My husband went to the grocery to buy some processed food for the poor, beleaguered menfolks who are suffering under the yoke of a mom who shops at the health food store. He brought home, along with potato chips and bacon, some Hostess Artificially Flavored Mega-Muffins.
If you read the nutrition labels, which he does not, you will find that each is supposed to be two servings. How they expect an individually-wrapped muffin to be divided into two servings by people scarfing them down on their way to the bus stop is unclear, so I will give you the facts for a whole muffin. These muffins, whose main ingredients are white flour, sugar, and water, provide 10 grams of saturated fat, 42 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of fiber.
The latest government guidelines (nothing extreme here — these guys are still answerable to food-industry lobbyists) say the healthy limits are 11 grams of saturated fat and 20 grams of sugar per day, and you need 30 grams of fiber. So anyone trying to make those muffins “a part of a healthy diet” would be looking at brown rice and steamed broccoli for the rest of the day, and no sugar at all the following day. They also provide 6 grams of protein. A serving of salmon added to your brown rice and broccoli will use up that last gram of saturated fat in the allowance, and give you 12 grams of protein — but you actually need about 50 per day. Good luck.
While I believe in personal responsibility, I think that it is difficult for people to make healthy food choices when an innocent-looking banana nut muffin packs that kind of health punch. A person buying such a thing in a bakery, where there are no labels to read, might even be thinking it was a wise choice. And yet the numbers are just about the same as two servings of Ghirardelli chocolate — something few of us would serve our kids for breakfast.
Among the startling discoveries in Supersize Me! was the fact that it was very difficult to find the nutritional information for the food the experimenter ate. (In fact, McDonald’s has just agreed to settle a multi-million dollar suit about its failure to inform consumers.) It wasn’t difficult for me to find the info on the Megamuffins — it’s right there on the package, as required by law — but isn’t there something a little deceptive about claiming that an individually wrapped muffin consists of two servings? And when I checked the nutritional information on a typical banana nut muffin, I found that it can be expected to contain no saturated fat and 4 grams of fiber — what you get in one serving of whole-wheat flour. Does the consumer who knows that this is typical of such muffins bear full responsibility for buying those utterly unhealthy muffins? I’m not sure. Do you read labels before you buy? And if you are like my husband and sons and you don’t read them because you don’t care, then if you later have to care because you find you have high cholesterol or something, then is it all your fault?
My own shopping was scuppered by my inability to find either freezer paper or cobalt blue rug yarn. So, having completed my Fair Isle swatch socks, and knowing that I will need a mindless knitting project for the week to come, I went ahead and began another pair of socks. I’ve just made a couple of pairs of low, slouchy socks. Then I saw on this knitting blog: http://knittingincolor.blogspot.com/ a couple of pairs that had been made with long, tight ribbing. Frankly, they end up a bit funny-looking. Well-knitted, and lovely colors, but they have a long, skinny cuff and then a normal foot. So of course I wanted to try it out. I don’t defend this reaction, I just report it. #2 son and I once made a Coca-Cola Cake just because the recipe was so weird.
So I have begun a ribbed sock on #3 needles. I haven’t committed myself yet, of course. I can always veer off and do a stockinette section with more Fair Isle (there are LOTS of patterns in that new book of mine) or morph some of those ribs into a Viking knot. I mustn’t get too carried away, though, or it won’t be mindless knitting any more.
So, what was the result of my scientific study of churches, designed to give me a new church (or a renewed commitment to my own church) by this Sunday? Well, I have decided to hang out with the Methodists for Lent and Easter. By then I should know whether my Presbyterianism will keep me from being a useful visitor at that church or not. At the same time, the choir director at the church where I am an elder is bedridden with back pain, and so I am going to sing a solo at the early service today, before going to the Methodist service. In between, I will take him soup and muffins — no saturated fat and lots of fiber, of course.
Here’s what I’m singing, with a midi file: http://www.sfcentral.org/ministries/music/gracenotes/gn363.htm
Can I slip out after the anthem and skip the sermon, leaving the organist to do all the service music? Will the congregation get sick of hearing me sing solos every week? I met Egypt at Hobby Lobby yesterday and she said firmly that there was no way she would get up early enough for that service, a sentiment which I think is shared by the rest of the choir. Will I be a rat leaving a sinking ship if I quit going to two church services every week, and leave the early service with no singers? Does a service that can’t provide any singers for itself deserve to have some imported from the 11:00 choir? Can I at least take my knitting?
I say take your knitting with you to the church. I’m just glad I don’t have to make that decision. Good luck. Your right about the darn muffins. P has diabetes and I thought getting these bran muffins at our local grocers bakery would be great. They came 24 to a flat and made right there. I could freeze them. Fiber is something they say he should be getting more of. Probably something we all could be getting more of. So P was reading the label and they are loaded with sugar and fat. I was surprised because I automatically assumed fiber and healthy go together, right. Well, I learned my lesson to read the labels. Sometimes its more info than you want to know when it comes to something you’ve been eating for a while that you really like. It’s like either eat it and don’t read the label or read it and continue to put the artery clogging laden food into your mouth even though it taste so good going down. LOL. So reluctantly I’ve had to make some changes. I’ve found I had to figure out what I can eat that is healthy, find out where I can get it during my mad dash at lunch time. It’s really dangerous when your in a hurry in 7-ll and you need something quick. Well, the majority of items are high in fat, sugar, and salt. So I’m glad they are carrying more things like yogurt and bananas. I’d say it is just about as challenging to eat healthy as it is to recycle sometimes. : )
I don’t buy muffins (and if I did I’d buy them at Whole Foods, where nothing in the store has trans-fat) my favorite recipe, at the moment, is from Nava Atlas’s book “The Vegetarian Family”…I do the vegan variation(s) and my family loves them. I am a label reader and I’m a natural foods store shopper…Whole Foods is heaven to me. But…I’m also a vegetarian with vegan (dietary) leanings. My family is not vegetarian, but they do eat much healthier than most. I enjoyed the movie “Supersize Me”, but I didn’t necessarily learn a lot from it.
I, at the moment, am knitting a shopping bag from Oat Couture natural knitting (www.oatcouture.com). My mom has been looking for a bag pattern and I came across this one and thought I’d give it a try to see how easy it is….looking at the pattern, I don’t think that it’s mindless, but it does seem simple and quick!
I read the labels and then go ahead and buy what I want anyway – but at least I know what all the bad things are in what I’m eating.
Church twice a Sunday? – and here I don’t even go once. I will however claim that whenever the eldest of my cousins comes down, should I be lucky enough to see her – perhaps some church dust (like fairy dust but not so pagan :-))may rub off on me a little – she has recently been ordained as an anglican priest and she officicated at her first wedding a few weeks ago.
Thanks for the story compliment – it is quite fun writing them – all my writing for the last 10 years has been study related so it is nice to try for a change in style. Also I get to pick and choose what to write about – remove the good bits from not so good bits (anything to do with school!). No way I’d want to go back ‘though , I prefer being a grownup (Or at least pretend grownup) to being a kid anyday.
I am now off to read Sept’s entry on globalisation – and no it’s not cheating – ‘See Fibermom 2004’ is an appropriately academic way of doing things – just make sure you use the appropriate referencing format 🙂
Yes chocolate sounds good. I got some new yarn for Valentine’s Day. I am actually making an afghan, and plan on finishing it. If I could figure out how to put pictures in my text I would show you but I can’t. My little brother helped me set this up but without his help I am not very computer savy.
We have a digital camera and I can get the pictures on the computer I just can’t seem to move them into Xanga. I tried but it definately isn’t drop and drag or whatever they call the easy version.
Nice essay on globalism by the way – I never thought about it from a historical perspective. I tend to associate globalism with out-sourcing and that sort of thing. It hits a raw nerve with NZers whose national livelihood relied on trading partners taking our meat, wool, and in older days, our manufactured woollen goods. Now about all we have to offer is tourism – although our film industry had become somewhat well known now 🙂 (Downside – there are those who probably think that all NZers are 3 foot tall, smoke pipes, live in holes in the ground, and grow hair between (among?) their toes. Still, I guess that’s a mite better than thinking that NZ lies on the other side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge – Aussies, get thee behind me!)
😉 I think the reason that I didn’t learn a lot from “Supersize Me” is that I’ve been reading extensively about nutrition, especially how stuff is advertised to kids and such (and a dear friend of mine who teaches science at our middle school reads up on such topics too) and when we dropped cable tv several years ago it really hit home how much advertising was affecting my kids. My kids don’t get to eat McD’s. When Bennett had his tonsils out my sister in law took Katherine to McD’s for icecream and to play on the playground. Katherine now associates McD’s (she can’t remember the name so she calls it “Don’s”) with having icecream. But I really found the movie interesting, I would never ever be brave enough to eat fast food every day….yuck!!!
I’m a pretty indiscriminate eater myself. So long as I get those recommended food groups in in one day, I don’t care what’s on the label, I guess. Keep it copasetic. Peace.