Small Steps to Health

Whole Grain White Bread Labeling Confusion

December 1st, 2008 by asithi · 11 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, food marketing, supermarket

Photo by: Lali Masriera.

My husband often falls for healthy sounding labels such as “multi-grain,” “7 gains,” “100% wheat,” and “cracked wheat” when he shops for bread. When the bread is on sale and has a healthy label, it makes it into the shopping cart.

I have no problem with people making the conscious choice to feed their families white bread. I just have a problem with food companies overselling their white bread as “whole grain” bread.

American Heart Association Endorsement Not to be Trusted!

October 29th, 2008 by asithi · 9 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, food marketing, health, supermarket

Photo by: laffy4k.

Health endorsements from the American Heart Association are slapped on the packaging of many sugary food products hoping convince us into thinking their packaged sugary food products are good for our families. This post discuss how the American Heart Association endorsement on packaged food products is not to be trusted.

Yogurt a Health Food? Do You have Dental Insurance?

September 29th, 2008 by asithi · 5 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, food marketing, healthy eating, supermarket

Yogurt is the cash cow of the dairy industry. Add some fruit, you have one product. Add some thickeners, you have another product. My problem with yogurt is the sugar, not the health claim

Sugar is approximately 55% of the 80 calories in Go-GURT. With approximately 5 grams of sugar, my co-worker is slurping a little over 1 teaspoon of sugar in 1 minute!…………….

Wax on, Wax off - Wax on Fruits and Vegetables

September 16th, 2008 by asithi · 8 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, healthy eating, supermarket

Photo by: Elena Norbiato.

I often been suspicious of wax on fruits and vegetables. How safe is it and how much of this wax is going directly to my hips? This post is about the safety of wax on fruits and vegetables.

Why is there wax on fruits and vegetables?
Wax retains water in fruits and vegetables in the same way that moisturizers do to the skin. Wax on fruits and vegetables protects against bruising, mold growth, and extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. Apples, green peppers, cucumbers, and others have natural waxes already, but get washed off during processing. Supermarkets like waxes because the high shine…….

Fresh Produce, Food Miles, and Country of Origin Labeling

September 9th, 2008 by asithi · 7 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, food marketing, healthy eating, supermarket

Photo by Natalie Maynor

Even during ancient times, food spoilage during transport for trading is a big issue. Trading food required some method to prevent spoiling. In those days, food is often salted, dried, or sugared (jams and jellies). When the food is not spoiled, it is considered “fresh.”

Fast forward today and our standard for “freshness” is much higher. 50-60 years ago, the produce sections of supermarkets were limited in variety to whatever was in season, grown locally, or brought in from places no more than a few days away. But refrigeration in trains, trucks, and airplanes forever changed our definition of “fresh produce.”

Read more at the blog……..

Supermarket Tricks, Slotting Fees, and Our Wallets

September 3rd, 2008 by asithi · 7 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, healthy eating, supermarket

Photo by rudlavibizon.

Though we might think that we have the freedom of choice when we shop at a supermarket, massive efforts have gone into making it more convenient and desirable for us to choose some products over others.

This post will discuss some typical behind the scenes supermarket tricks designed to expose us to a large number of high profit margin products, how shelf space (prime “real estate”) are brought and sold with slotting fees paid by food companies, and how these practices impact our health and our wallets.

There are approximately 320,000 edible products for sale in this country. Large supermarkets might display as many as 40,000 of these edible products. The corporations that own large supermarkets want us to do as much searching as we can tolerate in order to expose us to the largest possible number of items because products seen most sell best. They figured out how to get us to walk up and down those aisles for as long as possible, but not so long that we leave in frustration………

Everyone Wants You to be Fat!

August 28th, 2008 by asithi · 10 Comments

Tagged Healthy Eating, Weight, food marketing, healthy eating, supermarket

Photo by Simon Shek.

It is very hard not to overeat in America.  Just about everything is set up to encourage us to overeat.  What industry or professional organization might benefit if you are healthy and eat nutritiously?  None.

After exports we still have 3,900 calories available for each person per day. This post discuss the options available to the food industry and how they get us to eat more.