Getting Real about the Food We Eat

How’s that for a loaded title? We could talk all month about that, covering a whole host of topics–Organic,  GMO, Contaminants, Portion size, Etc. And maybe we should. But right now I want to talk about a couple of current news stories.

Last week the Food and Drug Administration announced a potential redesign of nutrition labels, featuring, among other things, calorie counts in larger text and adjusting portion size to more accurately reflect what one might actually eat.

At the same time, Canadian officials are considering requiring chain restaurants in Toronto to put nutrition information (mainly calorie and fat grams) on the menus.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been following these stories, utterly fascinated by the you-know-what storm erupting on social media. Fat shaming, some are saying. More evidence of the government wanting to control every aspect of our lives. The nanny state trying to take over. A waste of time and money. And…anyone who cares already knows this information.

And I’m like…wow. This is not a political issue. This is a health issue, and I want to know. I want to know what I’m buying, what I’m eating—what I’m feeding my family. And maybe some of the information is already there on the labels, but any effort to make the information easier to read and understand,  more accurate/realistic, I see as a really, really positive step. Information. How else can we make intelligent choices?

It’s no secret obesity is a significant problem in this country, and the food choices we make are a contributing factor. And I firmly, deeply,  passionately believe that a lot of people want to make good choices, but they have absolutely no idea what they’re putting into their body.

A few years ago I was in New York for a writer’s conference, and my agent took us out to eat at a fantastic, ritzy restaurant. Among the possible “side dishes” was lobster macaroni and cheese.  Now, of course, anything in the mac and cheese family is not going to be a low cal/low fat option. Most of us know that. But there are many, many shades of bad, and fortunately New York City has already passed the law Toronto is considering, and chain restaurants must put nutrition information on the menus. That lobster macaroni and cheese? You know the “side dish?”  Yeah. 1560 calories and 65 fat grams.

Let me say that again. 1560 calories and 65 fat grams.

I almost fell out of my chair. That’s close to an entire day’s worth of calories, and it exceeds a healthy fat intake. All in one side dish. And you know what? I might have ordered it. I might have ordered that, had the menu not been required to disclose that information. Because never in my wildest imagination had I considered it would be that bad. (Incidentally, we ended up ordering one side of the lobster mac and cheese for the whole table, and we each ate one bite.)

That’s one example. Everywhere you look you can find others. Recently I discovered the truth about lemonade, and again, I was horrified. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ordered lemonade as a “healthy alternative” to soda. But recently I discovered that Minute Maid lemonade is nothing more than glorified  sugar water with a tad bit of lemon flavoring.

Photo Credit: http://www.nutritionnews.com/conditions/conditions-diabetes/sugar-shock-9-drinks-worse-than-a-candy-bar/

I was crushed…and really, really annoyed. That 20 ounce bottle that I have routinely thrown back without a second thought has almost as much sugar as three –THREE!- chocolate bars. OMG.

And salads. How many people go to a restaurant and order a salad, thinking it’s a healthy choice, when what they’d really like is a burger or steak? I’m pretty sure they’d be shocked to discover that many, many so-called healthy restaurant salads are nutrition landmines. Consider this:

Wendy’s BLT Cobb Salad with Croutons and Avocado Ranch Dressing

740 calories 
50 grams fat (15.5 grams saturated) 
2,140 milligrams sodium

       Calorie equivalent: 2 Wendy’s Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers (700 calories)

Quiznos’ Chicken Caesar Flatbread Salad (with bread)

920 calories 
66.5 grams fat (20.5 grams saturated, 0 grams trans fat) 
2,090 milligrams sodium

       Calorie equivalent: Three White Castle Bacon Cheeseburgers with 3-piece Chicken Rings (860 calories)

Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad

1,310 calories 
93 grams fat (15 grams saturated, 2.5 grams trans fats) 
1,470 milligrams sodium

       Calorie equivalent: Almost as much as a McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Medium Fries and Medium Coke (1,330           calories)

California Pizza Kitchen’s Waldorf Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

1,570 calories 
30 g saturated fat 
2,082 mg sodium 



       Calorie equivalent: Wendy’s 1/2-Pound Double with Cheese, Medium Fries and Medium Chocolate Frosty (1,570 calories)

T.G.I. Friday’s Santa Fe Chopped Salad

1,800 calories

      Calorie equivalent: Burger King Double Whopper, Medium Fries and Small Chocolate Shake (1,800 calories)

How sad is that? How horrible?

I could go on, and on, and on. And I probably should have put a disclaimer at the beginning, that this is more of a rant than a blog. But nutrition is something I’m incredibly passionate about. And I’m convinced that so many people are being misled, lulled or lured or outright tricked into consuming food that is doing significant damage to their bodies. Ignorance is not bliss. Its dangerous.

So yes, to the Food and Drug Administration,-and yes to Canada. And PLEASE to other states out there. Please give us more information. Please require nutrition information to be placed on menus.  Please make food labels easier to read, more informative, and more accurate—no one eats ½ cup of ice cream, and that can of chili is not going to feed four people. What we need are facts—real facts—so that we can make informed choices.  It’s not fat shaming. It’s not political, the government trying to take away personal liberties. It’s smart. And honest.

Couldn’t we all use a little (or a lot?) more of both?