Some GREAT Consumer Product Info

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, consumers need to beware of food companies trying to snag customers by making food sound healthy.  Consumers need to put on their thinking caps and inquisitive eyes!  Many new foods craft the image of healthiness:  it’s a lot  smoke and mirrors.

• Enjoy Life Plentils Lentil Chips:  They sound healthy because “lentils” are healthy (containing plant-based protein and a good source of fiber).  Not so fast!  They are made of lentil powder, potato starch, oil, salt, and turmeric.  A one ounce serving has 130 calories, 3 grams of protein and only 1 gram of fiber.  Eating these gets you one more gram of protein and fiber than if you ate potato or corn chips.  They are higher in sodium than Lays Classic Potato Chips and Tostitos Original Tortilla Chips.
• Nabisco’s belVita Chocolate Breakfast Biscuits:  “Power up”?  They claim to contain 19g whole grain and to have energy-releasing B-vitamins.  Stop right there!  The whole grains are healthy, but 20% of belVita’s grains are refined.  Calorie-for-calorie, they have 1/2 the sugar of an Oreo.  Nabisco does not claim health in these, they claim a “new kind of breakfast”.  The B-vitamin claim is incorrect!  B-vitamins do not make you feel more energetic.  Thebiscuits are not a good source of protein with 3-4grams per serving.  These biscuits are an okay choice if you are having them with 2 foods from 2 different food groups (yogurt, milk, fruit, eggs, etc.)
• Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta Boxes:  “With a Half Serving of Vegetables per 2oz Portion.”  Hmmmmmm…..  No.  It’s a quarter cup of “vegetable solids” from dried carrot, tomato, and spinach.  The 2oz serving has about the equivalent of one sixtieth of a carrot or 3 spinach leaves.  Mueller’s Hidden Veggie pastas are worse.  Their dried veggie source is corn, with 1/2 the Vitamin A of the Ronzoni product.  The bottom line is that Veggie pastas are made mostly  from white flour and pale in comparison to eating vegetables.
• Bolthouse Farms Protein Plus Shakes (owned by Campbell Soup!):  Their extra protein comes from soy protein isolate and whey protein concentrate.  There are 800 calories per bottle with 64gm of protein.  64gm of protein can be easily found in a well-balanced diet of 2-3oz meat servings plus 2-8oz glasses of skim milk.  Mango Protein Plus bottle claims to contain nutrients to metabolize protein and fat for energy and offer lean muscle nourishment.  It also claims to be essential for the immune system.  There’s actually no evidence that this is true.  In both cases, the average adult is looking to get fruits and veggies from food and to shoot for 20 grams of protein per meal from food
• KIND Plus Pomegranate:  Claims to prevent weight gain.  Studies were done to prove this wrong, and they did!  KIND Plus bars also claim to maintain the immune system and healthy skin:  this is also unfounded unless you’re malnourished to begin with.  The nutrition in these bars are as easily found in food:  apples, oranges, Greek yogurt, etc.
• Girl Scout Cookies:  They are trying to change what they sell in the midst of the obesity epidemic.  Their faux healthy cookie:  Mango Cremes with Nutrifusion are made with refined sugar and oil in the same proportion as most other cookies.  Their ingredient:  palm oil, gives them twice the saturated fat of Oreos.  The Girl Scouts are using fool tactics to sell these!
• Post Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch:  The yogurt is YOGURT POWDER!  It is heat treated, which kills the yogurt cultures and the protein.  Rickland Orchards Greek Yogurt Bars are made with a “Greek yogurt coating” that has more sugar, palm kernel oil, palm oil, and shea oil than Greek yogurt.  In both cases, the protein is coming from isolated soy protein and skim milk powder:  not from yogurt!

Remember:  claims are generally marketing ploys to get you to buy things.  Look deep and be educated!  Eat “real food” whenever possible.  Real food gives real nutrients