Parents magazine says processed foods are “best”

Nutrition confusion abounds. I’m often asked “what should I look for on a food package?” Aside from choosing fewer foods that come in packages I usually suggest looking at the ingredient list. It’s also easy to trust a publication or expert and get sucked into “best of” lists. Sadly, the criteria for these lists is often some numerical cut off- making sure there isn’t too much sodium or too much sugar or fat in a product. I’d suggest turning this logic around. If a magazine is going to suggest something ask yourself what does this have in it or what nutrients or benefit does this offer me? It’s not enough for a food to be better than the worst of the worst.  That’s setting a very low bar for consumers or in this case parents and children.

So when this list of Parents magazine 25 best packaged foodspopped into my inbox I looked. And I found

Jif Whips

Ingredients: MADE FROM ROASTED PEANUTS AND SUGAR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT.

 “Families are so busy that it's more important than ever to ensure that our kids eat quality, healthy foods at home and on-the-go,” said Dana Points, Editor-in-Chief, Parents magazine. “We were impressed by the variety of packaged-food options at the supermarket that tasted great and had a good nutritional profile.” 

I know Dana, she's super smart but are parents so busy that they need sugar and bad fats “on the go”? Yes, there are a variety of packaged foods at the supermarket even one from a company on this same list, Smuckers, and the ingredients for their peanut butter? Peanuts and salt.

What other quality foods should our kids eat according to this? Parents magazine says processed cheese and Tyson nuggets. I get busy, I get easy but peanut butter doesn’t need processed fats, cheese ingredients can look like this Pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes (thank you Cabot) and doesn’t need to be from Laughing Cow. That’s not “fast and fabulous” as the online headline reads.

Sure there were a few organic items in the 25. It was nice to see Applegate listed even if it was for their bacon. There is a place for a healthy snack or even cookie but the options with the best ingredients, for my children and yours or for you and me, aren’t made by Keebler and Newton’s.

What do you do when you come across sub par nutrition advice? Do you mention on social media? Let the publication or person know? What are your favorite fast and fabulous foods?
For the record I wrote in to Parents and said this

I was happy to see your "25 Best Packaged Foods" in my inbox. I wasn't happy about what I saw. I understand busy and the need for convenience but I don't understand sub par ingredients certainly not on a "best" list from such a reputable publication. My thoughts are in this blog post. As I said here, it's not enough if an item isn't the worst of the worst (even though some listed well…) it needs to offer our children (or us) something. Let's set athe nutrition bar higher and perhaps say "maybe you will not purchase or require all 25 of these foods" but here are crackers or snacks with more fiber or non-refined grains etc"

Lauren Slayton MS RD
note: I initially indicated the Jif had trans fats (partial hydrogenation) it does not this is a processed fully hydrogenated fat- still far from the "best" and my fault for posting quickly.

My Idea of Stadium Food

Last weekend, a friend emailed asking if my son would like to go to the Mets game with her son and husband on Tuesday (notice she wasn’t going).  There was no need to consult my son, I replied and accepted on his behalf. My husband said “we should get tickets and go to the game too, it’ll be fun.” When I woke up Monday morning, I spotted something in the printer. There were Mets e-tickets husband had printed, I counted and there were 3.  I had optimistically assumed  the “we”  had meant husband and 7 year old, it never crossed my mind I was part of this Citi Field plan. I could’ve weaseled out, could’ve invited a friend for my son. I didn’t go this route because my boys are leaving for 7 weeks today. I’m sure, the few of you who read this blog, will hear more than you want to about this but for now let’s just say I was apprehensive enough  about their departure to miss a new episode of Chopped and eat stadium food. Even I can be a good sport.

As a nutritionist, stadiums in some ways are enemy territory. I always feel as though I have my "fists up" and need to be ultra-vigilant with the various dietary obstacles I'm sure to encounter.  There are people who feel soft pretzels, beer and hot dogs  are part of the baseball experience. I am not one of those people.   Knowing this, I did some pre-eating before we left the house. I had ½ an avocado and some leftover roasted asparagus acknowledging this was likely the only green I would see (I was wrong the Oakland A’s actually have green on their uniforms).

After dropping my son off at his friend’s apartment we made our way to the game.  We arrived early and decided to walk around for a bit. There’s a great area for kids  at Citi field with batting cages and dunking booths. I laughed that the Shake Shack burger line was easily 75 people deep,  the line for the batting cages? Three people.  While we waiting for my son’s turn, I made a comment to my husband about healthy food. The woman in front of us  eavesdropped overheard, she turned and said “I think the healthiest thing are the hot dogs, if you look at the calories they’re pretty good.” I passed on this “teachable moment” but people are really confused about nutrition when hot dogs are described as “healthy”.

There was a gluten free booth at the stadium featuring “gluten free hot dogs”, “gluten free hamburgers” and “gluten free sausage”.  I wasn’t intrigued by the gluten free junk and settled on a sushi roll. I picked a cooked shrimp roll as  Anisakis isn’t the way I’d like to drop a couple of pounds.  My husband had a pulled pork sandwich from Blue Smoke.  Clearly he and the hot dog fan have similar notions of what “healthy” means but he returned from the bar with Absolut Pear “on the rocks”  for me so I will not be too critical.  I’m sure the pretzel people would think eating sushi and drinking vodka at a ball game is sacrilegious  but I was thrilled. I’d even go again (when the kids get home in 7 weeks).

When was the last time you were at a stadium? Did you pre-eat beforehand? What did you eat at the stadium? Any healthy stadium finds?