"Low-fat, heart-healthy, low-calorie, all-natural!"
Boastful banners emblazoned on food products beckon shoppers
as they stroll through the aisles at Fred Meyer. The real
message is clear: These days, health sells. Even Oscar Mayer
and Nabisco--not exactly health-food companies--are capitalizing
on America's growing interest in eating right, offering
cleverly marketed products of their own.
But which so-called healthy meals and snacks are truly
good for you? Defining healthy isn't as simple as highlighting
one characteristic like "low-fat." If a frozen dinner has
negligible fat but virtually no other nutrients, is it still
healthy? Seemingly harmless low-fat cookies and multi-grain
crackers often maintain their moistness with hydrogenated
oils, which include trans-fats that contribute to high cholesterol,
clogged arteries and heart disease. Avoiding fat altogether
with too many fat-free foods isn't healthy, either. We need
some fats (ideally from mostly unsaturated sources like
olive oil) to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, help insulate
nerves and line cell membranes in our bodies.
The complexity doesn't end there. Plenty of supposedly
salubrious eats are loaded with refined sugar and salt to
add flavor. Sugar adds empty calories to the diet and promotes
tooth decay. Too much salt is a no-no for some with high
blood pressure. Products labeled "naturally sweetened,"
"touched with honey" and "100 percent Vitamin C" are often
brimming with high fructose corn syrup and other sugars.
And vague words like "wholesome" and "all natural" certainly
don't guarantee that a food contributes to good health.
So how does a health-conscious shopper know what to toss
in the cart? Eating more whole foods like fresh fruits,
vegetables and grains does away with much of the detective
work. When you do reach for processed meals and snacks,
read the fine print. Pay more attention to the nutrition
facts and the ingredients list on the back of the package
than to misleading messages on the front. To give you an
idea of the challenge, here are five supposedly healthful
products that are neither as beneficial nor as benign as
they appear.
Quaker
Toasted Oatmeal (Honey Nut)
That trusty Quaker smiles reassuringly on the
box, but the cereal he's backing here isn't simply a flaky
version of good old Quaker Oats. While the traditional variety
is simply 100 percent rolled oats, Quaker Toasted Oatmeal
contains four different sweeteners--sugar, brown sugar,
corn syrup and honey--weighing in at a hefty 13 grams total
(or around three teaspoons of sugar per serving). The cereal's
claim that soluble fiber in oats may help reduce the risk
of heart disease is legit, and the cereal is indeed low
in fat. Nowhere on the box, however, will you find a banner
touting the cereal's partially hydrogenated oil content
and artificial flavors.
INSTEAD:
Cook up a bowl of the genuine article or choose a less syrupy
flake for heart-healthy benefits sans tooth decay and empty
calories from sugar. Add berries and banana slices (or sugar-free
preserves in hot oatmeal) to sweeten.
Snackwell's
Caramel Delights
Nabisco made a splash on the fat-phobic scene a few years
back when it came out with Snackwell's products, and the company
has been rolling out new low-fat cookies and cracker varieties
ever since. Astronomical amounts of sugar substitute for fat
in order to make these cookies and other Snackwell's products
moderately palatable. That translates into empty calories
that may displace more nutritious foods in your diet or at
least contribute to unwanted pounds. Each one-cookie serving
has only 70 calories and 2 grams of fat, but when was the
last time you ate only one cookie? Those who actually like
the taste of these turd-like snacks might eat more than they
would of the high-fat variety because of the lack of guilt
or because the body's satiety centers haven't been signaled
that it's time to quit craving.
INSTEAD:
Have a couple of your favorite cookies, fat and all, every
once in a while--just don't eat half the box in one sitting.
Swanson
Great Starts Egg, Cheese and Bacon On a Biscuit
"Great Start"? To a heart attack, maybe. Swanson's 350-calorie
take on the Egg McMuffin is loaded with 20 grams of fat.
Even worse, eight of those--or nearly half the recommended
daily maximum of saturated fat--is of the artery-clogging
saturated variety. In addition to cheese, bacon, eggs and
a biscuit, this "hot breakfast you can eat on the run" contains
unsavory constituents like hydrogenated oils, dried dairy
blend and processed cheese. By the way, prepare to nap during
that early meeting: because protein and fat require more
energy to break down than carbohydrates found in fruits,
veggies and grains, digesting this gastrointestinal brick
could sap limited morning energy.
INSTEAD:
Peanut butter and jelly on wheat bread is quick, cheap and
convenient. An English muffin stacked with a poached egg,
grated low-fat cheese and tomato slices works, too.
Healthy
Choice Bowl Creations
(Chicken Teriyaki With Rice)
Healthy is defined here
as low in fat and calories. This frozen meal in a bowl has
only 4 grams of fat and 270 calories. So how much nutritional
bang do you get for your buck? The box promises "high-quality
ingredients like grilled chicken breasts and tender broccoli
florets" in a "homestyle gravy." But a look at the list
of ingredients indicates that more of the chicken flavor
comes from chicken stock and fat than from chicken breast
chunks. (Ingredients are listed in decreasing order of weight.)
INSTEAD:
Use frozen vegetables, quick rice and teriyaki sauce to
whip up a quick dinner. Alternatively, pick up bento on
the way home or head to the health-food aisle for more nutritious
frozen meals.
Tropicana
Twister (Apple-Raspberry-Blackberry)
Bountiful, luscious berries and apple slices appear
on the label of this juice drink, but they seem to have
gotten left out of the beverage itself. After all, the Jolly
Rancher-like liquid is only 10 percent juice. Tropicana
employs one of the latest juice marketing tricks here. The
message "100 percent Vitamin C" on the front craftily suggests
that the beverage is actually 100 percent fruit juice. The
primary ingredients in Tropicana Twister are filtered water
and high fructose corn syrup, followed by lesser amounts
of apple and other juice concentrates, as well as added
vitamin C. This sugar-laden drink is just one step up from
Kool-Aid.
INSTEAD:
Choose one of the many pure juice blends available with
no added sugar. You'll get more vitamins per glass, to boot.
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Willamette Week | originally
published July 21, 1999
|
