Will the NEW Nutrition Labels Help You Eat Smarter?

Here's what's new about the proposed nutrition labels: not much.

image source: Forbes

First, the total calories will be printed in larger type. Second, many portion sizes will be larger, more like what people actually consider a serving, the FDA says. Third, you're going to see what percent of your daily vitamin D and potassium you get in a serving, instead of listings for vitamins A and C.  Fourth, the amount of "added sugar" will be listed on the new labels.

In other words, if you're counting calories, you might find the proposed new labels useful. If you know what "added sugar" means, you might be intrigued for awhile by those numbers. But basically, the "new" nutrition labels are about as different as size 8 and size 10 of the same prom dress your mom wore 20 years ago.

Modern day nutrition and weight loss science has come a long way, and it's needed now more than ever. Check any of the major web sites, Web-MD, the ADA (American Dietetic Association, or U.S. News' "Top 10" diets, and all of them recommend eating more fruits, vegetables, and "good" fats in addition to, or sometimes instead of counting calories. Today's dietitians stress knowing how big a healthy portion size is, rather than counting the calories of every single bite you eat in a day.

By law, the FDA food label's portion size has to reflect "actual" portion sizes that people tend to eat. With what we know now, wouldn't it be far better to show what a portion size of ice-cream, for example, should look like, than have a nutrition label give people "the OK" to eat an average super-sized portion? Should the law be changed to reflect the times, rather than trying to fit the nutrition labels to an outdated law?

Would you really wear that oh-so-1980's taffeta prom dress to your 2015 prom, just because your mom added a bigger bow?

Another thing that has changed over the past 20 years is how much lab-created flavoring and additives are sold in food. Large chunks of today's food industry do not want you to know or notice how many "artificial" ingredients were used to create your frozen breakfast sandwich. If not artificial, then certainly not plant- or dairy-derived. Because the word "natural" is not regulated by the FDA, so food producers can write "natural" in big letters on the front of a package of food containing things you'd never find in your home pantry.

I would like to see a few yes/no check-boxes:

• Y/N   High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Y/N   Non-plant or artificial food coloring
• Y/N   BHA or BHT
• Y/N   MSG or other chemical flavor enhancers
• Y/N   Growth Hormones used (in meat, dairy, egg-laying hens)

I think I speak for the majority of mothers of young children when I ask to see that on the new food labels. And finally, I would like to see more prominence given to fiber content, and a reminder to eat 8 to 10 portions of colorful vegetables and fruits per day.

Guess what's being removed from the nutrition label? Calories from fat. The number I find most useful in figuring out whether my daily fat-to-protein intake is reasonable.

So, the proposed new labels take a few tentative steps forwards and a giant step back. The original food label was at least a fairly accurate reflection of what dietitians knew in the 1980's about how our bodies used food. The proposed "new" label does not reflect how much more we know now about healthy eating and maintaining a healthy weight.

You can submit your comments to the FDA during the remainder of the 90-day comment period.

How to Cut Open the Mighty, Prickly Pineapple

Although most people picture Hawaii as the place to find pineapples, Christopher Columbus, the same explorer who "sailed the ocean blue" to discover the Americas for Spain, found pineapples on the island of Guadalupe. Landing on the island in 1493, on his second trip to the New World, he came upon a Carib Indian village, with serpent designs carved into pillars and this strange fruit that Columbus described as looking like a pine cone but tasting sweet like an apple. I suppose that's where the name pine-apple came from.


Pineapples are gorgeous in their natural skins. The real beauty is in the aroma and taste of the succulent fruit inside, as it presents itself to any kitchen knife wielding home cook who can conquer the prickly prize. There's an art to opening a pineapple. Without this precious knowledge you could end up with stinging finger pricks, giant fruit flying across a slippery counter onto the floor, or a long tedious ordeal trying to peel the skin off this elusive treat.


Oh, you could go buy cut-up pineapple. But where's the fun of that? Who ever got bragging rights for opening a plastic container? Right. So here you go: How to cut open a pineapple in five easy steps.

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1. When a pineapple is ripe, its leaves should be fresh and green, the fruit's body firm. With clean hands, lay the pineapple on its side and cut of the top, 1/2 inch or so below the leaves. Now cut 1/2 inch off the bottom.

2. Now you can stand that beast on end and slice away the tough skin, deep enough to get most of the "eyes" out.

3. From here you have a choice. Lay the pineapple back down and slice it into rings, coring the center of each slice, or ...






keep the fruit upright and slice it carefully into quarters, like the one on the right.







4.  If you cut it this way, you still need to remove the tough core. Just lay each quarter on its side and slice off the hard center in one go.






5.  Now you're ready to create toothpick worthy chunks.

Hello, party.

Which Came first, Big Gulp or Couch Potato?

Mayor Bloomberg’s scratched proposal to ban “big-gulp” over-sized sodas from New York restaurants sparked predictable public objections from the highly profitable soda industry.  Bans like this would mean the soda industry is “being demonized and discriminated against” said Steve Cahillane, president and CEO of Coca-Cola Company’s Refreshments unit.*  Demons aside, the soda industry has a point

There is a lot more to the obesity epidemic than the amount of sugary soda children and adults are drinking.  Although, ask any dietitian and they’ll tell you that one of the best ways to cut calories is by switching from soda to water. But colas were around when your great-grandparents stopped for lunch, and there were far fewer obese Americans in the early 1900’s.

Here are some differences between their generation and ours, all of which may be contributing to the obesity epidemic:

• 1.      The amount of time the average American child or adult spent sitting in front of a TV, radio, computer, or video game vs. the amount of time they were up and moving around.

• 2.      The size of the soda they were drinking, and the ratio of soda to water, milk or other beverages in their daily diets.

• 3.      How many advertisements for junk food they saw or heard in a day. How many fast food restaurants they passed in a day, or week.

• 4.      How far they walked in a week, and the access to safe sidewalks and roadside pathways compared to today. The use of bicycles as transportation, especially among the young.

• 5.      Frequency of meals eaten at home, cooked by a parent from fresh produce , whole grains, and locally sourced meat, fish, and eggs. No matter whether they lived in a city or in a rural area.

So you see, it wasn’t JUST the size of the drink. It was the size of every portion, the quality of food, the family making time to cook and eat together, the amount of non-chair time in a day, and the freedom from a constant bombardment of junk-food marketing. The soda industry does have a point, obesity isn’t all their fault by any means.

But they’re also missing the point. Huge portions of empty calories are a major contributor to obesity. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine reported in 2010* that “Preload experiments generally have found that sweet taste, whether delivered by sugar or artificial sweeteners, enhanced human appetite.” They noted that people’s “food reward pathways”… the things that stimulate our brains and appetites, were only partially rewarded, leaving diet soda drinkers craving more calories and more sweet flavors. 

To cite Coca Cola Inc.’s pro-active anti-obesity measures, Cahillane told the Associated Press  "We're offering more and more diets and lights and we're spending more and more of our money advertising diets and lights to give people a choice to bring their calorie count down."  More money advertising soda, that’s their contribution? Um, thanks?

Sorry soda industry, but as a nutritional wellness ambassador I wish your “big gulp” drinks would go away... from lack of interest! Soda, is one of the worst “red light foods” and should be considered a when-all-else-fails (and there’s no beer, or drinkable water) choice. Still, if Bloomberg HAD banned large soda drinks, would New Yorkers stop getting fat and out of shape? Of course not. Plus, it treads shaky legal ground. The silver lining is, we got people’s attention. I hope kids were listening, because informing children of soda’s downside, especially when this news is not just from parents, is a great idea.

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~ images courtesy  www.kickthecan.info

quoted: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/coca-cola....

research included:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/

the Search for the Miracle Diet book

January is the time of year when the mighty masses, from lithe yoga instructors to heavy-set sallow-faced pre- and post- heart surgery patients make a beeline for the diet section of the bookstore. Fresh from college or retirement party, they gingerly pick at the vast selection of diet titles, or go straight for the latest fad-diet best-seller. Some leave empty-handed in frustration. 

Am I a vegan or a Paleo? Do I want to get healthy or skinny? Will healthy food make me thin? Will diet smoothies make me healthy? Will my kids eat this stuff??

Can we go home now?

Of course you can. It's a new year; time to ask the real experts, and get some coaching. If your doctor says you’re pretty healthy, come join a wellness workshop or combine a cooking class with a nutrition app to help you get started (again). If your doctor says you have metabolic syndrome, or “pre-diabetes” go immediately to a dietitian! This is no time to see what Her Royal Princess did, or trust the word of some website called “lose 100 pounds in 15 days”. Her Royal Princess doesn’t have a 4 to midnight schedule waiting tables, isn’t raising three rambunctious boys, dealing with family medical issues, or flying to sales conferences every week. And the site that claims you can lose 100 pounds in 15 days isn’t the Mayo Clinic. They ain’t objective.

Speaking of objective, nutrition science has been making huge advances lately in our knowledge base, but meanwhile everyone with a program or wellness product is cherry-picking “news” that makes them look like they have the secret to your weight loss and health. The true secret is, when it comes to your body, don't rely on something that sounds way too damn simple to be true. Your beautiful body is one complex organism. Your adult intestines are about 26 feet long!

Talk to someone who can put themselves in your shoes, or join a group of people IN your shoes, because what you put on your lunch plate has everything to do with where you are in life and where you’re trying to go. After that, you’ll know which book to buy. Do you need to eat on the go? Perhaps you should avoid the slow-cooker health plan in favor of an app that helps you find nourishing restaurants in any city. While the 25 healthiest foods may be the same for nearly everyone, your method of getting them is yours only.

Hey, Happy New Year!  May your wishes become your path to success in 2013.