food labels

First off, http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/02/11/food-companies-exploit-americans-with-ingredients-banned-in-other-countries/

if you haven't seen that already, take a look. I have some major points that I'd like to pick apart but I think it's important to read. (Also, it's the second comparison between the US and the UK I've read in the last week--the last was a fascinating contrast in America's liberal pain medication policy which has gotten us to accidental deaths from medication overdose at an all time high contrasted to the UK where people suffer unnecessarily due to the unavailability of pain meds).

Americans haven't concerned themselves with nutrition for the longest time and I do 100% agree with her that it's the real problem. Nutrition and nutrition education, that is. I am incredibly well versed in nutrition because I'm a medical person and I'm smart and grew up in an environment that taught it. I now live in an area where we're happy if people can graduate high school and talk "good." I go around daily correcting grammar in my head. I'm sitting here drinking a calorie-free vitamin water to supplement my lack of B complex vitamins; how many of my compatriots are drinking full calorie mountain dew?

I don't implicate the food companies in any of this; I applaud coke's recent programs to educate consumers and I also applaud NY for attempting to address the obesity problem with cutting off people at a certain amount of soda. I doubt people truly realize how many empty calories they're consuming in a day; I doubt many people know what an "empty calorie" even is.

I feel that the prevalence of fad diets preys on the lack of nutrition education in this country. I think that people in America realize that there is a problem but want an answer as to how to fix it. The simply and truest solution is diet and exercise, but we're all constantly hoping for an easier answer. I know I still have to exercise tonight and I'm not happy about that, but I also just consumed 2 190 calorie biscuits...if I don't want that to go straight to my hips, I'm exercising. I'm creative with the way I exercise on certain days, but it does indeed suck to get up and run a few miles. You do it if you want to make a difference. Because surgery is a whole hell of a lot more expensive and painful. The other health benefits--improved immune system, more effective sleep--are an added benefit to getting on the ellipitical.

It's also interesting to consider where the lack of education about nutrition comes about. I doubt many physicians are capable of tackling the complex topic, but I think the blog post above does give doctors short shrift. Doctors can handle a basic conversation of nutrition that would satisfy most American's questions. It's when you get to *my* level of funky nutrition that you may need to talk to a nutritionist. A discussion of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins--doctors can do that. Do we schedule the time to talk with a doctor? No. Does an insurance company pay for that visit? I don't.

Another culprit is the constantly changing front of nutrition: did y'all realize that it's a my plate system now, not a food pyramid? Which raises the question of what exactly a balanced meal is supposed to be.

I think Michelle Obama is trying to reach out and correct this problem, but when the school system is already overwhelmed trying to teach reading and writing let alone STEM stuff, nutrition is overlooked. But we clearly need to get to the kids before it becomes an issue. It's more complex than that because it's the parents who buy and cook the food for the household, but I think blaming any of this on food costs and socioeconomic problems like availability of fresh produce in poorer neighborhoods is brushing off a far more serious problem.

Enough on that. Better education is key.

My big problem with that blog is I'm not sure exactly where she's getting her nutrition labels because I know Betty Crocker has improved. Some of those labels may have been accurate at some point in time, and I can tell you for a fact that some of them are true as of the last time I read that label, but food labels are getting easier to read. I definitely have noticed that some companies are drifting away from using yeast to using yeast substitutes in their foods. There are even a few biscuits that I can buy and cook at home. I think a lot of companies are recognizing this problem and may be acting on it. Of course there will always be companies that will drag their feet and refuse to acknowledge any problems with MSG and corn syrup, but I think we've got to give credit where it's due. Americans expect Pringles to taste a certain way and we wouldn't like it if the recipe was compromised for the ingredients. Which is why the comparison to the UK version is key, but I know from having traveled that foods taste different here than they do two hundred miles away, let alone across the Atlantic (and as any Ukrop's fan may acknowledge...the fried chicken tasted different when Martin's bought them because of a change in the oil it was cooked it).

Were any of you surprised by food labels? I have often wondered and had on a list of potential blog post topics one on reading food labels. I read them obsessively of course. Did y'all know that McDonald's french fries have beef flavoring in them? I did. Vegans probably knew that too, but 98% of America wouldn't be able to tell you that. I think many people would be absolutely shocked to consider how many foods have MSG in them....or monosodium glutamate. Also, how food companies get away with hiding how much corn syrup or sugar is in something by listed in multiple times as a component of another ingredient.

My absolute favorite food labels have only a few ingredients in them: sugar, peanuts, butter, flour, etc. No chemicals. Things that even I, with my education and experience, can understand without having to dig into that education. Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend but either way, Americans need to educate themselves on the types of things they're ingesting every single day.