I had a fight with my boyfriend the other day because I went to the grocery store at 3:30 in the afternoon to buy something for dinner and didn’t come home until 6. With an incredulous look on his face, the first words out of his mouth when I got home with two hungry and cranky kids in tow, was “where have you BEEN?”
I have to admit, at that moment, I was kind of hoping for something more along the lines of “You look tired, can I give you a hand with the bags?” If I had been a cartoon character, steam would have been shooting out my ears.
“At the grocery store!” I snapped exasperated, and shot him a dirty look. “Where do you think?”
In his defense, the grocery store is 5 minutes away, and he always manages to get in and out of there in record time, even with kids. In my defense, I was a week into the program, cranky from sugar withdrawals, and was now navigating the grocery store with new eyes.
I could no longer just pick the cheapest pasta on the shelf. I had to read the ingredients of every single pasta, and sauce. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out if the margarine we use was actually healthy, and I actually left without bread, because after reading the labels of a half a dozen loaves I couldn’t decide.
I was craving a cookie, and remembered that I had once seen whole wheat Fig Newtons that were rumored to be trans-fat free, but after scouring the entire cookie aisle two or three times, I couldn’t find them. And it’s a good thing too – I’m betting they would have had sugar. But I also couldn’t find the agave nectar, the blueberry infused balsamic vinegar we used in the first class, and I wasn’t sure if brown rice syrup in mayonnaise was considered sugar - so I contemplated mayonnaise in a way I have never done before.
Every single item required me to read the ingredients. It was exhausting, and I by the time I doubled back to the cereal aisle, I was getting sloppy. I ended up getting a bran fiber cereal that despite appearing sufficiently unpleasant to be healthy, contained not only sugar but high fructose corn syrup as well (see my post on sugar!) .
Now I like to think I happen to know a thing or two about the deceptiveness of food marketing, and frankly, I thought I knew a lot about food. But I confess there were a few tricks the makers of packaging have up their sleeves that I wasn’t hip to.
Let’s start with the pictures on the box that are designed to trick you. In the case of the cereal, there are grains of wheat. The fiber content is displayed prominently. On boxes of wheat or multigrain pasta, the colors of green and brown make it appear healthier. Sometimes there is even a heart on the label indicating it’s heart healthy. Yet this doesn’t mean anything. Turn it over and it may contain enriched, wheat or semolina flour. Wheat and multigrain are deceptive words. 100% whole wheat/grain is what you’re looking for.
Then there are truly deceptive claims. For example, a product is allowed to be labeled “0% trans fat,” and actually contain a half a gram of trans fat per serving. The only way to know is by reading the ingredients on the back.
And of course there is the sugar free or fat free dilemma. If it has no fat, it probably has sugar – and if it has no sugar, depending on the food, it might have fat.
The bottom line is this – don’t believe what you read on the front of the package! Always read the back!! Easier said then done of course. Trust me.
Fortunately, this class anticipates dilemmas like mine, and part of it is a field trip to Heinen’s grocery store to walk you through aisle buy aisle and show you the do’s and don’ts of Lifestyle 180 shopping. The Plain Dealer has posted a little video tour much like the one we took, led by our very own nutritionist Kristen Kirkpatrick. If you’re interested in trying out this philosophy of eating, it’s a good way to get started. Also, Kristen and one of the Lifestyle 180 chefs, Jim Perko were recently on the Sound of Ideas talking about nutrition– and yours truly contributed a few words of wisdom of my own directly from Heinens!
Lest you think I am a walking advertisement for Heinen’s, I will tell you that my home grocery store is a Giant Eagle, and that Heinen’s was chosen (I presume) because they have partnered with the clinic, and posted all these little “GO” labels around the store on all the items that are healthy, meaning they contain:
Zero grams of trans fat
Less than 4 grams per serving of saturated fat for main dishes, and less than 2 grams for sides, soups and desserts
Less than 4 grams of added sugars or syrups for main dishes, and less than 2 grams for sides and soups
Only 100 percent whole grains
600 milligrams or less of sodium per serving for main dishes, and 480 milligrams or less in sides and desserts
This is enormously helpful, and could have potentially spared me an hour shopping, a headache, and an argument. Giant Eagle are you reading this?
But here’s one plus – If you are going to a Cleveland Indian’s game this season, there are apparently “GO” food items at Progressive Field too. Beer and hot dogs, I’m sorry to say are not on the list!