Loaded food- McDonalds Fruit and Maple Oatmeal

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food rules, loaded food, mcdonalds oatmeal, michael pollan

The word loaded when used with food catches my attention. Loaded can mean something is full of quality nutrients. In the food industry however, loaded is also used to refer to a product that is specifically designed to maximize taste as discussed in Dr. David Kessler's The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. 

So when I started seeing ads for McDonald's new Fruit and Maple oatmeal, I confess that my eyes rolled a bit. This is part of the ongoing effort in the food industry to push out "healthy" food alternatives. After all, what's healthier than good old oatmeal? 

So going over to check out McDonald's new product,  on first blush the oatmeal doesn't look half bad. It's got fruit, a little cream, and oatmeal. Nothing wrong with that. Heck, even the calorie count is reasonable. With everything stacked on, you've got 290 calories. That's reasonable for a meal. 

Then I shifted down and took a look at the ingredient list. Jackpot. 

Oatmeal
Whole grain rolled oats, brown sugar, food starch-modified, salt, natural flavor (plant source), barley malt extract, caramel color.

…So we have oats. Not unexpected. Next us, sugar. Well heck, it's oatmeal! A little sugar is fine right? Well I'm not the sugar police, but my radar is up. This is the second ingredient, which means a good percentage of the oatmeal is sweet. Which makes it taste good. Food starch- modified. Modified by and to what? Next up salt. Now salt isn't an issue, unless you know that combining sweet and salty is a food industry technique used to increase consumption. 

Next up, we have natural flavor. What natural flavor? And why is it not listed specifically? This actually was originally listed as maple syrup. The state of Vermont pitched a fit because it actually wasn't maple. Great. Now on to my favorite. Barley malt extract. Know what this is? Sugar. In another form. So we have sugar twice so far in the oats. Last but not least, caramel color. 

So just in the oatmeal, we have ingredients that are all at least pronounceable. But you've got a couple hidden elements. 

On to the fruit.

Diced Apples
Apples, calcium ascorbate (a blend of calcium and vitamin C to maintain freshness and color).

Our first major chemistry lesson. Calcium ascorbate is a preservative used in a wide range of dried fruits. I don't flinch at this because I'm realistic. Fresh apples mean having to deal with spoilage which impacts the bottom line. 

Cranberry Raisin Blend
Dried sweetened cranberries (sugar, cranberries), California raisins, golden raisins, sunflower oil, sulfur dioxide (preservative). 

Again, nothing radical here. Sunflower oil helps give the fruit some shine and prevents sticking. Dried cranberries without sugar are…shall we say tart. 

My personal favorite next. 

Light Cream
Milk, cream, sodium phosphate, datem, sodium stearoyl lactylate, sodium citrate, carrageenan.

Translated- shelf stable milk product. I can't pronounce most of these, and I'm pretty sure this light cream takes a little time to spoil. Which means it's not going into me. 

So we take what could be a healthy option and find there's several iffy things buried in the oatmeal. While calories count, what's with the calories counts too. Most folks don't realize that there's a ton of extra sugar buried in your food. That sugar isn't there to help you. It's there to help the food manufacturers sell more food to you. 

Take the time to question your food. Learn what's going into you. You want to control your life? It starts with controlling your food. 

The nostalgia effect?

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food history, food rules, michael pollan

So how much of the slow food/food rules movement is based in nostalgia? I mean think about it. There's an impression that if we can just go back to the right point in time of food history and replicate how people eat, we will find the perfect diet. 

Off the top of your head, can you think of a point in time where there was a "perfect" diet?

The great grandmother rule

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food history, food rules, lutefisk, lye, michael pollan

Pollan argues that one way to define food is to ask yourself if your great grandmother would recognize the item as food. On the surface, this is a good way to determine if something is "food". What you miss though is that humans have been special engineering food items much longer than we realize. 

Karo corn syrup makes it's first appearance in 1902. Vanilla extract shows up in 1847. The first synthetic baby foods start showing up in 1867, and margarine shows up in 1870. Now granted, it was probably less common for great grandma to have vanilla extract, Karo syrup, and synthetic baby food. If nothing else, the cost of those products would have placed them out of the reach of many people in great grandma's day.  So why did these products continue to lead to other products? Time. We forget that key component to the equation. 

No microwaves, moderate to limited availability of ready made food sources, in short if you wanted to eat something, you needed to make it. It wasn't just food that took time. Every household chore took longer. Washing, mopping, cleaning out the oven, and food preparation required serious effort and labor. So the evolution of these "easy" products was in direct response to the need to cut time somewhere. 

So if great grandma had various enhanced food items available, what does that do to the food rule? Just how far back do you go in search of "real food"? That's going to completely depend on your time limits and your desire to go back. I tend to look at the middle ground of things that both great grandma and I would consider "food". While she may have considered lutefisk   a food item, I tend to steer clear of foods preserved in lye, which is a caustic chemical used to clean my floors. Come to think of it, I might need to really apply the same standard to my once a week soda habit.

The reality is, at all points in human history, we have been eating foods that are not ideal for our health and wellbeing. Part of this journey for me comes from figuring out where that line is. 

What is food?

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diet, food rules, health, michael pollan, what is food

Mirriam- Webster defines food as, " material consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat used in the body of an organism to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy; also : such food together with supplementary substances (as minerals, vitamins, and condiments). By that definition, a wide range of consumable items qualify as food. 

The folks at Oxford Dictionary define food as, "any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink or that plants absorb in order to maintain life and growth." With the addition the word nutritious, the meaning of food changes. 

In the last several years, we've added a value qualifier to the word food. There's an argument made that products which are designed for consumer to consume don't meet the definition of food. That's one of Pollan's  key arguments in his Food Rules concept. Pollan argues that these "food like substances" are not real food. They are chemical concoctions designed by scientists, not designed by nature. 

Yet depending on the definition you chose, these designer consumables are indeed food. They combine protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals into a substance used to sustain growth, repair the body, and support various vital processes. After all, the commercially designed feed that goes into pigs, cows and chickens does indeed fulfill those requirements. 

So if we proceed to add the word nutritious into the mix, it appears on face to change things up. Nutritious comes from the word nourish, meaning to "nutrure or rear, or to promote the growth of."  So nutritious leads us to look at food types as foods which promote growth or encourage. There's a positive value associated with them. 

So how do we associate these values with the things we eat? Is blowfish, a fish valued for the toxin it produces, better for you than a cheeseburger from McDonald's? Why? The blowfish requires minimal preparation, yet prepared incorrectly it can lead to major illness or even death. The McDonald's cheeseburger won't kill you with the first bite. Are both items food? Are both items nutritious? What changes between the two?

There's no easy answer. At what point does human manipulation of an edible item change it from a nutritious food item to something else? Where do we draw the line?

Zero Coke

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artificial sweeteners, diet, diet soda, fitness, food rules, health, michael pollan

So after some considerable reflection, it's looking like I need to put breaking up with diet soda into the challenge mix for this year. 

Let's be honest here. There's nothing redeeming about diet soda. It's a chemical stew of colorings and flavorings, combined with artificial sweeteners and phosphoric acid. There's nothing good in there. It's a pure vanity drink.  

Now I've got pretty firm views on food science. I can find studies which support both sides of most food related issues. So I don't fall into the "artificial sweeteners are evil" camp just yet.  I think in moderation most of this stuff is fine. The whole moderation thing is where you run into issues. When you are eating pounds of artificial sweeteners every month, that's not moderation. Same thing with soy or corn. In moderation, it's not an issue. Given that HFCS is seen all through our food supply, as is soy we've got issues. 

In this case it's not about the morality of health of the artificial sweeteners in the soda. It's about being honest. I made a decision that I was going to allow myself to use protein powder during this self challenge.  Eventually I imagine it will drop off the okay list. For now it's a good security blanket. If I'm ingesting the protein powder, I need to not also be ingesting the evil chemical laden soda too. 

That's the trade off. It's an either or situation. If I drink my sodas, I can't use the protein. Given that I'm also doing a fitness challenge right now, the protein is going to be more useful. So out the door it goes.  I've eliminated artificial sweeteners everywhere else. I don't use Splenda in my tea. I don't eat low sugar candy. So it's time to cut the final tie.

I am allowing myself sodas using real sugar if I like. The rule remains if I drink a soda, I don't get my protein powder as an option. Additionally, I don't happen to like to consume excessive amounts of liquid calories. So a soda once or twice a week moves back to "treat", not necessity. 

And so fades out the diet soda from my food list…bye bye soda!

Food Rules- BUSTED!

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additives, fitness, food rules, health, michae pollan, sushi

I'm fuming. I just had a major food rules boo-boo. The irony, the break in rules occured with sushi. 

FISH. Fish and rice to be specific. Honest to pete, nothing is sacred. 

The set up- I decided that I wanted to kick off the weekend with a little fish. I hit my local H.E.B. grocery store and cruised over to the fish counter. Nothing really jumped out at me. (Which is good given that I didn't really want my food to jump at me.) So I shifted over to the sushi bar. I happen to like sushi. I'm still learning about it, but I've got no issues eating raw fish. Or raw beef. But I digress. 

I did a quick eyeball and bypassed the various California roll options and shifted towards the Deluxe Sushi box. I grabbed a tuna/salmon variant and wandered back up to the front for checkout. Came home, sat down for an early dinner and began to munch. 

As I chewed, I gave a passing thought to the label on my box. I was curious about calorie counts. So I flipped the box over and started reading. I'm running down the label (4g of carbs and 3g of protein per piece for those interested), and my eyes stray to ingredients. 

I see the words, "high fructose."

Big, flashing alarm bells go off. Whyfor is there high fructose ANYTHING in my fishies? 

I start piecing the label that I'd ripped off the box together. High fructose corn syrup in the vinegar. Potassium sorbate. Acetic acid. Aspartame.

… So not only is there fake sugar in my sushi, there's fake sweetener.

Yeah. The vinegar is used to prep the rice, so it's all through the meal. I mean that's the point of sushi. Fishy bits and the spiffy rice. Full of chemicals. One of which I work very hard to not ingest ever.

I know better. I am a devoted reader of labels. This caught me off guard. It's sushi. Not a chemical bomb. Yet within my humble fish I discovered a plethora of chemical non yummy.  

I finished the sushi. I've got issues not finishing meat products I've purchased no matter where they come from. I believe if an animal dies to be on my plate, I need to respect that death and not just throw it away.  So meat doesn't get tossed. But man am I ticked. Yes it's my fault, but yeeish! It's a fresh prepped item, it spoils, and it doesn't glow green in blacklight. It's what I'd tell my clients is a safe food option. 

Amazing how that perspective changes when you actually check what's in your food. 

Peanut Butter Bison Chili

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bison chili, fitness, food rules, health, michael pollan

I honestly can't recall where I picked this recipe up. It's fallen into my stable of favorites. It's simple, yet provides endless room to improvise. 

1 pound ground bison

2 cups cooked beans of your choosing. I prefer black

2 cups chopped tomatoes (keep the liquid)

1/4 cup cilantro

2 tbs natural peanut butter

lime juice to taste

salt to taste

chili powder to taste

 

Brown the meat, toss it in with the beans and tomatoes. Add in the peanut butter, stick the whole thing on low and simmer. Spice to your own taste. 

Today's confession, I ended up using chopped tomatoes from a can. I'm getting rid of some of the stuff in the pantry. The tomatoes shouldn't have been a problem. Until you get to the chemical preservative in the tomatoes. Just goes to show, we've got the random chemicals in the oddest places. 

Quick Update

Tags

europe, food rules, germany, travel

So I thought I'd stick my head in and give folks a quick update. For those who don't know, the reason I'm so quiet recently is because I'm currently in Europe on holiday with my mom.

Why Europe? Simply put we are here for a wedding. On a deeper level, it's about reconnecting wit a life 30 years gone. In the late 1970s, my parents relocated the family to Germany for a year. Dad had a fellowship grant to do research at the university in Freiburg-Breislau. So off we went to Southern Germany. In the time that we were there, my parents formed deep, long term friendships with other Americans who were living in that part of Germany. 

Time lead to a fade in the relationships, but with the internet, my folks reconnected with their old friends. When the Webers asked if we could come out for the wedding, Mom said yes. It ended up being just the two of us. So far it's been a very interesting trip.

I've reconnected with my upbringing in a small German wine village. Which explains to be a lot of my pragmatic approach to where my food comes from. In that setting, you grow and raise everything that ends up on the plate. I got a refresher course in that over the past several days. Doesn't get much more local than wurst made from your own sheep, veggies from your own garden, bread made from the wheat in your fields, and wine made from your own grapes.

Yeah, total local sourcing baby.

It's also been fun watching Mom enjoy herself. She's having a great time using her German and seeing old friends. It's been a bit challenging for me. I was fluent in German at age 5. Since we moved home, I never really used it. I can read some, but don't have occasion to speak. I'm good with French and also learning Spanish. So I'm finding myself trying to reply to folks in something other than English. Which leads to some interesting French/Spanish sentences. My numbers come out Spanish, other things in French. Yesterday I was even throwing in some Russian I've picked up over the years. With four different languages rolling around my head at the same time, the past few days have been a bit stressful.

Not to mention the whopping headache.

So today we are up near Mannheim in another small German village. We are staying with more friends of my Mom. Lucky for me, they speak English. So my poor head is getting a nice break today. It was interesting to see the shift in food as we moved from farmhouse to something more conventional. More processed bits and bobs in the house. I'm getting good at translating German food labels.

We are off in a bit to another picturesque village for a bit of shopping. Mom was worried that I'm not getting to do enough. I pointed out that sometimes it's not about doing things. It's about enjoying the time and the experiences. She wondered when I got so wise.

She then started laughing at me about five minutes later as I cursed the German keyboard. News flash for Americans- where you have the Y key on a US keyboard, the Germans have a Z key. You don't want to know how many interesting words I've used today.

Like I said, it's about the journey, not the destination…but man that umlaut key needs to go! 

Ciao!

Life in the Doldurms

Tags

food rules, michael pollan, motivation

Well bother.

A couple of weeks goes by and not word out of me. Which also coincides with a case of me not sticking too hard to the food rules. Looks like we've hit the Doldrums. You know what I mean, that spot where the wind just sucks out of your sails and you sit there thinking, "I don't wanna do this".

As simple as it is in concept, it's actually hard to make lasting lifestyle changes. We are in a society today where we get bombarded day in and day out with messages telling us to take short cuts and make things happen faster. Everything is packaged to drive us towards convenience and ease. Workout programs emphasize speedy results. Food is packaged and marketed with an emphasis on fast and easy. If you aren't watching things carefully it's incredibly easy to just get bowled over by the cacophony of voices pushing you to do things the easy way.

Which brings us back to one of the major problems we have as a society. We get so focused on easy that we forget that at some point in time, work and effort does need to get expended to make things happen. The glut of easy to use food like items has made it easier to not think about what goes into your mouth and body. Which makes it in turn easier to not think about what you need to do in order to take care of said body. It's a nice little vicious cycle that leads right back to fat and unhealthy on the couch.

You don't go through life with the wind constantly in your sails. That's one of the first things you learn in sailing. Eventually, that wind that's carried you will die down and you are gonna be stuck in the middle of nowhere, calm seas, and empty sails. There are whole chunks of the ocean where you hit those periods of calm seas and no winds. Sailors called them the Doldrums. You had little choice but to wait for time and the current to carry you out.

Now I could wait for time and current, but that's kind of a pain. So like the cartoon characters, I've got a little fan stashed away in my boat with a loooooooooooong extension cord. It's important to know when you need to provide your own wind.

Tomorrow I've got a trip scheduled to head over to a local farm and help with picking the crops. It's a great way to get me back in touch with what I'm trying to accomplish this year. It's about learning how to eat, understanding where my food comes from, and then working to achieve high end physical results.

Good way to get a little wind back in the sails and get myself out of the Doldrums.

Rule #5- Don’t eat foods containing sugar in the top three ingredients

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fitness, food rules, health, michael pollan, sugar

This is another clear no brainer.

By law, manufacturers are required to list ingredients by weight. So if the top three ingredients contain sugar, you can bet it's a significant part of the product.

(As a side note, I'm reaching a point where I wince at using the word product. I don't want product, I want food dangit!)

Now this seems clear and simple. Sugar is a treat food, plain and simple. It's not something the human body is used to consuming in bulk, it's designed as a source of quick energy, and bottom line is we eat way too much of in the US.

Thing is, the manufacturers are sneaky. There's a lot of ways to hide sugar. For example, this is a list of different types of sugar.

1. Barley malt
2. Beet sugar
3. Brown sugar
4. Buttered syrup
5. Cane juice crystals
6. Cane sugar
7. Caramel
8. Corn syrup
9. Corn syrup solids
10. Confectioner’s sugar
11. Carob syrup
12. Castor sugar
13. Date sugar
14. Demerara sugar
15. Dextran
16. Dextrose
17. Diastatic malt
18. Diatase
19. Ethyl maltol
20. Fructose
21. Fruit juice
22. Fruit juice concentrate
23. Galactose
24. Glucose
25. Glucose solids
26. Golden sugar
27. Golden syrup
28. Grape sugar
29. High fructose corn syrup
    
30. Honey
31. Icing sugar
32. Invert sugar
33. Lactose
34. Maltodextrin
35. Maltose
36. Malt syrup
37. Maple syrup
38. Molasses
39. Muscovado sugar
40. Panocha
41. Raw sugar
42. Refiner’s syrup
43. Rice syrup
44. Sorbitol
45. Sorghum syrup
46. Sucrose
47. Sugar
48. Treacle
49. Turbinado sugar
50. Yellow sugar

I imagine some of those caught your attention. Take a look at the boxes you have in the house again. Do you see rice syrup listed in the first three ingredients for a child breakfast cereal? Guess what- sugar. Yes it's "healthy", yes it's organic. It's still sugar, still in the top three ingredients and still needs to go the way of the dodo.

With that out of the way, I'm pleased to note that workouts are stringing together nicely. I've got a good rotation of daily walking combined with resistance work and interval training going. The battle with the dinner table still isn't getting easier. I think I'm about to institute a no television rule to go along with the must eat at a table rule.