It's amazing what goes into processed food these days. This is especially true with so-called 'healthy options'. I'm talking fat-free versions of foods that should indeed contain fat, trendy 'diet' products that are really sugar and corn devices cleverly designed as limited calorie packs, and a food that we all know and love.
FAT FREE
You'll notice many ingredients in this fat free half & half that have nothing to do with milk or cream. Corn syrup is listed number two, meaning there is a significant amount in there. Dipotassium phosphate is an insecticide! Probably not something you'd want to put in your morning cup of joe. I really enjoy how artificial color is footnoted as 'an ingredient not normally found in Half and Half.' As if sodium citrate is! Cream is listed as adding a trivial amount of fat. Now, as cream is classified as having at least 18% fat, something seems amiss here!
In contrast, regular half & half has two ingredients, milk and cream. When you think about the limited quantity you would normally use, the extra fat seems a pretty good trade off when compared to corn syrup, preservatives, mystery 'cream,' and insecticides.
ONE HUNDRED CALORIE PACKS
One of the latest trends in processed food marketing is packets containing servings of a certain amount of calories. The purpose is to let us feel guilt free about snacking on shitty foods. The marketers want you to believe that if you follow their calorie recommendation, you'll be enjoying a great snack.
The problem is, you'll be eating many things that you probably shouldn't be eating. The top ingredient listed is sugar. Now, a little sugar isn't a terrible thing, but when it's the main ingredient of your 'healthy' snack, that's another story. They've also managed, as most manufacturers these days do, to sneak high fructose corn syrup into the snack pack. It seems unnecessary, considering there are already a ton of sugar and sugar substitutes listed, including glycerin. Have a look at wikipedia if you want to see what else glycerin is used for!
My favorite ingredient in this, however, is: Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable And/Or Animal Shortening (Soybean, Cottonseed And/Or Canola Oil, Beef Fat). Go ahead and read that again, your eyes weren't deceiving you. Yeah, there might or might not be beef fat in your 'healthy' cupcake snack! Now, I have no problem cooking with animal fats, though, to be fair, beef fat is probably at the bottom of my animal fat cooking list. The problem I have is that unless you're reading the label, you have no idea that beef fat is in there. It's certainly not healthy, not even healthy for the soul the way cooking eggs in bacon drippings is. It's just wrong. This isn't beautifully rendered beef dripping, used to make Yorkshire Pudding. This is the shit that's left over from processing factory farmed beef. Why waste it when you can make an extra few bucks by slipping it into cupcake batter, eh? I almost feel sad for vegetarians who unwittingly eat this.
BREAD
This one makes me angry. Very angry. Bread, the wholesome staple of our youth, has been horribly corrupted. A few years ago, it suddenly became very evil to eat any bread products. CARBS!! OH NO!! Yes, simple carbohydrates are mostly empty calories. Yes, eating them will not keep the hunger wolves at bay for very long. But, no, bread as a concept is not evil. What is evil is the shit that they sell as bread in today's grocery stores. Perhaps the problem isn't simple carbs alone. Perhaps the problem is what's in our loaf of 'bread'.
Ingredient number three on the above bread label is high fructose corn syrup. Why? Once again, the corn marketers have found a way to stuff us with crap. There is no place for this in our bread, my friends. Has our palate become so addicted to sugar that we need to add it to something that is sweet by nature?
We also find a list of additives that are, quite frankly, unpronounceable. I'm not a fan of eating things I can't say aloud without sounding like I rode the short bus. Monocalcium phosphate and ammonium sulfate are commonly used chemistry set componets of industrial fertilzers. Azodicarbonamide, a bleaching agent linked to asthma, is banned in Europe and Australia, and its use can result in 15 years inprisionment (!!!!!) in Singapore. Um, what?! That's in my bread?
Bread, as I am aware, is meant to be flour, water, salt, and yeast- with the possible addition of some kind of oil and maybe some kind of seed. My people even omit yeast sometimes!
DON'T BE FOOLED
The point of all this: beware the marketing man. Above is packaging on the bread that was previously described. The name, 'EarthGrains Cracked Wheat,' implies health and wholesomeness. Yet, there is more high fructose corn syrup than cracked wheat in the bread. 'One Hundred Calorie' packs imply that you're doing right by your diet. Yet, you're eating beef fat and explosives. 'Fat Free' Half & Half would make you think that you're limiting calories and rocking out your health. Yet, you're adding insecticieds to your moring coffee.
Read the labels. It might be scary, but you'll be glad that you did.
FAT FREE
You'll notice many ingredients in this fat free half & half that have nothing to do with milk or cream. Corn syrup is listed number two, meaning there is a significant amount in there. Dipotassium phosphate is an insecticide! Probably not something you'd want to put in your morning cup of joe. I really enjoy how artificial color is footnoted as 'an ingredient not normally found in Half and Half.' As if sodium citrate is! Cream is listed as adding a trivial amount of fat. Now, as cream is classified as having at least 18% fat, something seems amiss here!
In contrast, regular half & half has two ingredients, milk and cream. When you think about the limited quantity you would normally use, the extra fat seems a pretty good trade off when compared to corn syrup, preservatives, mystery 'cream,' and insecticides.
ONE HUNDRED CALORIE PACKS
One of the latest trends in processed food marketing is packets containing servings of a certain amount of calories. The purpose is to let us feel guilt free about snacking on shitty foods. The marketers want you to believe that if you follow their calorie recommendation, you'll be enjoying a great snack.
The problem is, you'll be eating many things that you probably shouldn't be eating. The top ingredient listed is sugar. Now, a little sugar isn't a terrible thing, but when it's the main ingredient of your 'healthy' snack, that's another story. They've also managed, as most manufacturers these days do, to sneak high fructose corn syrup into the snack pack. It seems unnecessary, considering there are already a ton of sugar and sugar substitutes listed, including glycerin. Have a look at wikipedia if you want to see what else glycerin is used for!
My favorite ingredient in this, however, is: Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable And/Or Animal Shortening (Soybean, Cottonseed And/Or Canola Oil, Beef Fat). Go ahead and read that again, your eyes weren't deceiving you. Yeah, there might or might not be beef fat in your 'healthy' cupcake snack! Now, I have no problem cooking with animal fats, though, to be fair, beef fat is probably at the bottom of my animal fat cooking list. The problem I have is that unless you're reading the label, you have no idea that beef fat is in there. It's certainly not healthy, not even healthy for the soul the way cooking eggs in bacon drippings is. It's just wrong. This isn't beautifully rendered beef dripping, used to make Yorkshire Pudding. This is the shit that's left over from processing factory farmed beef. Why waste it when you can make an extra few bucks by slipping it into cupcake batter, eh? I almost feel sad for vegetarians who unwittingly eat this.
BREAD
This one makes me angry. Very angry. Bread, the wholesome staple of our youth, has been horribly corrupted. A few years ago, it suddenly became very evil to eat any bread products. CARBS!! OH NO!! Yes, simple carbohydrates are mostly empty calories. Yes, eating them will not keep the hunger wolves at bay for very long. But, no, bread as a concept is not evil. What is evil is the shit that they sell as bread in today's grocery stores. Perhaps the problem isn't simple carbs alone. Perhaps the problem is what's in our loaf of 'bread'.
Ingredient number three on the above bread label is high fructose corn syrup. Why? Once again, the corn marketers have found a way to stuff us with crap. There is no place for this in our bread, my friends. Has our palate become so addicted to sugar that we need to add it to something that is sweet by nature?
We also find a list of additives that are, quite frankly, unpronounceable. I'm not a fan of eating things I can't say aloud without sounding like I rode the short bus. Monocalcium phosphate and ammonium sulfate are commonly used chemistry set componets of industrial fertilzers. Azodicarbonamide, a bleaching agent linked to asthma, is banned in Europe and Australia, and its use can result in 15 years inprisionment (!!!!!) in Singapore. Um, what?! That's in my bread?
Bread, as I am aware, is meant to be flour, water, salt, and yeast- with the possible addition of some kind of oil and maybe some kind of seed. My people even omit yeast sometimes!
DON'T BE FOOLED
The point of all this: beware the marketing man. Above is packaging on the bread that was previously described. The name, 'EarthGrains Cracked Wheat,' implies health and wholesomeness. Yet, there is more high fructose corn syrup than cracked wheat in the bread. 'One Hundred Calorie' packs imply that you're doing right by your diet. Yet, you're eating beef fat and explosives. 'Fat Free' Half & Half would make you think that you're limiting calories and rocking out your health. Yet, you're adding insecticieds to your moring coffee.
Read the labels. It might be scary, but you'll be glad that you did.
1 comment:
But also sometimes reading the labels and overthinking the ingredients can be a bad thing too. It's completely smart to think about what goes into our food, I do it myself. But remember just because something has a "chemical" sounding name doesn't inherently make it a bad thing. Case in point you bring up dipotassium phosphate also known as phosphoric acid, which is a type of salt that is used in fertilizers, but there are lots of things that are used for different purposes.
For everything item in the US that is legal but illegal to use in another country in food, I bet you can find something illegal to use here but illegal somewhere else.
Different studies get different results.
Buut overall what you are saying is good advice.:)
Post a Comment