The New York Times started the year with a five-day wellness challenge, a series to help you shop for healthier foods.
Fiber One ultraprocessed? Yes, according to the Times.
Day one defines ultra processed foods and gives you a digital game to see how much of what you buy can fit the definition.
Some of the results may surprise you, as I’m sure they were picked to do.
I found out, for example, that Fiber One cereal, my fallback buy when I can’t find Trader Joe’s High Fiber Cereal, is considered ultra processed because of thickening agents and Sucrolose it contains.
How does the series define ultraprocessed?
“Ultraprocessed foods, or UPFs, are commonly defined as products you couldn’t typically make in your own kitchen. They contain ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, protein isolates, emulsifiers and artificial flavors, colors and sweeteners. Think chicken nuggets, hot dogs, flavored yogurts, sodas and many breakfast cereals, packaged breads and snack foods,” it states.
A sharp-eyed reader left me a comment recently that broke my heart, and more importantly will impact my heart-health — Mrs Dash sodium-free marinades are no longer being made.
Mrs Dash salt-free marinades are no longer being made. A sad day for healthy eating.
A quick check of the Mrs Dash site confirms the sad news but offers no explanation.
Mrs. Dash’s teriyaki marinade had provided a way for me to still enjoy some Asian dishes without overloading on salt. I’ve used it in recipes in place of soy sauce because even reduced sodium soy sauce is too high in salt for me.
Healthy Heart Market lists a low-sodium soy with 180 msg of sodium per tablespoon. How many tablespoons would go into a stir fry?
A fan of cold cuts? Check what you bought, Boar’s Head has a major recall underway.
A major recall of deli meats has accounted for two deaths and put 33 people in hospitals, reports Patch.com. Products involved are from the Boar’s Head brand, with cases of people being sickened by the products reported in 13 states as of late July.
“The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses,” health officials said in a news release. “This is because some people recover without medical care and are not tested for Listeria. In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported, as it usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak,” Patch reports.
Boar’s Head already is facing at least one lawsuit. The recalled meats are thought o be causing listeria in people who eat them.
“The company last week announced a recall of several types of deli meats, including all liverwurst products, as well as some types of ham, salami and bologna.
“The recall includes 207,528 pounds of products that were shipped to retail locations nationwide. See the full list of recalled products,” Patch reports.
Americans generally know that food high in sugar and fat are unhealthy for them, but knowing that and changing their behavior are two different things, reports a new analysis from the online data collection site YouGov.com.
“Nearly four in five US consumers (79%) say foods high in sugar are unhealthy, followed by high in saturated or trans fats (74%), and high in calories but low in nutrients (71%). Deep-fried (70%), fast food (68%), and salty snacks (68%) are also rated as unhealthy by a majority of respondents,” the site reports.
So why eat it all? “Data indicates that taste is the primary driver when asked about chips (65%), candies (58%), sodas (49%) and fast food (39%). The variety of flavors offered by these foods is a significant draw (33% chips, 30% candies, 20% sodas and 17% fast food),” the site reports.
Healthy food can taste good too, you just ahve to work on it. Try our recipe page to start.
The makers of imitation meats such as Impossible Burger are running into more competition from grass-fed meats, reports The Food Institute, a food news site.
“Growing interest in sustainably-raised meats, including grass-fed beef, is challenging meat alternatives, which continue to struggle with adoption and repeat purchases among their primary consumer base – flexitarians.
“Sustainable meat production is rising across the food industry, as products with Regenerative Organic Certification experience significant growth.
“Several major food companies have made regenerative commitments in 2024—including big meat players like JBS and Tyson—and some QSRs (quick-serve restaurants) have also revamped their menus to include more ‘climate-friendly’ animal products,” the Food Institute reports.
I’ve had the alternative meat products and worry about the salt in them. An ultra-lean grass-fed burger seems to me a better alternative to traditional 80% high-fat ground beef when you get that urge for red meat.
Restaurant menus are notoriously filled with high-salt, high-fat, high-sugar offerings. If you’re trying to lower your consumption of those that evil threesome, you need to do your research before eating out. That’s why we have an entire page of this blog devoted to eating away from home.
Halibut on a carrot puree at a restaurant in Milwaukee which is, sadly, no longer there. What was the salt content? We asked for it without salt added.
Are people doing their research? A recent study by foodservice supplier US Foods shows a large chunk of the population is checking menus before going out, for a variety of reasons.
The study found 83% of people eating out review menus from home before going to a restaurant, and of those, 50% decide what they’ll order before setting foot in the restaurant.
Also encouraging, from a health standpoint, 58% say nutritional value information impacts their ordering, although here portion size and calorie content seems to be the major concern.
More people need to be checking salt content, it’s the most dangerous in most restaurant options.
US Foods gathered this data by surveying 1,003 people last September, reflecting the demographic makeup of the general American population.
Olive oil should be a go-to good fat for any heart patient. Plus it can taste great, I use it not only on salads but on grilled veggies and a host of other dishes, just check my recipe page.
And now there’s more good news, a study has found it can cut the risk of developing dementia.
“Scientists examined data collected over almost three decades on about 93,000 middle-aged adults. At the start of the study, participants were 56 years old on average and had no history of cardiovascular disease, a major risk factor for dementia.
“Every four years, participants completed dietary questionnaires detailing what foods they typically ate and indicating how often they consumed olive oil: no more than once a month; up to 4.5 grams (g), or 1 teaspoon (tsp) daily; between 4.5 and 7 g (1.5 tsp) daily; or more than 7 g daily.
“Compared with people who rarely if ever consumed olive oil, those who got at least 7 g a day were 28 percent less likely to die of dementia-related causes by the end of the study, according to results published in JAMA Network Open.
Britain has been much more active that the United States in acknowledging, and trying to curb, the daily intake of salt. But this report on FoodNavigator.com notes what I see as a disturbing trend there.
Rather than eliminate sodium completely from food items, the article touches on the substitution of potassium chloride for sodium chloride by food processors.
I’ve tried so-called potassium salt. It tasted a bit different. But that’s not the major issue. The danger is that too much potassium can have its own dire consequences.
“If you have too much potassium in your body, your kidneys may not be able to remove all of it, and it can build up in your blood. Too much potassium in your blood can damage your heart, make you feel palpitations and even cause a heart attack. You can’t always tell when your potassium levels are high,” notes the Cleveland Clinic.
The Food Navigator article notes Britain has cut salt consumption and seen positive health results for its population. But my advice for individuals would be simply cut salt, don’t use a substitute that could cause you more harm than good.
Eating a seafood feast at a restaurant? Check nutritional content online first.
One eating-out trend that developed during Covid was the disappearance of physical menus. In those Covid years of ‘don’t touch anything anyone else touches’ restaurants decided to use QR codes customers could scan to see menus.
How have people reacted? Not well, according to a survey by US Foods, a major foodservice distributor. A survey of 1,000 people recently found 89% prefer physical menus. Roughly one in six don’t know how to scan a QR code to get to a menu.
And 51% say QR code menus slow down ordering.
It will be interesting to see if restaurants keep the codes or go OG with real menus again.
On the healthy eating front, the survey found 53% would prefer to see calorie counts on menus and 17% have asked for additional nutritional information not listed on menus.
That’s a good practice for anyone who cares about eating heart-healthy. My advice, check menus online before going anywhere to eat. You’re likely to find more nutrition information than will be available in a restaurant and so you can make smarter choices.
I recently heard a doctor speak very enthusiastically about Ozempic use by heart patients such as myself. Ozempic and similar drugs now on the market cut your appetite (to put it very simply) and you drop pounds. That in turn helps heart health.
Would I stop loving Italian food if I took Ozempic?
Being able to take a pill (or an injection in Ozempic’s case) while still eating whatever you want sounds like the American dream doesn’t it? There are side-effects. A friend taking it for her diabetes tells me she throws up from it but finds it a small price to pay for dropping pounds.
And what about the price — more than $1,000 a month? Medicare won’t pay for it, although lobbying is underway to change that. Private insurance may or may not, enjoy the fight (that will probably make you nauseous too).
So should I ask my doctor to prescribe it (wonder if he would)? This all comes at a time when I’m feeling particularly frustrated by my weight.
After my first stent in 2012, I lost 30 pounds in about a year because I stopped eating everything I liked. But I could only stay hungry for so long and, after needing a second stent in 2017, I began wondering how much losing weight really impacted my arteries which seem determined to clog every few years.
Fast-forward to 2020 and Covid. Worrying about what I was eating went out the window at a time when a new virus could kill me in a matter of days.
I ate whatever we could buy in depleted stores or from restaurant takeout windows. And I started getting deliveries from a local bakery which had never delivered before.
The result — I’m now 14 pounds heavier than when Covid hit four years ago and 31 pounds heavier than my lightest in 2013. And I feel it every day. Exercise? I walk and ride an exercise bike. And for the past year and a half I’ve been taking a weekly boxing class. Punching the big bag is a great way to face my weight-loss frustration. But it hasn’t helped me lose any weight.
So is an Ozempic injection the answer? The idea of having medicine take away my appetite seems a bit big brotherish to me, a little too controlling. But am I just looking for an excuse? What would you do?
