Are You Also Being Deceived into Eating Fake Frankenfoods?Posted on April 16th, 2008 |
Categories: Whole Foods | Nutritionism | Nutrition | Food Industry | Food Choices
Click on right arrow button above to start playing the video.
Should we buy food with health claims on the label?
These days, we are seeing more and more health claims that go beyond the usual. These include “trans fat-free,” “gluten-free,” “heart healthy,” and foods spiked with vitamins, such as my new favorite: Diet Coke Plus, with vitamins and minerals.
We see whole-grain Pop Tarts and Tyson chicken with misleading labels such as “raised without antibiotics.” We see natural sweeteners called Sweet Fiber. We see whole-grain Cheerios that are still full of sugar.
Now you can get “health food” like salads at McDonald’s, but with salad dressings that have more calories than a Big Mac.
And we also see antioxidant-spiked junk food and ginkgo-spiked energy drinks.
What should we make of all these marketing claims? Do they provide any benefit?
In Michael Pollan’s new book “In Defense of Food,” he rails against the notion of “nutritionism,” the idea that we can single out nutrients from whole foods, add them back to processed food, or take them as supplements, and achieve health benefits.
His point is very well taken.
We must be very careful to avoid the marketing ploys of the food industry, which wants to trick us into eating more junk food by putting it in friendlier packaging.
Make no mistake.
These foods are still wolves in sheep’s clothing.
We need to be very wary of any food that comes in a package, box, or a can. That is not to say that there are not some good whole foods that are available in boxes, packages, or cans.
However, most of what is available in the marketplace is simply not real food.
A recent patient of mine is a food scientist who works for a large food industry company. His job is to invent and create new foods in the laboratory by mixing food and chemicals to create certain tastes and flavors that mimic real food or that stimulate appetite and satisfy our need for various tastes.
Think of these as “Frankenfoods.”
My patient became quite sick from handling these compounds and chemicals everyday. I have been working hard to get him to not only stop eating processed food, but also to stop playing with it.
He wore a funny T-shirt to my office, which listed the top 10 reasons to major in food science, a scientific discipline that teaches people how to invent foods for the food industry.
According to his shirt, here are the top 10 reasons to become a food scientist:
- Eat ice cream for breakfast and get credit for it.
- We are in it for the dough.
- Grocery shopping is research instead of a chore.
- We get to eat the results of our research project.
- Because hairnets are a fashion statement.
- Because we know what is really in your hot dogs.
- Not only do we know how to drink beer, we can make it.
- Cheese, yogurt, and buttermilk -- who says we are not cultured?
- As long as you are eating, we will be working.
- We have not stopped playing with our food and now we are playing with yours.
He gave me an industry trade journal called “Food Business News,” which I found very enlightening.
I was shocked to read the very careful and deliberate marketing ploys used to gain a foothold in our increasingly health conscious market.
The advice to the food industry was clear: Modify packaging and ingredients in food just slightly to give the impression of health, while continuing to provide poor-quality, nutrient-poor, calorie-dense foods.
For example, there was an ad for Food Ingredient Solutions, a company that provides new types of food coloring. This allows manufacturers to color junk food with natural pigments, which can replace the artificial coloring used in tablets, coatings, pan confections, rubs, sauces, and more.
Who are they fooling?
Tyson Foods cleverly labels their chicken as “produced without antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans,” meaning they did use antibiotics -- just not ones that cause problems in humans.
Conagra, which has been losing money, is creating a food line called Healthy Choice Steamers.
Another article documented a company called Fitch Ratings who said that innovation in the food industry will continue in areas of “perceived” health and wellness, convenience, and ethnic products.
Read that carefully.
“Perceived” health and wellness -- not actual health and wellness.
As long as you make people think they are getting something healthy, that is good enough -- even if it is the same old junk food.
Other new junk foods include allergy-free junk foods and energy drinks. There was also an article about Lean Pockets. This company now offers whole-grain pocket sandwiches, which are still full of chemicals and processed food, but now have a few more flecks of fiber to give the illusion of a health food.
There is even an ad for something called Vegi Pure, a compound designed for cholesterol reduction that puts plant phytosterols in sugary junk food!
So what’s the bottom line?
As I have always said, if it has a label, do not eat it. And as Michael Pollan says, “Eat food [meaning real, whole food]. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
We have to be very cautious as consumers to recognize label claims for health benefits on processed foods, which sprinkle miniscule, non-therapeutic amounts of healthful ingredients into otherwise poor-quality, high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods, giving us the illusion that we are doing something good for ourselves.
I encourage you to eat food that comes from a farmer’s field and not a food chemist’s laboratory -- and you will not have to worry about all these functional food claims.
Here is what to eat:
- Whole, real food such as vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, lean animal protein like small wild fish and poultry, and whole omega-3 eggs.
- Small amounts of grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free beef or lamb.
That is it.
Food scientists tend to make us think that we need all these special ingredients in foods to stay healthy.
Bu they are just extracting them from real, whole foods -- so why not start with the whole food in the first place?
Now I’d like to hear from you…
Have you sampled any of these “Frankenfoods”?
What did you think of them?
Why do you think the food industry is trying to make junk food seem healthier?
Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, M.D.
P.S. For more information on this and other blogs, please go to
http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog.
|
If you like this blog post, please click on the "Digg it" icon to the left to cast your vote. If you'd like to leave a comment or want to see what others have said about this post, click on the appropriate button below. |
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Newsvine
Furl
Google
YahooSubscribe to the UltraWellness Blog
Click here to subscribe to the UltraWellness Blog Feed
OR
Be notified by email when a new post is made.
By submitting, you agree to terms of use and privacy policy
Subscribe to the UltraWellness TV Podcast
You can now subscribe to an audio version of each weekly blog. The easiest way to do this is to add this to your iPod or other MP3 player. Simply click on the appropriate button below to do this now:
User login
Search Dr. Hyman's Blog
Blog Topics
- Acid Reflux
- Acne
- ADD
- ADHD
- Alzheimer's
- Anti-aging
- Antidepressants
- Antioxidants
- Arthritis
- Artificial Sweeteners
- Aspartame
- Asperger's Syndrome
- Asthma
- Autism
- Autoimmune
- Blood sugar
- Brain
- Breast Cancer
- C-reactive protein
- Casein-free
- Cholesterol
- Chronic Disease
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Cooking
- CoQ10
- Cramps
- Dairy
- Dean Ornish
- Dementia
- Depression
- Detox
- Diabetes
- Digestive Problems
- Eating on a Budget
- Eczema
- Energy Boost
- Fatigue
- Fiber
- Folate
- Food Allergies
- Food Choices
- Food Industry
- Food Labels
- Functional Medicine
- Fungus
- GERD
- Glucomannan
- Glucose
- Glutathione
- Gluten-free
- Government Policies
- Green Tea
- Headaches
- Health
- Health Care Costs
- Health Care Problems
- Healthcare
- Healthy Foods
- Heart disease
- Heartburn
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Homocysteine
- Hormones
- Hypothyroidism
- Hypthyroidism
- Immune System
- Inflammation
- Insomnia
- Insulin
- Insulin resistance
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Konjac root
- Longevity
- Low Carbs
- Lutein
- Magnesium
- Meal Frequency
- Meal Timing
- Memory
- Mental Health
- Mercury Toxicity
- Metabolism
- Methylation
- Michael Moore
- Migraines
- Mitohondria
- Mold
- Mood Improvement
- Neurotransmitters
- Niacin
- Nutrigenomics
- Nutrition
- Nutritionism
- Omega-3 Fats
- Osteoporosis
- Pain
- Phytonutrients
- Pimples
- PMS
- Probiotics
- Prostate Cancer
- Protein
- Rash
- Recipes
- Relaxation
- Resveratrol
- Saccharin
- Sicko
- Skin Care
- Sleep
- Sleep Apnea
- Soy
- Statins
- Stevia
- Stress
- Supplements
- Systems Biology
- The Spectrum
- The UltraMind Solution
- The UltraSimple Diet
- Thermogenisis
- Thyroid
- Trans Fats
- Triglycerides
- Trigylcerides
- Type 2 diabetes
- UltraWellness
- Vitamin D
- Weight Loss
- Whole Foods
- Women's Health
- Yeast
- Zeaxanthin
The food we eat
My husband and I try our best to eat whole foods. We are both on SS, and it gets hard. There's no way we can afford to buy organic food because it is just too expensive. We have a garden that's organic and can and freeze as much as we can. Since we are both disabled, we are limited in our garden size. Plus we live in the Appalachian Mountains, and our land is fairly steep. We do read labels and try to make the best choices. Many canned veggies show nothing on the label but the veggie, salt and water. I usually rinse the vegetable off then recook. I bought a cantaloupe yesterday from Guatemala. I wondered if they use DDT and what kind of fertilizers, but I yearned for a fresh fruit. We live in an area where I have not been able to grow melons. Oh well. We do have a flock of chickens and what wonderful eggs. We will continue to do our best. Sigh. Thanks for the book and the blog posts you send.
Gardening
Both my parents are over 70. They live on a suburban lot that is rather small.
They have set up large containers with their garden plants in them. They raise okra, tomatoes, peppers of all kinds, broccoli, brussels sprouts and greens. There is no bending or stooping to tend to the plants. They use rain barrels connected with hoses to collect rain water and have some of the heavy water usage plants connected directly with soaker hoses. Dad has a hard time getting around, but he can still do most of the gardening.
Mom freezes whatever doesn't get eaten.
They spent about 5 years getting the system together since Dad has been on disability for years and money is always tight.
Susan
You are AWESOME!
I just joined this site today and wanted to say how great I think you are! Most people in this country, myself included, now that I've lost my high-paying job, can't afford to buy all organic food. So we just have to do the best we can with the resources we have. You can also try frozen veggies and fruit as opposed to canned, for a good treat. You should be able to extend your growing season in your garden with a simple cold frame, where you can grow a wide variety of lettuces in fall and spring. If you are near a Sam's Club, they have a good selection of organic things for cheap, if you have a way to store things. If you have a credit card and a computer, they can ship some things to you too. I bet you feel and look much better than all your neighbors! Keep up the good work -- your message was an inspiration to me.
Frankenfoods
Ever since my kids were little (my baby is now 26), I have been wary of claims on labels.
I read and look for several items: high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated anything, modified anything. If I can't pronounce it, I'm not going to eat it.
Frankenfood
I have tried some of these Frankenfoods, in a galaxy long ago and far away, and once was enough. I voted and continue to vote with my feet and wallet.
If people don't buy the stuff, the food makers will do something different. Works every time. There just needs some time to pass for the hype to settle. (And you can't outlaw the hype -- free speech and all that.)
If government is to be involved at all, let it be the FDA making and enforcing stricter labeling standards for food, and banning the use of free glutamates (MSG and its kin) while they're at it.
junk foods with added nutrition
I still try to buy whole foods for myself and family. But sometimes I allow my kids to eat some of the junk foods with added nutrition as a compromise. For example the Quaker Oat granola bars. I know they have a lot of sugar, but they are better than a candy bar. I talk to my kids almost everyday about nutrition. When they get a headache or stomach ache I remind them of what they ate yesterday, and I think they are slowly getting it. I think that kind of food is a small step up, but people need to realize that the ultimate goal should be whole foods.
Doing my best
It's a good reminder, this "frankenfoods" diatribe. When I'm doing my best and buying fresh, organic and whole foods, I feel so much better. I feel happier when I'm preparing the food and I realize how little food I need to make a delicious quick meal. If you're lucky enough to live near a Farmer's Market, you can stop by and spend less than $20 for several meals worth of organic salad mix, fresh strawberries from a local farmer, unusual and tender greens, and herbs. It doesn't take a lot of ingredients when you're working with really flavorful fresh foods. And look at the ingredients in frankenfoods! The list goes on and on. I sometimes get fooled--"Look hon, it's gluten and dairy free!! get it please?" but who am I kidding? A cookie or a bag of pretzels is still just that--empty calories at the best, chemicals at the worst. Once you get rid of certain cravings it's much easier to pass those things in the aisle and reach for a bag of organic bunny carrots. Which make for an equally satisfying CRUNCH when you go for a nibble.
"junk foods"
I think that the only way to get the stuff off the marked is for people to stop buying it. I normally don't buy cold cereal but did the other day and it was offel. I can't believe people ever consider it food. I have been reading your blogs for a while and appreciate all of the good information that you have been sharing.
Industrial (junk) food
If you compare the choice of food in the stors 40 years ago with today: In the seventies it was much les processed food, no low fat or low calorie food and people was less fat or obese! Eating normal food (with the natural quantity of fat) even with reel sugar is healthier than with aspartame or no fat, this should be the conclusion.
Frankenfoods and Beyond
The food industry will eventually figure out that "calorie dense" is actually expensive, and optimize to remove this feature from their products as well. We'll then be left with:"Modify packaging and ingredients in food just slightly to give the impression of health, while continuing to provide poor-quality, nutrient-poor foods." There's something more concerning going on here. The growing fad associated with adding Asian medicinal products to foods (restaurant or otherwise) is very disturbing. For example - there are a lot of restaurant dishes now with shittake mushrooms and the like. Medicinal and adaptogenic foods can be unpredictable. Some are touted as "immune enhancing", but what if the person has auto-immune issues like psoriasis or Crohn's disease or Celiac disease? It's possible that this food may actually put the person's immune system into overdrive, making it attack the body rather than enhance immune function properly. I have celiac. I went into a PF Chang's and saw salmon and shittake mushrooms on the gluten-free menu. Protecting someone from gluten and then exposing them to a potentially dangerous medicinal food doesn't sound like a smart idea to me. We know so little about this stuff and are just throwing around like playthings. That's what bothers me the most. It's not bad enough that we're doping foods with synthetic and refined materials all the time... but the introduction of medicinal fad foods is adding an order of complexity to this whole thing that puts it off the charts with regard to being ridiculous.
Three Simple Rules
After years of reading about nutrition, I have only three rules now: (1) Eat whole foods as much as possible. Process and cook it yourself so that you know how it was made. (2) Do not eat exotic (potentially medicinal) food products from outside the region you grew up in and have adapted to. For the most part, stick to the variety of fruits and vegetables you ate while growing up. Anything beyond that may not sit well with you, considering that it's technically alien material and potentially medicinal. (3) All the advice in nutrition books about medicinal products and plants does not apply to people with various immune system abnormalities (especially those with auto-immune problems). Any advice you take from these books will likely just get you into trouble, since the medicinal product will not likely work in the expected way.
Tricked to Eating Franken Foods - No / Conditioned - Yes
I've been eating processed Frankenstein foods my entire life. My parents didn't know, they were uninformed. They, like the vast majority of other Americans fed us and themselves with what is most readily available - and what is most readily available is cheap and convenient, thus also much lower in quality and certainly nutrition. However, this is where the demand like and it is what greedy food producers (aka-corporations) produce.
So who is to blame? The consumer or the corporations?
Neither. That's just the way it is. I am now for a variety of ego-based reasons and after becoming nutritionally informed, still hooked on Franken foods.. in fact, I'll be having a beef hot dog shortly.. I've been snacking on Hersey's choc covered pretzels this morning as well. My ego is hooked no matter how bad I know these foods are, ego-me is addicted... and it's up to me to make these changes.. no one else.
I think it's time for so many top alternative health voices like Dr. Hyman, Dr. Mercola, Etc.. to stop placing blame at the feet of everyone else and start promoting personal power, aka) the power of personally conscious awareness.
btw thanks for all the great info you do put out.. I think the metabolic diet promotes sound, healthy, whole food eating principals.. even though you do place far too much importance on weight loss.. keep up the good work!
Baby Steps
After reading Ultra Metabolism, I'm definitely more conscientious about what we eat. Don't get me wrong, some frankenfoods still make it into my pantry and fridge.
How many places still have real farmer's markets, or just produce markets, or a butcher, or room for gardens. It is no longer convenient. We live in a world of conveniences. If our world wasn't so fast paced and crazy, health and healthy choices would be more convenient (again).
However, I am more aware of the labels on foods. If I can't pronounce it, we try not to buy it. Butter really only needs 3 ingredients, not 20. My ice cream only has 3 ingredients, why can't theirs? (some do).
More and more stores are carrying organic foods and healthier products (but read the labels, if it has them). Hopefully, it will become more reasonable in price as well.
S.B.
frankenfoods
i try to educate my family about the processed foods on our grocer's shelves. products that claim "0 grams trans fats" have partially hydrogenated oils in them. the lable that got me, until i fully read it, was- made with ALL NATURAL ingredients. "made with" was what i failed to read.
Organic Superfood Bars
When I first began eating whole healthy foods I thought I would never be able to have chocolate again. Then Raw Chocolate, not laced with toxic dairy or white sugar, became available. Now, I can go to superfood and raw food websites or sections of stores and find organic, whole food, sometimes raw like WildBar, www.wildbar.info, superfood bars that are low glycemic, full of fiber, made of nothing but organic, whole, raw, vegan, gluten free foods. There are great packaged foods on the market!!!!! Thank you Dr. Hyman for inspiring so many of us to live and be healthier!
Yogi Suzi
www.yogiraw.com
Buffalo meat
What's your take on Buffalo meat? My understanding is that it's leaner than chicken and fish and is richer in Omega 3's than fish. What's the real deal?
Frankenfoods
Excellent, informative blog, Dr. Hyman!
I live in Indianapolis in the vicinity of the Sensient Technologies Corporation. Many mornings as I drive north on the freeway, I can smell fresh "blueberries" in the air. Some days it's "maple," or another mouth-watering aroma! Obviously, I live in "FrankenScents" territory. This experience is always a reminder to eat whole, natural foods.
I must confess however, that those whole grain pop-tarts do sound tempting.
Adrenal Glands - how do I get them working ?
Hi Dr. Hyman,
How do I make my adrenal glands work ?
I will be walking for 45 minutes in beautiful nature but I have to make 2 stops to meditate to gain balance.
My mind goes off on it's spin as I am walking and exausts me. Then I will be stoping half way and be in mediatation on a bench and feeling really really great - balanced. Then I continue walking home but quite exausted when ariving back at the house so I sit down on the bench outside the house and meditate again.
Lately, making a mistake in what I eat and I how much I eat can cause me to become dizzy. This too makes it quite difficult to be alive.
Sincerely,
Mr. Bo Laursen, Denmark
nitty gritty
It seems simple enough, eat whole foods. But when it comes to the nitty gritty I think it gets more complicated. For axample, I’ve read in several magazines that live active cultures found in yogurt is extremely good for health. Now, right now in front of me I have a small tub of danon’s light and fit yogurt with live and active cultures. It’s only 60 calories, probably because of the artificial sweetener, and it contains such things as potassium sorbate, malic acid and corn starch. However, it fufills 10-20% of my daily values of calcium, phosphorus, vitamin a, vitamin b 12, and riboflavin. Is it right to discard this as a frakenfood? I know dr. hyman recommends greek yogurt, but it’s a 1.25 a small tub and the I bought the danon one for only 33 cents a small tub. See what I mean by the nitty gritty.
Any advice from anyone would be helpful
Stuff in our Food
I have often wondered what the effect of all the additives they put in our food have on our bodies. There seems to be an epidemic of cancer and alzehimers. Could it be our food that is contributing or is it the cause?
neswanso
food
I just joined this website, I'm not sure where to post this question (I've looked under several food type subjects). I want to try this way of eating, but I love bread -- not just eating bread, I love making bread. The kneading, the way the dough turns into something really comfortable in your hands, the rising, the baking smell. The way my husband enjoys eating it. I have no problem switching to "whole grains", but I don't know what that means. Flour of some kind is required for bread dough. Not just a bunch of seeds. I can't find a recipe for homemade bread on the website, though there seem to be store bought breads Dr H recommends.
Anyone have a recipe? Or explain what "whole grain" bread really means?
catleigh