Healthy at McDonalds?

CAN McDonald's be healthy? That's the thought that's running around my mind. Naturally, as you might guess, I'm probably biased against the restauarant and you might be able to guess how this article will turn out. But stick around; I'll try to be creative and come up with ways they possibly could. If I can. For the sake of healthiness, it certainly WOULD be great if there was a fast food restaurant out there that you could actually trust was serving you healthy food.

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SAVE THE FARMS: Follow the money!

It is time to stop FDA tyranny against dairy farms! I woke up this morning and was almost immediately looking for any news about the S.510 Senate bill, the "Food Safety Modernization Act". It is beyond baffling that a bill like this could be recommended in its entirety by the committee to be voted on by the Senate. But then, knowing how infrequently (if ever?) our Senators and Representatives actually read the bills they're voting on, I guess I'm not surprised.

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Vitaminwater: What Happens with Corporations

Image via Wikipedia

Once upon a time, there was a company called "Glaceau" (it technically still exists as a subsidiary - but more on that in a moment) that created SmartWater and later came out with FruitWater, and then VitaminWater. I remember when I first saw FruitWater; it tasted good and had no calories because it had no sugar. I'm still not entirely sure, mind you, how they got the flavor and I suspect even though it was "natural" that it was actually junk but this is also not the subject of the moment. What was interesting was that this drink became popular and it had no sugar.

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Fast Food Salads? Nope, won't trust 'em.

Wendy's restaurant recently introduced four new salads to their money - perhaps you've heard of them? They're calling them "real salads" as if they're made from real food or something. Ian Froeb of Riverfront Times wrote a piece yesterday that caught my eye and points out the fact that these salads contain more calories, salt, and fat* than a KFC DoubleDown.

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McDonalds to CSPI: Buzz Off

Image via Wikipedia

Guest blogger Doug Powers writes today on MicheleMalkin.com about the McDonalds CEO's response to CSPI's recent lawsuit threats. In a nutshell, McDonalds officially tells CSPI to buzz off.

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The Stats About PHARMACEUTICAL Companies

Source: Online Colleges and Universities
Created by OnlineEducation.net. Click through to see the original size.

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Listen to This Man (Jamie Oliver)

This is really the first year that I've come to know Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef, and I don't really even know him very well at all. Additionally, I haven't really followed the TED awards and talks much before this year either. But I think the combination of both of them has come to be one of the most important events in the growth of our food supply. I find myself strangely torn between optimism and pessimism on this subject. I want so badly for people to be healthy, it thrills me beyond belief to see the subject come up as the First Lady's "problem to deal with" or as the central theme of the latest reality show. Yet when I peek over at the next checkout lane in the grocery store to see it piled high with the very processed junk that is poisoning our children everywhere, I can't help but feel that some people are going to be beyond help, forever.

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Your Money or Your Health

Image via Wikipedia

It's interesting to see what pops up when you concern yourself with the food that you eat. After recent conversations about restaurants and local "health drinks" I was shown a website about a local weight loss program, Hopkins Fusion,  that sells Herbalife, the same protein powder/sports mix that City Blendz sells, and out of optimistic hope to be able to make a difference I wrote to the company to see if, at least, they knew about the unhealthy ingredients in their "health" shakes, forwarding the link to my recent article about their product. I was a bit taken aback by the response I received.

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City Blendz Definition of Nutrition

City Blendz Nutrition opened a retail location in the skyway near our work. I'm not sure whether it's part of a chain or not, but if it is, it's probably a small chain because no one here as ever heard of them. I usually get excited for mom & pop -sized stores, because usually only with individual entrepreneurships will you see innovation in menu choices. None of my group could really tell whether this was going to be a coffee shop or not, because we could see syrup bottles while they were setting up shop, which usually implies coffee. However, as one could also tell by their website, www.mycityblendz.com, it's a smoothie joint. And not just any generic kind, either - one that advertises its food is good for weight loss.

Uh, oh.

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The Supply of Restaurants

I stumbled into today's story. My family and I were planning to attend the "Minneapolis Healthy Life Expo" and meet up with a friend there. The expo turned out to be more of a joke that I expected it to be; I supposed there would be simply a showing of health-related vendors and if I were lucky maybe a semi-interesting spontaneous seminar, but it the vendors weren't even entirely health-related. There were housing/repair and vacation vendors as well. Since it was as much an insult as a disappointment, we called our friend and told her to not even bother showing up.  Our friend and her family were at the moment shopping at a very nearby restaurant supply store, and thus we met up with them there.

Inside it looked like most any regular buying club-style grocery store. You may already be familiar with Sam's Club or CostCo, and that's the same kind of impression I got when I walked inside. The only thing you have to keep in mind was that this particular business is catering specifically to restaurants as clients. I believe you're supposed to have a registered business in order to sign up with their club. With that in mind, the feelings I had after that ranged from disappointed to appalled when I saw what kinds of things were on the shelves.

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InGREEDients the Movie: Another for your Watch List

David Burton, a registered nurse, discovered that he was feeding himself - and his family - with foods that were slowly killing them. Being a nurse, his job is essentially, supposedly, focused on being healthy and maintaining that good health. Yet as we can all see, even doctors and nurses can be as unknowing as the rest of us. David's experience with hydrogenated oils starts out in a typical fashion. He had heard these oils were bad for your body, but didn't really know why they were bad or how much damage they really did.

This film is the result of finding that information out.

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Should people be freed from trans-fats?

Image by FranciscoDiez via Flickr

Update: Please review the comments following this post for a change in my position on this political issue.

It seems that along with a few major cities around the nation, the entire state of California will begin banning trans fats beginning with 2010, with a grace period for some (bakeries) continuing up until 2011. While it's fantastic to see that people are finally starting actually do something about trans fats, is this the way it should be done?

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Zicam and Thoughts About Zinc

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

A recent conversation also has me looking into Zicam, another over-the-counter cold remedy. If you are unaware, this product uses primarily zinc as its weapon for fighting the cold.

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A Skin Care Product You Can Eat

Tomogram of skin - Image via Wikipedia

"Being a guy" I never really cared too much about keeping my skin healthy when I was growing up. I look back and realize that I should have, of course. It just goes to show how disconnected I was from my body at that time. Your body talks back to you in more ways than just feeling pain when you're sick. Whether it's acid indigestion telling you that you just ate a whole bunch of stuff your body really hates, or just dry skin as a result of the wrong kind or not enough oils throughout the day, you should try to listen to what it's saying.

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Who is Manfred Kroger?

While recently investigating milk history for an article, I came across this rebuttal to the Weston A. Price foundation's claim that reduced-fat milk initiates the process of heart disease.

In Manfred's rebuttal he claims to quote opposing facts, but his facts range from agreeing to the production method of powdered milk to simply stating that he doesn't know of any contrary evidence.

He claims that the cholesterol amount in skim milk powder would be insignificant. I am not an expert on milk, so that certainly could be true. However, this does not address two important facts. There still will be SOME oxidized cholesterol in the powdered milk, and the amount of this you want to consume is NONE. Also, adding oxidized milk (i.e. powdered) to non-oxidized milk will soon contaminate all the milk.

But rather than debating his so-called facts, I think the more important question would be to ask who he is, and why he is interested in defending industrial milk production.

He is a German-born man and he gradutated from a professional dairy trade school later attaining a PhD, MS, and BS in dairy science.

He has been involved in dairy processes his entire life, but this time would also have been during the already-established industrial-style dairy production. Thus, Mr. Kroger would most likely have been taught and trained in typical manner. He has also, then, held numerous professorships in the realms of dairy science. This all could be either for or against his case.

It gets more interesting when you look at his professional memberships, positions, and awards.

He has spent decades of his life belonging to organizations intent on promoting industrialization and homogenization of agricultural (dairy) practices. These organizations, among other things, do not believe that farms produce food. Their concern is for the industrial commodities that farms unite to create resources for. These are not the type of organizations that would ever have any intention on promoting small, individual farms OR the small-scale production of certified milk.

He is a current editorial advisor for Prevention magazine, a publication known for its heavy promotion of mainstream foods, production methods, and pharmaceuticals.

He is a board member of numerous dairy science boards and journals. He is advisor to multiple foundations and associations of milk producers and dealers.

It is immediately clear that Manfred Kroger, PhD, has made a lifetime of promoting modern dairy practices and is financially interested in maintaining these practices.

Follow the money.

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in reference to: Silly Statements about Skim Milk (view on Google Sidewiki)

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• http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/dairy/cda20s02.html
• http://www.wfs.org/trend2nd05.htm
• http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/milk-a-glassful-of-goodness/d75150d1fa803110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/nutrition.recipes/nutrition.basics/eating.healthy
• http://www.nutriwatch.org/00AboutNutriwatch/kroger.html

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Big Agriculture is Not Happy

Food Renegade brings us this news during this week's Link Love.  Marion Nestle of Food Politics describes how big agribusiness is starting to move against sustainable farming.

It is shocking, and yet highly encouraging, to see Big Agricultural leaders responding to the increasing awareness of how consolidated and/or conventional farming practices are bad for our health and the environment.

In October, there was a planned lecture to be given by Michael Pollan at Cal Poly university. It was to be a one hour lecture and naturally it would be about the emerging viewpoint that corporate food manufacturing is neither healthy nor tenable. When David Wood, chairman of the Harris Ranch Beef Company, heard about it, he threatened to withdraw his planned $500,000 donation to the university which would be used to further industrial beef processing education. The university complied with Wood's demands, and changed the format of the event to a panel, bringing in industry members who would offer conventional viewpoints.

Chairman Wood objects to the opinions held by Pollan (and other organic/local/small farm producers) which lead one to believe that if someone were to see how industrial-produced food was made, that person would not want to eat such food anymore. This is not something to simply object to; if the chairman believes his manufacturing process is worthy of scrutinization, he should be going out of his way to show it and thus prove these contrary opinions wrong. However, that's not what he's doing; he's using his accumulated power and money to simply squash the competition by hiding it where no one can see. That alone should cause the average consumer to stop buying, immediately.

When people everywhere realize how Big Ag is hurting them, then we will start to see real change. The average person probably doesn't wish destruction or bankruptcy on companies such as Mr Wood's, but probably does demand ethical and moral business practices be followed. It is high time for corporations to take responsibility for their behavior.

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The Soy Controversy and more

Someone recently asked me whether I liked a popular, brand-name soymilk. I don't drink Soymilk anymore because of the controversy that soy causes. Yeah, I know soy is still in a lot of foods, especially those little protein bars (the ones that taste like candy bars and claim to be good for you), but that's beside the point. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy#Soy_controversy

In addition, the company that makes the soymillk in question this morning takes soy and adds sugar, plus artificial flavors. It also adds sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate for preservatives. IF they're going to add a preservative, they should NOT use the benzoates (either sodium- or potassium- ); these can combine with Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to form benzene -- a known carcinogen. (Potassium Sorbate is safe at least in comparison) So, they are essentially making something quasi-healthy into something definitely-not healthy. I can't get myself excited over that.

Having a little fun, I did a quick search on some of the other ingredients in this particular brand of soymilk. It's important to consider however that these ingredients are not common to only soymilk, but many, many manufactured foods available today. ALSO please note that this is the result of a quick websearch and may or may not be documented properly.

• Potassium Citrate can have the effects on you that can stop your body from working and stop your blood flow and circulation. Do not have it if you are pregnant, or sick.
• Dipotassium Phosphate - the purpose of this in food is to prevent protein coagulation and also to prevent its precipitation. However, this active ingredient is commonly sprayed on leaves as a fertilizer, and seems also to help control certain fungal diseases on ornamental plants. It's also added to antifreeze solutions as a buffer, liquid detergents as a dispersion medium, and what-the-heck, added to paper, um, just because?. It's generally okay to consume, but ... why would you want to?
  
• Sodium Polyphosphate - An emulsifier. Harmful if swallowed or inhaled, and in contact with the skin. Why do they even have to add emulsifiers? Can't people stir their drinks anymore?

In conclusion, the safest way of choosing what to eat would be to just not eat processed foods at all. You can't even trust the organic brands to be good for you, considering that the Big Corporate Food companies have been buying up the small, organic companies and making those brands their own -- without telling anyone. But that's another story.

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