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True Lies: The Great Label Deception
By John McGran
eDiets Editor-in-Chief
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It sounds like a tawdry
topic... a scandalous subject torn from today's tabloid headlines. How Bad
Foods Happen To Good People...on the next Jerry Springer!
But it's a subject near and
dear to Mr. Bad Food's cholesterol-challenged heart. The "it" I refer
to is the nutritional labels that by law are there for the reading on
practically any food or drink you buy at the corner store.
The nutritional labeling is
there for a good reason. But how many of you actually take the time to turn
over your product -- please make sure the cap is on tight before you do! -- and
check out ingredients, serving size, calories, etc. etc. etc? I didn't think
so.
What's that you say? The box
proclaims in big bold letters "Natural!" or "Fortified!" So
it has to be good, right? Wrong. The reason I labeled this column True Lies is
because the manufacturers are using words that are basically true to describe
the food and make us believe the contents are a heck of a lot better than they
really are.
Mr. Bad Food wants to make a
label reader out of you. So stick around and see what author Kerry McLeod has
to say about the subject. The Texas-born fitness expert and author of the brand
new The Last Diet Book Standing (simple nutrition series
press) was nice enough to set a spell with me just yesterday. We truly chewed
the fat -- as in hydrogenated fat -- and discussed some of the biggest problems
we face in the market place.
"Don't believe the
label," Kerry says. "One of the biggest mistakes consumers make is
believing what they read on the front label. Manufacturers can basically lie
and make you believe the product is good for you even though it's really
bad."
Kerry became a professional
label reader several years ago... after she made the major transformation from
chocolate-chomping junk food junkie to sports nutrition certified instructor,
wife and mom.
"I had been involved in
nutrition a long time and I thought I was feeding my family healthy,"
Kerry tells eDiets. "Then I started reading the labels a bit more closely.
I was shocked at what the labels told me. What I thought were single servings
were listed as two or three servings. Portion distortion is perhaps the biggest
problem."
Amen sister! Mr. Bad Food
has been preaching the portion distortion sermon for years now. I am happy to
report that thanks to government intervention food manufacturers will one day
soon have to list the nutrition numbers for the package contents, not just for
a single serving which could be a third or less of what you are enjoying.
Consider for moment those
20-ounce soft drinks that we so demanded and got from our favorite bottlers of
fine fizzy beverages. I'm being facetious here, folks. Anyway, the vending
machine containers look and feel like something you'd expect to polish off in
one sitting. But if you read the label, you find it contains 2.5 servings.
That's right. You need to multiple the nutritional numbers by 2.5 to get the
actual number of calories you just sucked down.
Now I don't know about you,
but I rarely -- if EVER -- hit the vending machine for a 20-ouncer then
carefully measured out and drank an 8-ounce "single serving." But I
digress a bit. Back to the matter at hand: label reading.
So how can you avoid being
tricked by food labels? Glad you asked. Take it away Kerry...
"I recommend that you
speed read through the front label of food packages because there are no
mandated rules that manufacturers must follow. In other words, they can imply
that a food item is very nutritious, even if it’s not. However, the ingredients
list and the Nutrition Facts label can give you the clues you need to figure
out whether a food item is a wise choice."
A few front label tricks to
watch out for:
· The words “fortified,”
“enriched,” “added,” “extra,” and “plus,” mean that the food has been altered
or processed in some way.
· “Fruit drinks” contain little to no fruit and a lot of sugar.
Instead, look for products that say “100% fruit juice!”
· “Made with wheat, rye, or multi-grains” implies that it’s a good
source of whole grains. Unfortunately, manufacturers are not legally required
to say how much "whole grain" is in the product on the front label.
Look for the word “whole” before the grain on the “ingredients list” to ensure
that you are actually getting a “whole grain” product.
· “Natural” or “made from natural” simply means the manufacturer
started with a natural source. Once processed, the food may not resemble
anything natural.
· Labels that read, “organically grown, organic, pesticide-free,
and no artificial ingredients” say very little about the nutritional value or
safety of the product. Trust only those labels that say, “certified organically
grown.”
· Labels that say, “ sugar free,” “sugarless,” or “no added sugar”
may be misleading. Products using these terms may contain sugar alcohols, a
derivative of sugar, which yield as many calories as table sugar (4 calories
per gram).
OK, so you've mastered
ignoring the claims made on the packaging. Now what? Now you turn your
attention to the ingredients list.
Kerry says, "The
ingredients list label will help you find the hidden saturated and trans fats,
sugars, sodium, artificial flavorings, and refined grains. Ingredients are
listed in order of most to least amounts. That means the first ingredient will
be in the largest quantity. The second is the second most and so on.
"For instance, if a
product claims to be a “fruit breakfast bar,” look for fruit to be one of the
top two ingredients. If you see “enriched wheat flour” or “sugar” before the
fruit, put it back and make a better choice!
In addition to the bad
ingredients discussed above, try to avoid foods that contain these “evildoer”
ingredients whenever possible:
· Olestra: a fake fat that eliminates good vitamins from the
system and can cause major digestive upset... how yummy!
· Enriched flour, wheat flour, or unbleached wheat flour: are all
code words for refined flour with just a small amount of whole wheat added.
· Partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils: code words for
trans fats.
· Nitrates: used to preserve meats and have been linked to
creating a powerful cancer causing chemical in the body; found especially in
lunchmeats.
· High fructose corn syrup: a fancy phrase for refined sugar.
Other forms of sugar to watch out for in the ingredients list include: honey,
molasses, fruit juice concentrate, evaporated cane juice, malt, dextrose and of
course, sugar.
· Lard shortening: pure animal fat, enough said!
· Artificial food colorings: are chemicals used to add color to
foods.
· Monosodium glutamate (MSG): a form of sodium; other words that
mean high sodium include brine, disodium phosphate, garlic salt, onion salt,
sodium alginate, sodium benzoate, sodium caseinate, sodium hydroxide, sodium
nitrate, sodium pectinate, sodium propionate, sodium sulfite, baking powder,
baking soda, and soy sauce.
"There are so many more
ingredients that we could list, but in the interest of saving space, here’s a rule
of thumb: if a food item is packed with lots of ingredients that you can’t
pronounce (they are artificial sounding) and it includes trans fats, you should
look for a better food choice. Try to stick with products that are made from
whole foods, with little to no preservatives, and with little to no artificial
sounding ingredients, and definitely no trans fats."
Kerry knows your favorite
supermarket probably has in excess of 20,000 products. She also knows a
mother's work is never done. So, being the good sport that she is, Kerry has
done the legwork -- and the label scouring -- for you and compiled a thorough
list of the GOOD FOODS out there.
The listings of "good
foods" cover everything from cereals, breads, crackers, chips and pastas
to soups, meats, fruits dairy and desserts! To get your copy please click here and check out Kerry's info-packed The Last Diet Book
Standing. It'll cost you a couple of bucks but in the long run it'll
save you lots of time, not to mention calories and pounds!
Kerry, a big advocate of the
online dieting services served up by eDiets.com, considers her book a great
companion piece. The spiral-bound book is small enough to slip into your
briefcase or handbag AND it comes with plenty of space to keep track of your
diet while you are away from your beloved PC.
For more information about
Kerry or her great new book, go to thelastdietbook
standing.com. Don't forget... to learn the brand names of the best foods
(as chosen by Kerry) you need to read this book!
And for a final word on
labeling, here's Susan... as in Susan Burke, eDiets vice president of nutrition
services.
"Label reading is one
of my favorite pastimes. You can discover a lot you don't know by reading the
facts... yes, just the facts, ma'am!
"The most important
thing to read on the nutrition facts label is serving size. Most people don't
know that so whatever they buy, think that the entire package is one serving
and they eat the whole thing.
"Always look for the
words 'whole grain' when buying rye, corn, wheat or oat products. And beware
the hidden sugars. There are many, many ways to describe sugar (fructose,
sucrose, etc). When you buy breakfast cereal, look for as little added sugar as
possible. Read labels and you'll be shocked to see all the sugar in some
children's cereals -- some have more than 30 grams per serving."
READER FEEDBACK
Healthy Food is Extremely
Cheap Medicine!
You recently had a reader complain about the cost of healthy food. Why does
healthy food cost so much? The answer is simple. Because the farmer, the grocer
and everyone in between has to feed their family too. A second answer: as a
percentage of our income it really doesn't. Here is a different way to think
about it though. Healthy food is extremely cheap medicine!!!! Any time you can
eliminate obesity related illnesses you save on medicine, doctor bills and
hospital bills.
Malinda
Lower the Carbs, Raise
the Price
Why are the no carb/low carb foods so expensive? Sometimes, if you read the
labels, ounce for ounce you're better off with the regular product. If Atkins,
etc. really wanted to help the people lose weight, you'd think with all their
millions they could give the dieter a break on their products! I personally
would love to eat some of them, like Atkins bread, but I cannot afford them. Is
there any recourse?
Kathy
Hall of Shame Nominee #1
When we were teenagers, my girlfriends and I had a favorite comfort food --
grilled cheese and marshmallow sandwiches. Just make a regular grilled cheese
sandwich, but add a couple of large marshmallows before grilling. They're
ooey-gooey and yummy!
Jody
Hall of Shame Nominee #2
When we were kids, my brothers and I liked to play chef and we came up with
some pretty weird combos. Our favorites tended to center around some sort of
fried meat, whether it was bologna or hamburger. We would fry up a good size
burger, top it with bacon fried crisp, a hot dog that had been split and fried
also (do you see a theme here?) then topped with a fried egg and cheese on top
to hold it together and put that on white bread. Sometimes we would toast the
bread. Wash it down with some sugary Kool-Aid and we were set for a sluggish
day.
Diane
LEAVE 'EM LAUGHING
The Retirement Program
If you had bought $1,000
worth of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.
The same $1,000 worth of
Enron would be worth $16.50.
With Worldcom, that $1,000
would be worth less than $5.
If you had bought $1,000
worth of beer one year ago, had drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for
the 10 cent deposit, you would have $214.
Based on these figures, my
new retirement strategy is to drink heavily and recycle. I call it... my 401
Keg program.
And finally...
We could learn a lot from
crayons:
Some are sharp, some are pretty,
Some are dull, some have weird names,
And all are different colors... but
They all exist very nicely in the same box.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Do you have a Hall of Shame food
nominee, a beef about a product, a dieting issue or a clean joke to share? If
so, send it my way. Contacting Mr. Bad Food is as easy as clicking here.
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