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?

All snacks are not created equal, Pirates Booty giveaway

“Can’t you just let it go?” My husband and probably legions of husbands have foolishly asked this of their wives. If your husband hasn’t ever said this to you it’s probably because you let things go or go with the flow, perhaps you’re easy going. Those of us who are asked to “let it go” aren’t any of the above. We can’t let “it” go ever. Asking someone incapable of letting anything go to do so is almost as futile as asking someone to calm down. Once I think I did say “sure” but only because I was too tired to keep going. Relentless rehashing isn’t isolated to my personal life, I can get fired up when it comes to nutrition too. In fact,  let’s go back to the Cheetos conversation.

In case you missed that post, I reacted to a nutritionist’s story about buying her kids Cheetos for road trips. I explained that my kids have snacks but, knowing what I do about ingredients, I feel there are plenty of preferable substitutes at least when I’m the one buying. The nutritionist politely commented that she buys her kids Cheetos “so they know what they like” and added

I have a hard time seeing how the organic or natural version of chips or fruit roll-ups is a much better alternative, since I view them as classes of foods that I treat similarly--we treat fruit snacks as a candy-type treat, whether they're made with artificial or natural dyes. Ditto for potato chips.

While I don’t encourage my kids to mainline organic snacks,  I find it unfathomable that someone in my profession doesn’t see certain ingredients as worrisome and others as safe. Drugs are not something I encourage in my children but if I find out, in 20 years, that my kids had a beer at a keg party I’m going to be a lot less concerned as if they were shooting up…but they’re both drugs. Maybe you see snacks as snacks, so let’s take a look

First at the heroin (sorry, couldn’t let it go)

Cheetos

Ingredients: Enriched Corn Meal (Corn Meal, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, and Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, Soybean, and/or Sunflower Oil), Cheese Seasoning (Whey, and less than 2% of the Following: Cheddar Cheese [Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzyme], Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Canola Oil, Maltodextrin [Made from Corn], Sour Cream [Cultured Cream, Skim Milk], Salt, Whey Protein Concentrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Artificial Color [Including Yellow 6]), and Salt. 

Let’s start with “enriched”, it makes me chuckle that a company that’s giving you trans fats, MSG and food dyes serves you up a multivitamin with it. This feels like food adultery. If someone cheats on you but then tells you they love you, they are still a creep. Let’s not distract with “enriching”. Next on the list I’m intrigued by “cheese seasoning”. I looked in my spice cabinet and didn’t see anything by that name. Oh but there’s cheese in there- phew just less than 2%, I’m sure the other 98% is perfectly healthy. Why assume an adulterer will cheat again, so cynical. Then we move on to trans fats, one of the few ingredients the government has actually admitted is harmful. So we may die but rest assured your Cheetos will last forever. Maltodextrin is a cheap, processed filler but a saint compared to its company here. And for the finale Yellow 6, one of the food dyes CSPI wants to see banned. As a parent, aside from my long-term concerns about food dyes and health, I don’t need to feed them something that can adversely affect their behavior.

Now, one of the brands I suggested Pirate Booty

Pirate’s Booty Aged White Cheddar
Ingredients: Corn meal, rice, contains one or more of the following: sunflower, expeller pressed canola or corn oil, aged cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), whey and buttermilk. 

Corn, rice, oil, cheese and buttermilk.

I realize this is a snack and not a vegetable but this is very different from the list above. Pirates Booty is gluten free, trans fat free, baked and as a parent a great option (for the kids and adults alike). Snacks, drugs and men are not created equal. There’s a funny thing about not letting something go, after my song and dance and pose on the soapbox I feel so calm.

Pirates Booty is giving a case (24 little bags) of their Aged White Cheddar Booty to 3 of our readers. To be eligible:

Leave a comment explaining how you pick a snack food and what’s important to you, mention the giveaway if you’d like to be eligible.

Tweet “All snacks are not created equal, Foodtrainers' giveaway”
Winners announced Friday.

Do you see all snacks in the same “class”? Or if not how do you make a selection? Are you able to let things go?

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.

Ignore Candy Calories this Halloween

This is a repost BUT when I last posted it I think only 3 people (myself included) read this blog. It sums up how I feel about Halloween and leaves me a little more time to get ready for the Halloween with my ghostbuster and stay puff marshmallow man. Is it in poor taste that I have an Amy Winehouse wig to wear?

Yesterday, I found myself clicking on a list for a Halloween candy calorie counter. I’ve also read numerous Halloween-focused blog posts and advised concerned clients providing them with a strategy for tonight. It no longer surprises me that a day meant to be child-centric takes up a lot of mind time for weight conscious adults because of the candy situation. Other holidays have their accompanying sweets there’s chocolate on Valentine’s Day and pie on Thanksgiving. Yet on Halloween candy, loaded with childhood memories and perhaps mentally off limits, trumps the others in terms of temptation and trouble. To soothe a potentially scary situation a few of my trick or treat tips:

1. Ignore candy calories.

We can all do the math and in fact, for a few publications, I have done more than my share of candy math. There are charts listing the higher calorie candies which includes many of the chocolately ones (Reese’s, Almond Joy, Mounds, Take 5) and the lower calorie (candy corn, 3 Musketeers, Peppermint Patty) but as I mention above I feel you should ignore them. Here’s the deal, it doesn’t matter to me that I can have 35 (35.2 to be exact) candy corn for 3 mini Mounds. I don’t like candy corn and would never forego a chance for an adorable and delicious Mounds. I don’t think we should pick our treat based on a chart. If you’re like me, at one time or another you’ve tasted them all (actually I have never had a Take 5) and know your favorites. Go with them and you may not have to eat 35. Another deterrent is to look at the ingredient list. The mouth-watering Mounds has rather inhibiting ingredients.

2. Children will not care about candy after 48 hours.

It happens every year. It’s mid November and I’m in my office. Without fail a few sessions will start like this “I was doing laundry and I spotted the kids’ candy, I had hid it from the kids.” Or, “it was late at night; I went into the kitchen and decided to have 1 piece of the Halloween candy.” Let’s just say the latter example doesn’t end with 1. I suggest letting your kids enjoy, within reason, their stash on Halloween. After that, present them with a small container and let them put 5 of their favorite candies in there to save. Do what you will with the rest but it needs to leave the house. You can donate it and send it overseas to soldiers (although lately according to reports not sure they need the extra calories), you can, as a client of mine does, put it out for the “candy witch” to take. Candy Witch takes the candy, brings it to children without candy and like the tooth fairy leaves some coins in return. I have no issues tossing candy. If that sounds wasteful I would argue that eating nutritionally void treats isn’t helping anyone.

3. Better Options Exist

I have to admit, I’m not anti sugar. Kids and adults have sugar, even the ones who say or whose parents say they “eat no sugar.” Everything from yogurt to oatmeal can have sugar in it. An article in the New York Times today states “candy provides only 6 percent of the added sugar in the American diet, while sweet drinks and juice supply 46 percent.” Having noted that sugar is prevalent there are better and worse ways to sweeten things. I am wearier of the dyes and high fructose corn syrup than I am of sugar. My kids selected Annie’s Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks and Surf Sweets Sour Worms  to give out. Are these healthy? Appetizing? Absolutely not. They are free of high fructose corn syrup and use natural colorings. I also don’t happen to have any sort of a gummy habit so they’re also “safe” in that respect.

What’s your favorite Halloween candy? Most memorable Halloween costume?  Any trick or treat tips to add? And where are you on "sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't" (Almond Joy or Mounds)?
For the record, my favorite costume was ironically an M & M (I was green and my friend was brown). Our mothers made them. My least favorite was also homemade, it was the American flag. My mother made it out of tissue paper which of course tore and ruined my Halloween. My husband's homemade costume choice in college was "a pair of tighty whities" he made it out of a sheet with a sharpie. Creative, right?

Is All Fish Healthy?

Do these look like happy fish?

It bothers me that people are confused about what to eat. I take pride in distilling intricate nutrition information into something straight forward and easy to follow. For today's blog, my plan was to explain the differences between wild and farmed fish but something new happened. The more I researched, the more questions I had. While wild fish has its clear virtues, some farms are better than others. I don't consider myself an aquaculture expert and as I delved deeper into this topic I really felt- well much like a fish out of water (or in this case a fish out of the wild). I thought to scrap this post but realized something, if the ins and outs of fish farming are confusing to me, chances are I'm not alone. So here we go.

For starters, why is wild better than farmed fish?

• Wild fish, as the name implies, have room to swim. Farmed fish, on the other hand, are often confined to crowded spaces. One consequence of this is that farmed fish is fattier. Unfortunately this increase in fat isn’t the “good" fat. Wild salmon is 20% higher in protein and 20% lower in far than farm raised.
• Farmed fish is lower in omega 3’s than wild fish
• Fish farming is similar in many ways to factory farms for animals. Crowded conditions lead to contamination and the need for antibiotic use. Sulfa drugs with your salmon anyone?
• Farmed fish aren't searching for their next meal, they are “fed”. Their diet is very different from their wild counterparts. I had no idea farmed fish weren’t fed fish or other marine “stuff” until I read an article in the NYT last spring about tilapia farms. Corn, soy, wheat and even chicken (yes chicken) are used at fish farms.
• Due to the change from natural feed, farmed fish looks different than wild. Two red food dyes are used to color the flesh of farmed salmon. Otherwise it would appear greyish. This dying is known as “color finishing”. One of these colors is made from a strain of red yeast.
• Furthermore the proximity of many fish farms to wild fish adversely affects wild fish. A parasite known as sea lice has been on the rise due to this.

Antibiotics, corn and chicken in my fish? No thank you, I choose wild whenever possible but have certain lingering questions:

How do you know if fish is farmed or wild?

My general rule is that stores and companies using or selling wild fish want you to know and this fish is generally labeled. If it doesn’t say wild, it is almost always farmed. “Bred”, “raised” and “cultivated” are euphemisms for farmed. Atlantic salmon is farmed.

Are all farms flawed?

As I scoured Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch site, I learned that fish farming or aquaculture is part of our future. “The ecological impact of fish farming depends on the species chosen, where the farm is located, and how they are raised.” Not all fish farms are polluting the oceans and not all farms use chicken feathers as feed. The problem is that you can’t very well ask the waiter at the restaurant if your fish came from a good farm or a nasty one.  I would hope at some point there will be language much like “grass fed beef” to inform consumers.

Until the time when we can distinguish better farms from foul (or fowl) ones. Wild is the better bet. Canned wild salmon and wild sardines are more affordable options. And though farmed fish has its drawbacks and is inferior to wild nutritionally, I wouldn’t go ordering the steak.

Do you find fish facts confusing? Do you pay attention to where your fish comes from? Does coloring, antibiotics, soy or wheat used with farmed fish worry you?

Color Me Carcinogenic

On Thursday I am giving a nutrition talk at a preschool in Manhattan. I plan to cover a few topics: organics, healthy snacking and vitamins. When talking about snacks for kids and vitamins I find it impossible to ignore the topic of food dyes.  Certain artificial food dyes have been shown to be carcinogenic to animals, others affect mood and intensify ADHD and a few are associated with fertility even sterility. This is not a laughing matter. I bet you’re wondering how these dyes are approved for use; I don’t blame you if you do. The British government has urged companies to stop using most dyes, and the European Union requires a warning notice on most dyed foods. In European countries these colorings are considered hazardous until they can be proven safe. Sadly, in the US we have the opposite approach. These colorings are safe until proven otherwise.  As a consequence, Kellogg, Kraft, McDonald’s, and other American companies that do business in Europe use safe, natural colorings over there — but harmful, synthetic chemicals here. As far as I’m concerned, this is a case where the proof may indeed be in the pudding and I’ve already reached my verdict, read on and see what you think.

I asked Lisa, Foodtrainers’ favorite nutrition nerd to provide answers to some questions I’m “dye-ing” to know:

I always tell parents the food dyes are more likely to blame for hyperactivity than the sugar, what does the research show?

A British study reported in "Archives of Disease in Children" in 2004 found that hyperactive behavior increased in children given food coloring plus sodium benzoate, a preservative. Hyperactive behavior decreased when the additives were withdrawn. A 2007 study published in The Lancet showed that children have increased levels of hyperactivity after consuming drinks laced with food coloring. According to the Mayo Clinic, yellow food dye no. 5, no. 6 and no. 10, and red no. 40 all cause an increase in hyperactivity. Food additives that may increase hyperactive behavior include: Sodium benzoate, Yellow No. 6 (sunset yellow), Yellow No. 10 (quinoline yellow), Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine) and Red No.40 (allura red) Yellow No. 5, used in beverages, candy, ice cream, custards and other foods, may be more likely to cause reactions than other additives. The Food and Drug Administration requires that Yellow No. 5 be clearly labeled on food packaging along with other ingredients.  This label is just indicating Yellow 5 is in the food. This is not a warning label.

People may think food dyes aren’t an issue if you don’t eat candy or neon-colored food but food dyes are found in some sneaky places, aren’t they? 

Food dyes can be found in pickles, some farmed salmon, certain mustards, granola bars and Life Cereal. As you see from this list, food coloring is lurking in foods that seem pretty much colorless. And another place dyes are used is in medicine. Specific colors are not always listed but look for “color added”, “artificial color” or “artificial coloring added.”

Aside from mood, what more serious things are dyes connected with?

 According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, food coloring such as blue no. 1, red no. 40, yellow no. 5 and yellow no. 6 cause allergic reactions. Yellow food dye no. 5 has triggered asthma episodes in children and other dyes, such as red no. 40, cause skin conditions such as eczema. Yellow #2 has been connected with male sterility and ADHD. Blue 1 and Blue 2 used in beverages and often in pet food has been associated with brain tumors in animal studies and Red 3 is linked with thyroid tumors.

What are examples of healthy ways to color food?

Better choices include annatto extract (yellow), dehydrated beets (bluish-red to brown), beta-carotene (yellow to orange) and grape skin extract (red, green).  These colorings are not required to be named and you may simply see colorings or color added. For home use matcha green tea powder, beet juice (makes icing pink), cocoa and avocado can be used. Here is a recipe you'll love for frosting for St Patrick’s Day. 

Thanks Lisa, this is great information. My advice is that everyone needs to check their food labels particularly for foods they consume regularly. If these foods contain dyes consider switching to a product that doesn’t.  And parents, know that when children leave a birthday party their behavior is not due to a “sugar high.”

Do you look for food dyes on food labels? Have you ever had a reaction to a food dye? Are you at all shocked that these are approved for use?


*Congratulations to Gayle, she's the winner of the Hardwick giveaway.