Boston and Sparkling Ice

Sitting at my desk Monday, I scrambled to contact clients and friends in Boston. I tried to calculate who had likely finished before the horrific bombing and hoped everyone was ok. I texted a friend and prayed that with a day off from school she and her kids were not near that finish line. I didn’t hear back. Were they somehow there or were they unaffected and back to life as usual? Oh what the victims would do for life as usual.

Yesterday, I received this:

First of all I suck for not texting you back, cell service was junk last night. All OK, thanks for checking in. On a lighter note, ran into Stop and Shop this morning. I know gross but needed paper towels etc. On my way in noticed display of Sparkling Ice flavored seltzer advertised “natural flavor” on front. Grabbed two and as I was going through checkout read ingredients-lots of crap incl yellow #6, 7.  I told the troll at checkout I was not going to take them. She incredulously asks “why? they are soooo good” Told her I am not that into food color.  She proceeds to rip me a new one. I also had 2 Chobanis, she starts reading the ingredients and mocking me she says, “this has locust bean gum, better watch out for those locusts.” 

Let’s see who’ll win this battle at the register:

Somehow I envision the rude register person has to have bad make-up

Sparkling Ice

I already knew Sparkling Ice’s dirty little secrets as I had looked into as mom at school told me buying it by cases (and no. for better or for worse I didn’t circle back and tell her she was chugging carcinogens). You are much better off drinking seltzer, Herbal Water or good old water. This is one of those wolves in sheep’s clothing.

The site has images of fruit inside of ice cubes and it’s zero calories! Contains antioxidants! And uses natural flavors!  What could be bad? Well a lot.

Carbonated Mountain Spring Water, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Potassium Benzoate (to Ensure Freshness), Gum Arabic, Sucralose, Green Tea Extract, Ester Gum, Yellow 5, Biotin 1% Trit. (Maltodextrin), Niacinamide (B3), D-Calcium Pantothenate (B5), Vitamin B12 0.1% (Mannitol), Vitamin D3, Pyridoxine HCl (B6), Blue 1.

I want to thank Sparkling Ice for making me laugh. In this gathering of nasty sweeteners, mutagenic dyes and decorative vitamins it’s always good to have potassium benzoate “to ensure freshness”.  But why only parentheses for that ingredient, we could have fun indicating why they're all there.

So well done Bostonian, this product should stay at Stop and Shop.

Locust Bean Gum

To be fair, what about locust bean gum?  Did Stop and Shop bossy pants have a point? Is my friend eating bugs? Thankfully there are no locusts in locust gum it’s made from carob tree. It’s a thickener often used as a fat replacer. While the skeptic in me would say this doesn’t need to be there, a little fat is good when it comes to dairy I would mainline the stuff versus sipping Sparkling Ice.

It felt good to laugh and I’m grateful that I’m able to; I realize for the families’ affected will be some time before any lightness returns.

What do you think of the exchange above? Was it the cashier’s place to comment on the Sparkling Ice? Have you seen/tried Sparkling Ice? Have you been fooled by a healthy sounding product? How carefully do you read ingredients?

When it comes to sugar substitutes, what about stevia?

Blue, pink, yellow? d) None of the above

Yesterday, The New York Times ran a story entitled “Choosing a Sugar Substitute”. I found the article, like most sweeteners, unsatisfying. We’re told “for any of the sweeteners, one can as easily find a study that offers reassuring analysis of safety as one that enumerates potential alarming side effects.” When it comes to food and nutrition this “jury is still out” reasoning doesn’t work. As far as I’m concerned, the risky results have more clout. The article further tries to ameliorate potential risk by quoting a layperson and self-described “yellow girl” (yellow referring to Splenda affection) saying “hundreds of millions of people swallow food and drinks containing artificial sweeteners and so far, no widespread calamities of health have swept over them. “ I would love to know if yellow girl feels migraines, obesity and cancer are "widespread" enough. I don’t know if she equates danger with immediate death but we’re not talking about snake bites. With toxins, things can take time. Walter Willet expressed “if you smoke cigarettes, the lung cancer risk doesn’t go up for 30 years.”  Trans fats weren’t seen as problematic for 90 years. You can read my thoughts on artificial sweeteners here in “Better Safe Than Sweet”

The best way to test a sweetener isn’t always research, where funding can introduce its own bias, but time. Sugar has been used long enough that we know the downside and concerns. Stevia has also been used for centuries in many cultures though only marketed (and approved) in the US recently. I was disappointed the Times article snubbed stevia. It is a plant you can grow in your garden. Detractors will say, “Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s safe” and this is true but I’ll still take the garden over the lab as a starting point.  I love a brand called NuNaturals, which has no stevia-y aftertaste but also have this local honey and maple syrup in my home. Liquid stevia can seems rather pricy but a small bottle can last months, even a year because it’s much sweeter than sugar. Since it’s much sweeter than sugar, you use it sparingly.

Even the title of the Times piece rubbed me the wrong way. Sweeteners aren’t mandatory. Whether it’s honey or maple or stevia, I don’t believe our food should be doused with sweetness. Sweet begets sweet and the more you have the more you crave. The converse is also true and less sweetness leads to fewer cravings. One “sweetened” item a day is a good guideline. For me, that tends to be my smoothie or an afternoon cardamom cappuccino. So I'm not a blue, pink or yellow girl and truthfully I'm not that sweet.

What sweetener(s) do you use? How many sweetened foods would you estimate you have each day? Have you tried stevia? 

You're a nutritionist; your family must eat so well.

I’m fairly controlling and love vetting food that is kid-friendly (whatever that means), husband friendly (or “dude food”) and Foodtrainers friendly. I’ll admit I feel a little virtuous when all boxes are checked. Take this past weekend. We packed the car with the coffin-sized cooler. As we made our way North the kids picked at strawberries, Kirby cucumber and cinnamon popcorn I had popped. We stopped at a pizza place that uses a lot of organic ingredients, has gluten free pizza, delicious vegetables and even organic beer for Marc. I then hit the Brattleboro food coop to refill our kombucha and maple syrup bottles -gotta love Vermont. The next day I filled the slow cooker with ingredients for a lentil sweet potato soup. Healthy, organized but this was all going to change.

Tuesday, I had what seems to have been a 2-day migraine or virus. Foolish enough to not let dizziness derail me me, I went to play tennis. I play for an hour with a friend and then they kids come for their after school lessons. As I stumbled off the court I saw my son holding this:

“J’s mother got it for me, is it ok this one time?” It took every ounce of my depleted energy to be dishonest but I summoned up “sure”.  There was nothing about the situation that was going to be a teachable moment and I was feeling too lousy to police. So this neon concoction with high fructose corn syrup as first ingredient and a collection of chemicals and blue dye was ingested by my 7 year old. One saving grace, I don’t think he liked it. Most of it remains. It says, “refrigerate after opening” but I’m fairly certain this blue beverage could outlast me.

The nutrition nightmare wasn’t over. We rushed home because Granny was taking us out to dinner for blue-drinking son’s birthday. His birthday isn’t for a couple of weeks but Granny will be out of the country; you may not know my mother but she and her boyfriend are always out of the country. I only add this because me and my migraine were off to Benihana for a nasty hibachi dinner sure to be chock filled with tidbits about my mother and “Dr Ron’s” upcoming South America adventures.

Marc texted to tell me he’d drive us to the restaurant. In the car, I looked down to grab my blackberry charger and saw this in the ashtray

Maybe it should be called a gumtray

As I glared at the gum, Marc did what any “dude” would do and popped a piece in his mouth. The nauseating faux-spearmint smell filled the car. My head was pounding, my mother awaiting, there was no holding back. “So you don’t drink diet cancer anymore, right?”. Marc ignored me, chomping away. “Do you think gum is any different?” At this point my corruptible birthday boys said “Dad can I have a piece?” The gum gushing was off and it wasn’t going to stop.

I picked up the pack of crap and started spewing facts

SORBITOL sugar alcohol AKA guaranteed gassiness , GUM BASE, GLYCEROL, MANNITOL another sugar alcohol, bystanders beware, NATURAL AND ARTIFICAL FLAVORS, HYDROGENATED STARCH HYDROLYSATE (also polyols and 20% to 50% as sweet as sugar); LESS THAN 2% OF: ASPARTAME migraine trigger, carcinogen and potential contributor to preterm labor ACESULFAME K stimulates insulin secretion, part of the argument that sweet begets sweet. Plus hasn’t been properly tested SOY LECITHIN an emulsifier, to separate this from soybean oil chemical solvents are used, plus should we place bets about whether this soy is non GMO? BHT (TO MAINTAIN FRESHNESS) BHT is banned in England, at higher doses causes animals to bleed it brain, can damage heart cells and retard weight gain and as CSPI says “bottom line is that BHA and BHT are unnecessary. There are safer ways to prolong the shelf life of foods." COLORS (TURMERIC, BLUE 1 LAKE). “Blue is for brain tumors” as blue 1 shown to cause in animals. Chew on that.


So yes, my family eats healthy most of the time. In general, I try to offer advice only when we're alone. I know one neon drink, every so often, is to be expected from a seven year old but gum? Totally nasty and I don't think people think about it.
Do you say something when your family members eat something blatantly unhealthy? What food bothers you most? Are you a gum chewer? Had you contemplated the ingredients? And yes, I realize not everyone swallows their gum and I am still anti.

Following Fat Tuesday, Here's Nonreligious Lent II

I got a chuckle out of this somewhat inappropriate but hysterical question posed on Facebook by my friend’s brother Metrodad “How come black people get an entire month and fat people only get a Tuesday?”  C’mon laugh (or don’t). Anyway, when I was at Tulane, Fat Tuesday was the day to take a breath after Mardi Gras, a day when the visiting freaks left the city. I never stopped and thought about how the fat got in Fat Tuesday.

Mardi Gras, in French, literally means Fat Tuesday.  Some say the origin of "Fat Tuesday" is believed to have come from the ancient Pagan custom of parading a fat ox through the town streets. I’ve also heard explanations in which it was a cow that was fattened and then feasted on. Other variations have households using up fat or eggs and dairy before Lent. The common thread here is indulgence before abstinence, one last binge before getting serious.

I am not religious, not Catholic either but last year I professed my love for Lent.  I love the time frame of roughly 6 weeks (Lent lasts until Easter which is April 8^th this year), appreciate the idea of making one meaningful sacrifice and let’s face it even if it’s not the point I love the potential benefits. I did check with my resident religion expert C, which doesn’t stand for Catholic, and benefiting from your sacrifice isn’t against the rules. While I can’t imbue a fear of God in you, I am pretty good at laying guilt. For example, didn’t we talk last week about not letting fear hold you back? Let’s do this. Last year after dinner eating and elevators topped my Lent list, here are my 2012 sacrificing suggestions:

Artificial Sweeteners and Soda- I can’t believe you are but if you are still sipping Splenda or nasty NutraSweet imagine how much healthier you will feel after 6 weeks without them. Or just take my word for it. If you need to be swayed, here's some info on that "diet cancer".

TV- if you’re spending a couple of hours a night tush-to-chair watching other people lose weight or procreate or what have you, those are 2 hours that aren’t making you thinner, smarter or more fit. Actually, as little as 1 hour of daily TV is correlated with weight gain. At night, go for a walk; take a workout class, clear clutter. Juices aren’t the only way to fast, going TV-less is beneficial too.

Purge the Plastic- if you’re not the fasting or diety type (unlike some I have nothing against the word diet) let’s ban the BPAs and do something for the planet (if not for god). For Lent, dust off that reusable water bottle (love Bkr bottles myself) and replace those misshapen plastic containers with glass ones. The benefits will last beyond the six weeks. Many components in plastics are hormone disruptors, need I say more?  

BYOL- maybe you’re spending $14 dollars on a salad (not including the plastic water bottle or diet “cancer”), maybe you’re concerned that the so-far-from-organic chicken in that grilled chicken salad is pumped up with salt, antibiotics and hormones (yum) or perhaps it takes too long to leave work and bring lunch back. Whatever the case may be call on your inner cheapskate, food phobe or worker bee and bring your own lunch.

Give up Gluten- while I’m not convinced everyone has to be gluten free, many people feel better with gluten gone. There’s no way to know if you’re one of those people unless you try.

For the record, I also asked C about the tendency to substitute one bad habit for another. You know how this works; you give up sugar and start overeating bread.  C said, “as far as I know, you might be the first person to question substituting bad habits :) I think it certainly would be frowned upon, since it's supposed to be a time of sacrifice.” So no vice-swapping. Got it?  Here’s to fewer “fat” Tuesdays from now on or at least until Easter.

Do you like the idea of giving up one thing? What’s it going to be for NRL (non-religious Lent)? If you have something else you’d like to temporarily abstain from, let’s hear it.

A Diet Soda a Day if the ADA has Their Way

Did you know the average American consumes 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day? At 16 calories per teaspoon, that is adding 352 calories a day. Over a week, that translates to ingesting an additional 2464 calories.  Did you know a 12-ounce can of sugar-sweetened soda contains about 150 calories and 9 teaspoons of sugar? If you are a soda drinker, substituting just one diet soft drink daily for regular soda can save 4500 calories a month with a potential weight loss of about 1 pound per month. 

Sounds so logical, right? No, of course it doesn’t. Curious about the source of this nonsense? It's none other than the American Dietetic Association in an email promoting their publication “the Truth about Artificial Sweeteners or Sugar Substitutes.” While I applaud their mathematics, there are a few things they omitted:

• By downing something with the equivalent of five packets of junk, way sweeter than sugar, you w bombard your taste buds with sweetness encouraging sweet in another form (after the carcinogens). Diet sodas do not facilitate weight loss.
• The substitution they suggested, replacing one chemical concoction for another, has another solution.  Why not substitute water for the sugary drink?
• Oh and because I can do math too, switching one can of soda to water would lead to over $500 a year in your pocket or over $2190 for a family of four. This money could be used to buy food that has some nutritional value worth promoting.
• Both regular and diet soda increase your risk of osteoporosis, pancreatic cancer, diabetes and dental problems.

And while the ADA used the word “truth” they really mean the truth according to their corporate sponsors. When you go to the ADA’s sponsorship page they politely list and thank all their best buddies. It’s what you’d expect from our nations bastion of nutrition: Coke (and not to offend Pepsi is there too), Mars, Hershey’s. It's the equivalent of a pro-illiteracy group building a school. I can’t wait for my next email. “The truth about chocolate”. If you replace that banana with a Hershey’s miniature, you’ll save 3000 calories a month. We’ll have cancer, no teeth and be just as fat.

It’s abundantly clear how I feel about soda. I would have understood if the ADA said something to the effect of “though there’s nothing nutritious about diet soda having one occasionally doesn’t pose huge risks.” Instead they pushed the diet cancer. I hope the Coke and Pepsi send them a nice thank you note. The header of the email sent to ADA members reads, “How should artificial sweeteners be used as part of a healthy eating plan.” Um, they shouldn't. We can argue about just how much (or in my opinion little) artificial should consumed but let's not put it in the same sentence as healthy.

What do you think of the ADA's diet soda plug? Do you consume soda or sweeteners? Are you an ADA member? What do you think ADA members should do if they feel similarly?

Coffee Talk: Is it good or bad and should you give it up?

I am biased. When I read a study with conclusions in favor of something I like, I am sucked in. Headlines such as “good news for social drinkers”, “how cheese may save your life“ or “the benefits of being glued to your laptop” would get me to read and possibly hunt down and hug the author.  I know to then look at the sample size or research methods and while I don’t necessarily change my behaviors or recommendations, with the study du jour, I can certainly feel vindicated. So a couple of weeks, when I saw “Coffee may help lower depression risk” in the Wall Street Journal, though I’ve never been truly depressed, it felt like “score one for team coffee.”

Coffee can be confusing. It seems to be popular to part with coffee though most people, when pressed, wouldn’t have a good reason for that. In a recent post, one reader asked this question with their comment “It seems that for every article out there that says to go without coffee, there is another article praising the advantages of some caffeine. I don't go overboard, but I really do enjoy a small or medium cup of coffee every single morning. That is where it ends... please tell me what I would gain from giving this up (believe me, it is a point of contention in my household at the moment) Thanks!” Because I’m not convinced we must give it up, I’ll instead present the case for coffee and you decide where you stand.

 I started this with saying I’m biased on this subject and will start with coffee’s “perks”.  When someone criticizes your coffee tell him or her it:

• Is rich in antioxidants (with the “a” word possibly the most overused in nutrition land). Antioxidants prevent oxidation and oxidation leads to aging. This is the proposed mechanism for coffee decreasing a cognitive decline later in life.
• Reduces risk of Parkinson’s disease
• Reduces risk of diabetes
• Reduces the risk of cirrhosis of the liver (which to me means it sort of counteracts your PM glass of wine)
• Reduces the risk of gallstones (which are on the rise in the US) and kidney stones (do you know how painful kidney stones are?)
• Reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s
• Reduces the risk of asthma, caffeine in coffee is related to theophylline, an old asthma medication. Caffeine can open airways and improve asthma symptom.
• Makes you more alert and think better

And let’s be honest, coffee helps you “go”.

Coffee is also a nice little helper when it comes to endurance sports. Coffee can increase the time to exhaustion. Caffeine may alter the perception of how hard you are working. During testing, athletes were asked to judge their effort, which is referred to as the rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Some studies have yielded significantly lower RPE's when the athlete used caffeine. A little trick our runners and tri clients use is to decrease coffee the week prior to a race thereby increasing coffee’s effects on race day. A little caution to non-coffee people, coffee will not help you if you spend half the race in the porta potty. If you are unsure if you tolerate coffee, test it out on a day you have time to spare.

I do suggest being a coffee snob. Coffee is one of the heaviest chemically treated food commodities in the world. The most common chemical used in coffee production is synthetic petroleum based fertilizers that slowly destroy the soil's fertility and seep into local water supplies. It’s important to go organic which will ensure that you’re not drinking fertilizers or pesticides every morning. Other things to look for are shade-grown and fair-trade which guarantees safe growing practices and protection for the farmers using these superior methods. In NYC, I like Le Pain Quotidien’s coffee.

Though I could be the president of the coffee fan club, I’m not an advocate of unchecked caffeination. Two cups is the maximum coffee I’d suggest per day and for the record, like the commenter above, I’m generally a one-cup a day girl. Most afternoons are green tea with the occasional thoroughly enjoyed espresso.  I would cut your coffee consumption if you have palpitations or irregular heartbeats, severe PMS, insomnia, panic attacks or bladder problems. Speaking of sleep, a caffeine cut off is a good idea and I’d suggest 8 hours before bed or 3pm if you go to sleep at 11pm. It can take up to seven hours to metabolize caffeine.  The older we are, the longer it takes.  And if you are on birth control pills or estrogen, the half-life of caffeine may be doubled.  For the life of me, I’ve never been able to understand how some people can have coffee and fall right to sleep.

If there’s one group I worry about coffee with it’s women trying to conceive. There may be as much as a 30 percent increase in early miscarriage of normal pregnancies for women who drink one to two cups of coffee a day.  One study has shown this goes up to 40 percent with four cups.  There’s also concern about caffeine consumption while trying to conceive.  Some studies have shown infertility rates double for women who drink more than two and a half cups of coffee a day. Another “con” for coffee is that it is acidic and therefore not suggested for those with reflux either.

No coffee talk would be complete without mentioning what goes into coffee. While the coffee itself isn’t a problem, adding artificial sweeteners (the pink, blue or yellow) or too much sugar or agave is. I would also suggest organic milk of your choice (dairy, almond or coconut) and not a reduced-fat version. If it’s coffee with skim and Splenda or no coffee, I’m would advise no coffee. I have to run now, I smell that delicious aroma and hear the Capresso snorting (which means it’s done). Are you a coffee drinker? Are you concerned with seeking out organic coffee? Have you considered giving coffee up?

took this photo in the French Quarter, couldn't resist

There Are Bad Foods and Bad Kids Too

This "wonderful child" isn't anyone I know

I know there are some people who think all children are wonderful. After nine-plus years of parenting and plenty of play dates I know this is not true. There was one child who expressed his disappointment at having to leave our house by biting my babysitter when she tried to comfort him. There were others who not only played “army” but concocted battle scenarios with such detail I know I will be reading about them one day and not in a good way. All children “have their moments” but some are just not good.

There’s a food equivalent of all “all children are wonderful” and this is a belief system that holds there are no bad foods. I’ve questioned this one for a while but felt validated to read a recent Jane Brody article. The article focuses on the habits of 120,877 health professionals followed for 12 to 20 years. Periodically the subjects answered in depth questions about their eating, exercise, sleep, alcohol and television habits. Participants weren’t obese at the study’s start but steadily gained an average of 16.8 pounds in 20 years. One of the lead researchers, Dr Mozaffarian a cardiologist and epidemiologist had this to say about the results:

“There are good foods and bad foods, and the advice should be to eat the good foods more and the bad foods less. The notion that it’s O.K. to eat everything in moderation is just an excuse to eat whatever you want.”             

In this study foods that contributed to greatest weight gain were French Fries, potato chips, sugar-sweetened drinks, red meat, processed meat, other forms of potatoes, sweets and desserts and refined grains.  My bad food list, not solely concerned with weight, would include artificial sweeteners and anything artificially sweetened (diet soda topping this list), bagels, bottled salad dressings, foods using dyes, TVP and products using processed soy and factory farmed meat.

Many people have items on my list and the items from the study’s findings they eat. Lest people accuse me of advocating dietary perfection, I will confess that I adore a crispy French fry and really enjoy chocolate (and not only the dark kind). Having said this, when I consume these foods I am aware they are a deviation from my healthy diet and know they are bad (if the criteria has to do with health) foods. We need to move away from the Pollyannaish food thinking.

The retort to any acknowledgement that all foods don’t fit is that deprivation leads to disordered eating and eating disorders. With all due respect to eating disorders and the struggle ED individuals endure, we are not a deprived nation.  Telling people they can have fries and chips and hot dogs and soda “in moderation” is akin to telling the “wonderful” boy above he can bite every so often.

As important as it is to acknowledge that certain foods lead to weight gain thereby affecting our health, that isn’t the only message. When I meet with a new client I first focus on what needs to be added to their diets. “Eat more fruits and vegetables” suffers from vagueness.  Dietary advice needs to encourage people to snack on sliced watermelon in the summer, roast Brussels sprouts in the winter and bake some French fries. It’s not dietary doom and deprivation but honesty and inspiration that’s needed.  We cannot wait for people to be ill or obese to embrace significant behavioral changes, the writing is on the wall we just have to read it.

Do you agree or disagree there are bad foods? If you agree, what foods would you add to the unhealthy list? What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to children’s behavior? Or do you think all children are wonderful?
The winner of our Travel Snack Bundle is Erin from The Healthy Apron, thank you to everyone for entering and for spreading the word about our new store.