E300). Can be added to flour by the miller or at the baking stage. Acts as an oxidant, which helps retain gas in the dough, making the loaf rise more.	No nutritional benefits to the consumer (because degraded by the heat of baking.) Increased loaf volume may give the false impression of value.
Bleach	Chlorine dioxide gas to make flour white, used by millers for decades until banned in the UK in 1999. In other countries, eg the US, flour may still be bleached.	No nutritional benefits to the consumer. Chlorine is a potent biocide and greenhouse gas.
Reducing Agent	L-cysteine hydrochloride (E920). Cysteine is a naturally occurring amino acid. Use in backing to create more stretchy dough, especially hamburger buns and baguettes.	No intended nutritional benefit, though also sold as a supplement. May be derived from animal hair and feathers. So vegans and vegetarians – watch out!
Soy Flour	Widely use in bread as “improvers.” Has a bleaching effect on flour, assists “machinability” of dough and volume and softness of bread. Enables more water to be added to the dough mix.	Increasingly likely to be derived from genetically modified soybeans. Over 90% of the acres of soybeans planted in the US are GM.
Emulsifiers	Widely used in bread “improvers” to control the size of gas bubbles, to enable to dough to hold more gas, and there grow bigger, to make the crumb softer, and to reduce the rate of staling. They include: E471: Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids E472e: Mono- and diacetyltartaric acid of esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids E481: Sodium strearoyl-2-lactylate (SSL) E422: Glycerol mono-stearate (GMS) E322” Lecithins – naturally occurring, mainly derived from soy	No nutritional benefit to consumer. Soy lecithin may be derived from GM soy. Increased loaf volumes gives misleading impression of value and post-baking softness may be confused with “freshness.”
Preservatives	Calcium propionate (E282) is widely used. Vinegar (E260 acetic acid) is also used, though less effective. Preservatives are only necessary for prolonged shelf life. Home freezing is a chemical-free alternative.	No nutritional benefit to consumer. Calcium propionate can cause “off” flavors if over-used and may be a carcinogen.
Enzymes	Came to the rescue of industrial breadmakers when additives like azodicarbonamide and potassium bromate were banned. Bread enzymes fall into various categories and have varied functions in breadmaking; Amylase Maltogenic amylase Oxidase Protease Peptidase Lipase Phospholipase Hemicellulase Xylanase Transglutaminase Note: In general, these are use to increase elasticity, delay staling, increase loaf volume, give better crust color, and keep bread soft. Interesting to note: the bread label I took a picture of does include the word "enzymes" as an ingredient.	No nutritional benefit to consumer. No requirements to be included on ingredient declarations, because they are currently treated as “processing aids.” Even if the EU law in amended, the single word “enzymes” will be all that is require on label, leaving consumers in the dark about the origin the particular enzymes used. Often produced by genetic engineering, though this is unlikely to be stated on consumer product labels. Use of phospholipase derived from pig pancreas would be unacceptable to vegetarians and some religious groups, but there is no requirement to declare enzymes, let alone their source. Some enzymes are potential allergens, notably Alpha-amylase. Bakery workers can become sensitized to enzymes from bread improvers. Amylase can retain some of its potency as an allergen in the crust of loaves after baking. Transglutaminase may act upon gliadin proteins in the dough to generate the epitope associated with celiac disease.

*Another thing to look out for is caramel coloring, which may give bread the appearance of wheat but will not have the benefits of whole grains. 

So, what to do? 

1. It may be time to start making your own bread! Check out the "Bread Recipes" page to get started, or find yourself a good cookbook! (Hayley and I had a blast making bread together!) 

2. Read the labels of your bread - and then only purchase bread if you are satisfied with the ingredients. 

3. Buy Organic bread - the Organic certification guarantees that there will be no GM ingredients, artificial chemicals or processing aids. Try Dave's Killer Bread! 

4. Find a local bakery and talk to the bakers, ask about how they make their bread and request an ingredient list. A great place to start around Bellingham - Avenue Bread! 

5. Enjoy your bread - enjoy the taste, the texture, and feel GOOD about the ingredients!