bite my words

Follow Friday: Foodland Ontario

Diana — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:00:20 +0000

I love the Foodland Ontario website for seasonal recipes and information on proper storage of vegetables and fruits. They also have a handy chart for seasonal availability. Each fruit and vegetable listing also includes interesting facts and nutrition information.

The ultimate diet, only 27, 575 calories a day!

Diana — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:00:26 +0000

I stumbled across this book review for a book entitled Naked Calories the other day. I was a little shocked to read that the book asserts that the average number of calories a person would need to consume in one day is 27, 575 in order to become sufficient in all 27 micronutrients (I’m also a little curious as to what micronutrients were selected for this analysis as there are more than 27 in our diets). 27, 575!!??? That’s more than ten times the average number of calories a person needs to consume in a day. I’d like to begin by pointing out that the authors of this book have their own line of supplements and the central premise of their book is that we are unable to consume sufficient nutrients through food alone. The author of the review does point this out but not until the end of the review and it seems more like an afterthought than the huge red flag that it should be. I know that when I was in school we analysed our own diets for both macro- and micronutrient content and I was only a teensy bit shy of a couple of micronutrients. I’m not quite sure how the authors of this book reached the conclusion that the diets they assessed (which included the DASH diet and Mediterranean diet) delivered, at most, 56% of RDI requirements. It’s an interesting premise that our diets are so deficient in nutrients. However, as a dietitian I am constantly recommending that people aim to get as many of their nutrients from whole foods as possible. We don’t know for certain that isolated micronutrients (as in supplemental form) provide the same benefits to us as when they are in whole foods. I’d like to read the book so that I can completely debunk it but I have no intention of giving them any of my money in order to be able to do so. I would suggest saving your money, eating a varied diet, and consulting with a health care professional (i.e. your primary health care provider and/or a dietitian) to determine if you should be taking a supplement. Don’t start eating 27, 575 calories a day and don’t start buying supplements that you don’t need.

Farm-grown soup in a can

Diana — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:00:29 +0000

I saw a commercial the other night for a ubiquitous soup company. Among their marketing statements they said that their soup is “made with farm-grown ingredients.” It’s funny how nutritious and back-to-basics that sounds because when you really think about it, what else would their soup be made with? We’re not yet at the point where we’re growing carrots and chickens in petri dishes for mass consumption. Their soup can also help you achieve a healthy weight. You could probably say that about pretty much any food if you only consumed enough of it that you were ingesting fewer (or the same) calories than you were expending. Marketers are savvy. They know that we want to be thinner and that we want to know where are food comes from. So they provide us with the illusion that their product is the answer. This soup ad made it seem like it was the next best thing to growing, harvesting, and cooking the vegetables yourself. I decided to take a little peek at the nutrition facts for one of their “healthy” options. This particular soup had 480 mg of sodium per roughly one cup serving. I don’t know about you, but if I’m having soup for a meal I’m liable to eat more than that. Even if you do stick to the serving size on the label that’s still a large chunk of your daily sodium in one small bowl. You’d be much better off making a pot of soup yourself.

How much “real ginger” is in ginger ale?

Diana — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:00:08 +0000

My colleague has decided that I’m her own personal investigative reporter. She asked me to find out how much ginger is actually in ginger ale and to report on it in my blog. Unfortunately, my investigation hasn’t been particularly fruitful. Here’s what I was able to find out: I went to the Canada Dry website and found the ingredients in their ginger ale: Carbonated Water, Sugar/Glucose-Fructose, Citric Acid, Natural Flavour, Sodium Benzoate, Colour. In their little write-up they state that their ginger ale has “100% natural flavours, including real ginger”. Their FAQ section has the question: “How much real ginger is in Canada Dry ginger ale?” and the answer: “That information is part of our proprietary formula and is not divulged.” Clearly, the “real ginger” is just one of the ingredients included under “Natural Flavour.” I emailed the company to ask what the other “natural flavours” are and what form the “real ginger” is in (e.g. ginger syrup). This is the response I received: “The amount and source of our natural flavors is considered proprietary information. The “natural flavors” listed on the ingredient statement contains flavor from many types of real ginger roots. The ginger flavor in ginger ale is extracted from the ginger roots and then blended with other citrus flavors to produce the unique flavor in ginger ale. Since the ginger flavor is combined with natural flavors, we chose to label the combination “natural flavors” on the ingredient statement.” I can understand that Canada Dry would be concerned that someone might steal their secret recipe. However, I am a little surprised that they wouldn’t reveal the source of the other “natural flavours” as this would be important information to someone with a food allergy or intolerance. I’ve hit a dead end with my investigation, so this is where my conjecture comes into play. As ingredients are listed by weight (therefore the most common ingredient is the first ingredient and the last ingredients are generally quite negligible) and ginger is part of “natural flavours” (not even listed individually) I don’t think that there’s a whole heck of a lot of “real ginger” in Canada Dry’s ginger ale. If you want to be sure that you’re getting ginger root in your ginger ale, and you have a little bit of time on your hands, you could try making your own. I found a recipe on Simply Recipes for homemade ginger ale. My only suggestion would be to use less simple syrup than the recipe recommends. Try adding to your glass by the teaspoon, stirring, and tasting until you obtain the desired sweetness. I’m not endorsing this as a healthy recipe, but in relation to the questionable quantity of “real ginger” in commercially produced ginger ale it’s a better option.

Mars solves the obesity epidemic!

Diana — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:00:45 +0000

Kudos to Mars for their valiant efforts to curb obesity! I’m so glad that I can quit my work on improving the food environment and will no longer have to rant on here about the food industry because Mars is leading the way. With their pledge “Not to ship any Mars chocolate products that exceed 250 calories per portion by the end of 2013” it won’t be long before everyone has attained their healthy weight.

But wait, how many calories were Mars Bars to begin with? After a little bit of searching (funny how difficult it was to find the website that included Mars Bars nutrition information) I learned that a single 58 gram Mars Bar contains 250 kcal (or 260, depending which chart you look at on the page). Wow, so Mars is promising to cut zero to ten calories from their standard Mars Bar. I’m sure that’s going to have a considerable impact on the obesity epidemic. Perhaps if we were all consuming a Mars Bar per day, but I’m going to o out on a limb here and assume that the vast majority of us are not. Mars does ship other chocolate bars as well as Mars. Perhaps there will be increased benefits from cutting calories from those bars? 3 Musketeers (marketed as a ”light treat”) is currently sitting pretty at 260 kcal. Snickers comes in tops at 280 kcal. So, basically, it seems that Mars is promising to shave from zero to 30 calories off each of its chocolate bars. Who wants to take the bet that this will be done purely by reducing the total size of each bar? This way, Mars can save money and save us from our gluttonous ways, win-win!

I’d also like to point out the careful wording of this statement. First, it’s a “target” and we all know that targets are not always achieved. Second, this 250 calorie limit is per portion. This absolves Mars from actually making any changes to their chocolate bars. All they actually have to do is change the labels. As long as the portion size indicated on the label complies to the 250 calorie maximum Mars will have met its target.

It should also be kept in mind that chocolate bars are not a great source of essential nutrients. Marginally reducing the overall number of calories in a Mars Bar does not make it any healthier of a choice.

Real dietitians eat butter

Diana — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:00:48 +0000

I love twitter! I learn so much through that little app, and all the awesome people I follow on there, every day. One of the best things I saw on there this week was this Cooking Oil Comparison Chart created by Andy Bellatti and Andrew Wilder. I promptly shared the link with some friends, family, and colleagues, and printed the chart to post on my fridge. I strongly recommend that you read Andy’s blog post relating the science behind the chart. As a dietitian, I feel that many of my colleagues, and the public, are still of the mindset that all fat is bad. I can still remember the day in Foods Lab when I was sampling the multigrain herb bread that we had made and I made the offhand comment to the instructors that “it could use a little butter”. One of them laughed and said “and this is a future dietitian” because I should know better than to be eating butter, the food of the devil. Ah, the sweet vindication that comes with time! Not to say that I eat butter all the time, but I’m far more inclined to use butter than I am to use margarine. And take note, not all butters are created equal. You are what the cow that makes the milk that’s used for the butter eats.

Fabulous fennel

Diana — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:00:50 +0000

For many years fennel bulbs were one of those mysterious vegetables that I would see in the produce section at the grocery store and not give a second glance. I wish I’d given it a chance sooner but I’m glad that I found fennel eventually. Better late than never, right? Fennel is crunchy and slightly sweet. I love it thinly sliced in salads, or added to hearty winter stews, or risotto. It’s got a measly 14 calories per half cup, but it’s also got 23 mg of calcium, 190 mg of potassium, and 12 micrograms of folate, among other nutrients.

This Celery Root and Apple Salad with Hazelnut Vinaigrette is a delicious way to start off your relationship with fennel.

Follow Friday: Fresh, Frozen, Canned

Diana — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:00:37 +0000

This time of year, when good fresh vegetables and fruit can be hard to come by, it can be good to utilise frozen or canned vegetables and fruit in your meals. Public Health in Nova Scotia released a series of cute videos a couple of years ago, as well as other information on a website freshfrozencanned.com.

Is a vegan diet really healthy?

Diana — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:00:17 +0000

I have an issue with vegetables masquerading as meat. Now, I’m not a vegetarian, although I only eat meat infrequently. I have however, decided to become quasi-vegan for Lent. My reasons for doing this? 1. For the environment, animal products are far more detrimental to the environment than are plants, 2. For my health, plants are a lot better for my body than animals and their by-products, 3. Because my original avowal to take-up a vegetarian diet didn’t seem like enough of a challenge. I say “quasi” because I plan to allow myself to continue to eat fish and won’t be a huge stickler if I inadvertently consume a piece of bread or something that might have a little dairy or honey in it. I’m not quite sure why honey is a bad thing to consume. Anyway… I digress…

I’m fully supportive of primarily plant-based diets. What drives me nuts are all the processed foods that are now being marketed to vegetarians and vegans. Just check out the ingredient list for a popular veggie ground round: “Water, soy protein product, wheat protein product, onions, spices, canola oil, salt, evaporated cane juice, natural flavour, malt extract, torula yeast, lemon juice powder, guar gum, tapioca starch, vitamins and minerals (thiamine hydrochloride, riboflavin, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, cyanocobalamin, calcium pantothenate, reduced iron, zinc oxide, wheat starch). Contains soy and wheat. May contain eggs.” For me, eating a plant-based diet is all about returning to a simpler way of eating and getting nutrients from whole foods. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that eating all these faux-meats defeats the whole point of going vegetarian or vegan. The more processing your food undergoes the fewer nutrients that are going to be left intact in it. There’s really very little difference between this sort of food and any other highly processed convenience food. Let vegetables and grains be proud to be themselves, don’t try to force them to be something that they’re not.

How about a nice cup o’ aluminum and fluoride

Diana — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:00:45 +0000

I was reading this blog post from Free Form Fitness blog last week and was a little annoyed. The author states that black and green tea contain fluoride and aluminum so “if it’s not good in larger doses it’s not good in smaller doses either and I would rather avoid it and kick it off the super food list.” First, I don’t think there should be a super food list. As I’ve mentioned before, a case can be made for nearly every whole food to be included in this list. It’s pretty meaningless hype. That aside, I think that this article leads to fear mongering. It’s absurd to say that because something is bad for you in large amounts that you shouldn’t consume it. Too much of anything is bad for you! It’s all about moderation. As far as the limited research on the subject shows, up to four cups of most varieties of tea, are safe for all ages to consume in relation to fluoride content. As for aluminum, according to the National Cancer Institute ”there is no evidence of any aluminum toxicity associated with drinking tea”. My verdict: don’t be discouraged from consuming a cup or two of tea a day if it’s something you enjoy. Just don’t start guzzling gallons of green tea just because some celebrity has touted it as the next cure-all and magical weight loss formula.