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News & ArtsSaturday, September 5, 2009
Chow So You're Rushing Around Trying to Think About Healthy Eating For Your Kids and You Have a Choice Between a Plastic Tub of Pre-Made Vanilla Cake Frosting Loaded with Trans Fats and a Punch in the Side of the Head...
Posted by Dan Savage on Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 10:50 AM
...clearly the tub of a frosting is the better choice.
A new food-labeling campaign called Smart Choices, backed by most of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, is “designed to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices.” The green checkmark label that is starting to show up on store shelves will appear on hundreds of packages, including—to the surprise of many nutritionists—sugar-laden cereals like Cocoa Krispies and Froot Loops...Eileen T. Kennedy, president of the Smart Choices board and the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, said the program’s criteria were based on government dietary guidelines and widely accepted nutritional standards.“You’re rushing around, you’re trying to think about healthy eating for your kids and you have a choice between a doughnut and a cereal,” Dr. Kennedy said, evoking a hypothetical parent in the supermarket. “So Froot Loops is a better choice.”
The "Smart Choices" program is being funded by Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, ConAgra Foods, Unilever, General Mills, PepsiCo and Tyson Foods. Fudgsicles also get a green good-for-you checkmark—so we're having Fudgsicles for dinner tonight instead of this box of thumbtacks. Thanks, Smart Choices!
1
Right, because we only have a choice between a doughnut and cereal. Jeezus. I hate these people.
And really, between this kind of stuff and the town hall behavior, and not wanting your kids to hear the President tell them to work hard in school, and the love for people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin - how did this country get so DUMB??? Have we always had such a huge percentage of really stupid people, or does the Internet just give them more exposure?
And really, between this kind of stuff and the town hall behavior, and not wanting your kids to hear the President tell them to work hard in school, and the love for people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin - how did this country get so DUMB??? Have we always had such a huge percentage of really stupid people, or does the Internet just give them more exposure?
2
So, this is just the free market at work, but government labeling is a commie conspiracy? What's left, are they going to coopt "organic" to mean "not even frigging close to organic"? Oh, wait, they already did that.
4
Pretty ridiculous. The American Heart Association's already-existing "Heart Smart" labeling is similar...it's on Cocoa Puffs, ferchrissake! Sounds like more of the same (I'm not sure your frosting/trans-fat example is very apt): fat bad, sugar good. I mean, if a donut is bad but froot loops is a "better choice", that's the only difference between the two, really. I have a feeling this will play out in beverages by calling juice a "good choice", even though most juice isn't much different from soda as far as sugar content (sugar and HFCS are both bad for you).
6
@4, I would support a ruling that forbids the use of the word "juice" on any beverage that isn't 100% fruit juice. Actually, I'd like to reserve the word "juice" for only juices that are 100% the fruit named in the title (which almost no juices currently are), and the words "juice drink" for anything that fills out the cranberry or whatever with apple or pear, as almost all of them do; and "sugar drink" for anything with HFCS or sugar in it.
7
I have no horse in this race; when growing up my favorite cereal was Oat Bran.
I also watched Matlock and The People's Court.
I also watched Matlock and The People's Court.
8
I'm 25 years old and have never, ever been in a position where I had to choose between a doughnut and Fruit Loops for breakfast.
9
I never buy any of this shit anyway, so it won't make any difference to me. But you know, nobody ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American public, so I'm sure this will be a huge success.
10
It's increasingly obvious that having "Kennedy" as a last name entitles idiots to be promoted beyond their meager abilities. Not that they're all morons, but that blue-blood Yankee gene pool has become pretty shallow.
11
I'm guessing the "Smart Choices" is helpful for those deciding between Frosted Shreaded Wheat or Coco Puffs in the family size bags at Win Co., where what's cheapest usually wins.
12
@6, sounds like a good idea. But even when it's 100% juice, it's not always so great for you...a big glass of OJ has a few vitamins but is really a big glass of sugar. Eating an orange is a much better idea.
@11, I think both of those would be "Smart Choices" as far as labeling. I mean, if Cocoa Puffs is currently AHA "Heart Smart" and Froot Loops are a "Smart Choice" already...
@11, I think both of those would be "Smart Choices" as far as labeling. I mean, if Cocoa Puffs is currently AHA "Heart Smart" and Froot Loops are a "Smart Choice" already...
14
@1:
Yeah, pretty much. It's just that, for a good part of this country's history these eejits were stuck out on small subsistence farms far from the cities, or else got suckered into moving even farther west during the various periods of expansion, where they continued to inbreed in glorious isolation. It's really only been in the last 130 years or so that they started filtering back to the cities, once they finally figured out that mindless factory work required even fewer brain cells than planting seeds or milking cows.
And of course, once we got rid of poll taxes and literacy requirements they started voting too, which has been a pretty mixed bag result-wise SFAIC (no offense to previously disenfranchised blacks who actually fought for the right to vote. I just don't recall history recording similar protests by dumb, illiterate, non-land owning white people doing the same. Fortunately, many of them continue to be politically apathetic, which may be the only thing keeping this country from further devolving into the sort of slack-jawed morass envisioned by writers like C.M. Kornbluth or film director Mike Judge.)
Yeah, pretty much. It's just that, for a good part of this country's history these eejits were stuck out on small subsistence farms far from the cities, or else got suckered into moving even farther west during the various periods of expansion, where they continued to inbreed in glorious isolation. It's really only been in the last 130 years or so that they started filtering back to the cities, once they finally figured out that mindless factory work required even fewer brain cells than planting seeds or milking cows.
And of course, once we got rid of poll taxes and literacy requirements they started voting too, which has been a pretty mixed bag result-wise SFAIC (no offense to previously disenfranchised blacks who actually fought for the right to vote. I just don't recall history recording similar protests by dumb, illiterate, non-land owning white people doing the same. Fortunately, many of them continue to be politically apathetic, which may be the only thing keeping this country from further devolving into the sort of slack-jawed morass envisioned by writers like C.M. Kornbluth or film director Mike Judge.)
15
Whenever you see this phrase-- "Consumers are smart enough to deduce [xxx]"--assume the speaker is bought, fucked and paid for, and believe the opposite of what they say. Even if they are Eileen T. Kennedy, "president of the Smart Choices board and the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University."
16
Jesus. I think it's clear this experiment called "the USA" has completely failed. Can we start over?
17
@1, @9: Just remember that by definition, half of the population is of below-average intelligence.
18
#6: The FDA already does pretty close to that.
http://web.archive.org/web/2007092913043…
"Sugar drink" would include all milk and juice -- they all contain a load of sugar by nature. Fructose = fruit sugar, lactose = milk sugar. The body can't tell the difference between fructose in 100% orange juice and fructose in added HFCS.
16oz servings:
soda pop: 194 calories
100% orange juice: 220 calories
100% apple juice: 240 calories
100% cranberry juice: 280 calories
nonfat milk: 180 calories
1% milk: 220 calories
2% milk: 260 calories
whole milk: 300 calories
water: 0 calories
http://web.archive.org/web/2007092913043…
"Sugar drink" would include all milk and juice -- they all contain a load of sugar by nature. Fructose = fruit sugar, lactose = milk sugar. The body can't tell the difference between fructose in 100% orange juice and fructose in added HFCS.
16oz servings:
soda pop: 194 calories
100% orange juice: 220 calories
100% apple juice: 240 calories
100% cranberry juice: 280 calories
nonfat milk: 180 calories
1% milk: 220 calories
2% milk: 260 calories
whole milk: 300 calories
water: 0 calories
20
@19, while I don't drink 16 oz. of OJ in the morning, 42-60 oz. is probably closer to the average "single serving" of bevvie purchased at McD's or 7/11.
21
Oh, the glories of American food culture. Is it really so hard or expensive to pop some cheap-o bulk-food-bin rolled oats in the microwave for breakfast? No, instead we need some frosted over-processed monstrosity "made with real whole grain oats!" And now it'll have the Smart Choices label, to boot!
22
The only proper labeling for doughnuts and sugary cereal is "unhealthy" or "poor choice". Yesterday my bf and I spent a lovely afternoon at the Seattle zoo. The ocelots are beyond adorable. However, I was shocked that, by my unscientific estimate, 80-90% of the zoo visitors were not just a little overweight, but morbidly obese. And most of them were waddling about with a giant soda in one hand and a huge ice cream cone in the other. These ice cream cones have enough in them for five people. There are snack stands everywhere with nothing but HFCS-loaded garbage to eat, and everyone is lined up at the trough. I kept remarking on it to my bf. I wondered if people actually don't understand that this type of thing isn't "food" and probably has more calories that a human should eat in two days. Or do they just not care that they are obese? It's puzzling to me. This bullshit labeling campaign does nothing to make matters any better.
23
"Fudgsicles also get a green good-for-you checkmark-"
WTF?!
Next thing you know someone will try to tell you anal sex is 100% safe...
WTF?!
Next thing you know someone will try to tell you anal sex is 100% safe...
24
COMTE@ 14: Thank you for the C.M. Kornbluth shout out!
The short story "Marching Morons" should be required reading.
For those of you not familiar with the story, Kornbluth's story takes place in a future where the majority of the world's population have low IQs as a result the minority with 'normal' or high IQs are in charge of running the planet - which may not on the surface sound like such a nightmare for the smart people until you realize that they are practically slaves to the duties that they perform in order to keep the idiot citizens alive (city services - water, power, food supply, fire dept, traffic control, etc.) and maintain social order.
It's a fine story, and one that I tend to think on more and more as recent events seem to indicate that Kornbluth may have been more on target than anyone could have known when the story was first published.
The short story "Marching Morons" should be required reading.
For those of you not familiar with the story, Kornbluth's story takes place in a future where the majority of the world's population have low IQs as a result the minority with 'normal' or high IQs are in charge of running the planet - which may not on the surface sound like such a nightmare for the smart people until you realize that they are practically slaves to the duties that they perform in order to keep the idiot citizens alive (city services - water, power, food supply, fire dept, traffic control, etc.) and maintain social order.
It's a fine story, and one that I tend to think on more and more as recent events seem to indicate that Kornbluth may have been more on target than anyone could have known when the story was first published.
26
@19, 20: Nobody drinks 16 ounces of cranberry juice straight off. Most people couldn't if they wanted too, nor have most ever had pure cranberry juice; check your bottle, it's probably 85% apple, pear or white grape (i.e., pure fructose). My preferred juice is 100% cranberry, blueberry, or pomegranate cut 50-75% with water. And calories are not particularly interesting when it comes to determining what's the best food.
27
@22, I was with you until "waddling" and "trough". Why is it that people can't express concern for the overweight without having to slide into insulting language?
28
No one tried to teach me about foods really. I had the regular health classes in public school, but it seemed like we learned the same thing over and over. We only had to take one health class in HS, 1/3 of one semester of a freshman PE class spent in health class, using health books that we used in middle school too, filled this requirement.
I grew up with my dad, he came from a super poor family, there were plenty of evenings in his childhood where he and his family would go hunting or fishing to catch dinner because there was no food.
The one thing he always tried to make sure of, above all else, was that there was always dinner, huge portions, his children would not go hungry. He would invite neighborhood children and anyone else to dinner. He was a feeder.
Once I moved out to go to the UW I stopped drinking pop at home because I'd have to carry it a few blocks from the grocery store and I was lazy. Then I took classes in the geography department about globalization and food. That made me politically and morally uneasy with processed foods. Thankfully I live in a house were lots of real foods are made, we do have our processed vices though.
I've become spoiled on fancy home made deserts that make buying cakes and doughnuts from the store seems like a waste, and that it'd cheapen the event when my house mate does make something fancy. We just hosted a birthday party and there was the most awesome chocolate cake. There is another birthday in a couple weeks.
My friends and I are more or less, child free, but I see a lot of people from High School who have friended me on Facebook who go ape shit to go eat out at the new Sonic in Pyuallup and get excited for coupons from chicken nuggets so they have a cheap dinner for their kids. I just cringe.
Anyone have any suggestions for books about biochemistry and nutrition?
More...
I grew up with my dad, he came from a super poor family, there were plenty of evenings in his childhood where he and his family would go hunting or fishing to catch dinner because there was no food.
The one thing he always tried to make sure of, above all else, was that there was always dinner, huge portions, his children would not go hungry. He would invite neighborhood children and anyone else to dinner. He was a feeder.
Once I moved out to go to the UW I stopped drinking pop at home because I'd have to carry it a few blocks from the grocery store and I was lazy. Then I took classes in the geography department about globalization and food. That made me politically and morally uneasy with processed foods. Thankfully I live in a house were lots of real foods are made, we do have our processed vices though.
I've become spoiled on fancy home made deserts that make buying cakes and doughnuts from the store seems like a waste, and that it'd cheapen the event when my house mate does make something fancy. We just hosted a birthday party and there was the most awesome chocolate cake. There is another birthday in a couple weeks.
My friends and I are more or less, child free, but I see a lot of people from High School who have friended me on Facebook who go ape shit to go eat out at the new Sonic in Pyuallup and get excited for coupons from chicken nuggets so they have a cheap dinner for their kids. I just cringe.
Anyone have any suggestions for books about biochemistry and nutrition?
29
What? A post about the problems in the food industry and manipulation of health standards by food industrial giants? What are you doing, Dan? Clearly, the best way to make Americans more healthy is to shame fat people! Get back to that.
32
@30: Sorry, but as a math geek I reserve the right to use "average" for any and all of mean, median and mode. (You left out the mode, by the way.)
With a population as large as, well, the population, and with intelligence distributed on a normal curve, the mean and median in this case are identical anyway. The mode too.
So in fact, half the population is of below-average intelligence. QED.
With a population as large as, well, the population, and with intelligence distributed on a normal curve, the mean and median in this case are identical anyway. The mode too.
So in fact, half the population is of below-average intelligence. QED.
33
The mistake in this is saying that a parent is "rushing around" while trying to think of something healthy. The parents who want healthy food for their kids put thought into it. The parents who are rushing around and haven't had time to "think" of something healthy for their kids are not truly worried about the healthiest choices available--they're going to go with the easiest, quickest, most kid-approved choice they can find, which is highly unlikely to be healthy.
I can say from my own experience that I make better food choices when I put more time into it. If I'm in a rush, I'm much more likely to eat poorly. It's also been much harder in the 100+ degree heat--I don't want to cook. I've had a lot of sandwiches and salads the last few weeks.
I know that if I had kids the problem would just be that much more exacerbated, though I would put more effort in for their health than I probably do for myself.
I can say from my own experience that I make better food choices when I put more time into it. If I'm in a rush, I'm much more likely to eat poorly. It's also been much harder in the 100+ degree heat--I don't want to cook. I've had a lot of sandwiches and salads the last few weeks.
I know that if I had kids the problem would just be that much more exacerbated, though I would put more effort in for their health than I probably do for myself.
35
Mmmm. Sugar.
I doubt anyone really pays attention to these crazy marketing schemes on behalf of the food corporations... Most people would probably just look at the check, and either disregard it or wonder what the hell it's doing there. People are smart enough to know the nutritional difference between cocoa puffs and shredded wheat... Regardless, my parents definitely gave in to the kids chanting for sugar.
I doubt anyone really pays attention to these crazy marketing schemes on behalf of the food corporations... Most people would probably just look at the check, and either disregard it or wonder what the hell it's doing there. People are smart enough to know the nutritional difference between cocoa puffs and shredded wheat... Regardless, my parents definitely gave in to the kids chanting for sugar.
36
I thought Froot Loops was a Kellogg's cereal, and Kellogg's was dedicated to high fructose corn syrup? How about this: General Mills is preferable to Kellogg's, Kashi is preferable to General Mills, and Bob's Red Mill or Bluebird Grain or Emmer Farro is preferable to cold, processed cereals.
37
@32, yeah sure, mathematically speaking, but it's not guaranteed to be the case for a given population.
and you left out the range :P
and you left out the range :P
38
COMTE @ 14,
Don't forget that the Palins and McCains (and their followers) of the world also breed at much higher rates than intelligent, educated people. Where as the intellectual elites breed around 1.6 children, the lower intellects buy into bullshit of the 'Quiverfull' movement and actually breed as many children as humanly possible in some ignorant belief the 'white race' is somehow threatened by the Obamas of the world.
Don't forget that the Palins and McCains (and their followers) of the world also breed at much higher rates than intelligent, educated people. Where as the intellectual elites breed around 1.6 children, the lower intellects buy into bullshit of the 'Quiverfull' movement and actually breed as many children as humanly possible in some ignorant belief the 'white race' is somehow threatened by the Obamas of the world.
41
After spending over ten years living outside of the US, I am amazed at how much bad food is marketed to children here.
Most of the countries I have lived in, a child's preference is almost completely irrelevant to household food purchases. In France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and even Ukraine, kids gladly eat fruits, vegetables, and fish in completely unprocessed forms. Dinners at my colleagues' houses were always made from fresh whole foods and their kids ate it without complaint. Schools severed very good foods as well. I have never seen a commercial for sugar cereal in Europe, even during cartoon time on TV.
Coming back to the US, I am amazed at how picky eating habits are not only accepted, they seem to be encouraged. My spoiled brat nephews only eat starch and sugar, and only if it has been repeatedly advertised to them on TV. My oldest nephew, who was sent for a summer in France to learn the language had to be sent home after a week because he ate nothing we served him the whole time he was here. He threw world-class tantrums when he learned that coco puffs and ice cream were not on the menu every day and that TV was not allowed during dinner.
Frankly, the problem has mostly to do with American culture: the child-centric spoiling, the television advertising and aggressive marketing to children, and the corporate control of public health policy.
Good luck with changing this. I'm done fighting the good fight. I am gone as soon as I can get out of here again! There is no way I would even try to raise a kid in this country now that I have seen a better option. I'll gladly pay more than half my income in taxes and deal with the years of language barriers and navigate the maddening euro-bureaucracy for great healthcare, education, public transit and sensible public policy.
See ya suckers!
More...
Most of the countries I have lived in, a child's preference is almost completely irrelevant to household food purchases. In France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and even Ukraine, kids gladly eat fruits, vegetables, and fish in completely unprocessed forms. Dinners at my colleagues' houses were always made from fresh whole foods and their kids ate it without complaint. Schools severed very good foods as well. I have never seen a commercial for sugar cereal in Europe, even during cartoon time on TV.
Coming back to the US, I am amazed at how picky eating habits are not only accepted, they seem to be encouraged. My spoiled brat nephews only eat starch and sugar, and only if it has been repeatedly advertised to them on TV. My oldest nephew, who was sent for a summer in France to learn the language had to be sent home after a week because he ate nothing we served him the whole time he was here. He threw world-class tantrums when he learned that coco puffs and ice cream were not on the menu every day and that TV was not allowed during dinner.
Frankly, the problem has mostly to do with American culture: the child-centric spoiling, the television advertising and aggressive marketing to children, and the corporate control of public health policy.
Good luck with changing this. I'm done fighting the good fight. I am gone as soon as I can get out of here again! There is no way I would even try to raise a kid in this country now that I have seen a better option. I'll gladly pay more than half my income in taxes and deal with the years of language barriers and navigate the maddening euro-bureaucracy for great healthcare, education, public transit and sensible public policy.
See ya suckers!
42
The Surgeon General recommends several servings of Froot every day:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/311…
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/311…
43
"My oldest nephew, who was sent for a summer in France to learn the language had to be sent home after a week because he ate nothing we served him the whole time he was here. He threw world-class tantrums when he learned that coco puffs and ice cream were not on the menu every day and that TV was not allowed during dinner."
most depressing thing read all day
most depressing thing read all day
45
It takes about the same amount of time to fry up an egg as it does to make a bowl of cereal. And much less time than it does to stand in a line waiting to buy a doughnut.
46
@45 amen. My parents both worked full-time jobs plus were active in their church, and volunteered. My sister and I had lots of after-school and weekend activities. We were a "busy" family. And yet dinner was ALWAYS a sit-down affair. Not fancy, by any means, but at least a simple, home-cooked vegetable/bean soup with crusty French bread, or grilled chicken or fish with a vegetable, or a big salad in the summer. Soda was a special item for Saturday nights only, as were desserts. Fast food was a rarity, and we ate nothing that came in a microwaveable box (nor did we miss it). Honestly I feel like the words "we're too busy" have become a mantra for people that are simply too fucking lazy to do anything for a meal other than rip open a box or pull up to a drivethru and stuff themselves with starch and sugar.
@41, amen to you too. I'm astonished at some of our friends with kids. They let their children run the household, including the food choices (SODA! ICE CREAM! PIZZA! CHICKEN WINGS! NOW, OR I'M GOING TO SCREAAAMMM!!!!!), and then just shrug their shoulders and say "well, you can't make a child do anything they don't want". I will tell you their live are hell, and their kids are overweight, hyperactive troglodytes. It's unbearable to be around them. I spent years working abroad and never, ever encountered such horrid behavior. I'm also completely horrified every time I come back to the U.S. at the number of obese people. You see it the second you get off the plane - herds of huge Americans sauntering through the airport, stuffing themselves with food. It's fucking disgusting.
@41, amen to you too. I'm astonished at some of our friends with kids. They let their children run the household, including the food choices (SODA! ICE CREAM! PIZZA! CHICKEN WINGS! NOW, OR I'M GOING TO SCREAAAMMM!!!!!), and then just shrug their shoulders and say "well, you can't make a child do anything they don't want". I will tell you their live are hell, and their kids are overweight, hyperactive troglodytes. It's unbearable to be around them. I spent years working abroad and never, ever encountered such horrid behavior. I'm also completely horrified every time I come back to the U.S. at the number of obese people. You see it the second you get off the plane - herds of huge Americans sauntering through the airport, stuffing themselves with food. It's fucking disgusting.
47
I always hear. "Oh, but I don't have time/money for a healthy breakfast for my kids... " whine whine whine
Really? You don't have time for peanut butter on toast and an apple and a glass of milk? Everyone has time for that.
Really? You don't have time for peanut butter on toast and an apple and a glass of milk? Everyone has time for that.
48
This sounds like an even more dumbed down version of the red-yellow-green light system for kids. Bagel=red light, english muffin=yellow light and whole wheat toast=green light, and so on for a variety of foods. It's good for younger kids who can't grasp things like quantity, fullness bad-better-best stuff, and so on. A kid can start to grasp some of that stuff as late as age 7 (understanding variations in volume and quantity), but they learn to cross the street at roughly age 5, depending on where they live. But, you know, that system is for KIDS who don't know better (and maybe their parents, who never learned). This sort of thing for adults is kind of insulting, and I suspect it panders to brand names.
51
Hey, do as you please. Why have we not gotten the message regarding healthy food yet? Meantime, use WARMABLES for your kids school lunches. Keeps food warm for hours and lets you feed your kids great in school. We found it(at www.warmables.com), use it and love it! Neither D'nut nor Froot Loops for lunch! Got to look at it from the bright side.
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