Jan 14 2008
YogHurt
You ever try plain, low-fat yogurt? I don’t mean vanilla. I mean plain. No sweeteners or flavors added.
It’s brutal.
It’s hard to eat healthy foods. Not just because of the taste or the cost, although those always are considerations. Part of the reason is that once I’ve decided to plunk down the extra cash for an ostensibly healthier item, I just don’t know whom to trust on each side of the various debates. One study shows that a substance in our foods is harmful, and another shows it’s perfectly fine.
Specifically, today I’m talking about sweeteners. Beyond my habit of sweetening anything I drink except plain water or (lactose-free) milk, this concerns me because we want to do what’s right for our four-year-old son.
The Internet is great at putting information at our fingertips, but terrible at helping us determine its credibility. We as consumers want more control over what we eat, but the dizzying array of studies and their debunkers leave us at the same point we were before all this information was readily available: confused and wanting a bias-free authority to tell us what will and won’t harm us. We certainly can’t count on our government for this, because lobbyists are more powerful than ever.
My big brain doesn’t tell me how to judge the big words on product labels. Should I allow any high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the products my family and I consume? Is moderation the key, just like my parents told me about everything else? It’s hard to know when there are quacks on both sides of the fence. Likewise, opposing opinions in the artificial sweeteners debate can seem valid and ridiculous in the same breath.
My gut tells me that if I am going to eat something sweetened, a naturally occurring substance like sugar must be better for me than manipulated natural substances like HFCS and sucralose (a.k.a., Splenda), or completely man made chemicals like aspartame.
We like Ben to eat yogurt as a sweet treat. It’s certainly better than throwing Little Debbies at him, which some past-life neighbors did to their kids with reckless abandon. Concerned about the amount of sugar in a serving (as much as in a can of soda), we thought we were doing great when we “discovered” two brands costing less than some, a little more than others, and in a plethora of flavors. Both are sweetened with Splenda — touted as “derived from sugar,” instead of a pharmaceutical chemical accidentally discovered to be sweet. *Cough* *Cough* aspartame *cough* *cough* (while working to develop an ulcer-fighting drug, a Searle researcher got some on his finger, instinctively licked it off, and “discovered” NutraSweet — yeah, I want that in my food).
It was great. After asking permission, Ben could open the refrigerator, slide out the crisper drawer, and grab whatever flavor struck his fancy at that moment. And we weren’t loading him up with sugar. Win-win!
Then, after reading a few studies, I balked at the idea of feeding him large doses of a chemical, derived from real sugar or not. I found myself back at square one. Damn Al Gore’s Internet.
On a recent trip to the grocery store (my wife Shannon often rolls her eyes at the things I bring home), I found a brand of yogurt sweetened with neither HFCS nor artificial sweeteners. No preservatives, either. Bonus! Sold in a smaller cup than those we had been buying, it still would provide Ben a sweet snack, yet without overloading him on sugar quite as badly.
Because the amount of sugar still was half of what’s in a soda, I also grabbed a large tub of plain, low-fat yogurt. With no sweeteners added, it gave me control of flavoring my son’s favorite snack. Plus, it came in a large container instead of several small ones, thereby reducing our trash and recycling output.
The all-natural yogurts turned out to be sweeter than they needed to be, which is common with pre-sweetened products. I was ready to try my hand at (nearly) homemade.
Ben’s only brush with the plain yogurt thus far has been my impromptu banana smoothie. Ingredients: aforementioned plain low-fat yogurt, fresh bananas. I combined the two and the blender easily rendered them into a concoction runny enough to drink.
Although it didn’t taste particularly good, it fell enough short of gross that we each finished a full glass. Ben hasn’t requested it again, and he has a great memory, so I can only assume it didn’t make much of an impression. If I put enough banana in there to make it taste good, we’d break our fruit budget.
Next time (Monday morning, in fact) I glopped out a single serving of the plain goop and crumbled into it a granola bar (with no artificial anything — another experiment). That went something like this: Chew, chew, “Oh this plain yogurt is disgusting.” Chew, chew, “Oh, this piece of healthy granola bar is average,” and repeat. I was glad to eat a banana on my way to work as a chaser.
I’m still determined to make the plain yogurt work. I haven’t tried honey yet, but if it could make me look forward to a morning milkshake of milk, raw eggs, and a drop of vanilla back when I was in high school, then surely it has a shot with yogurt. That milkshake must have done something right, because at age 37 I often pass for 35.
I won’t go into detail here in the argument for and against the sweeteners mentioned above. For more fun than you could ever imagine on the topic of HFCS and artificial sweeteners, see these links:
From the San Francisco Chronicle (leans toward “HFCS is evil,” but also says it isn’t clear-cut):
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDGS24VKMH1.DTL
From the website of the Corn Refiners Association (a column that appeared in the Washington Times, written by the medical director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program):
http://www.hfcsfacts.com/CarbsCaloriesChaos.html
From a Doctor who says she was almost killed by aspartame, and of course has used that experience as leverage into profitsville with her very own Aspartame Detox Program (she hates Splenda, too, but loves her some good ol’ saccharin):
http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html
Welby…I always knew there was more under the surface that you didn’t want to expose me to regarding food choices. Probably for fear that I would poke fun…understandably.
Meanwhile, I’m probably 35 lbs heavier than you (20 of it overweight), have artificial sweeteners coursing through my blood vessels and tissues, and I don’t have a leg to stand on.
One of my first clues with regard to your “nutriphobia” was when you whipped out a box of cereal at breakfast, and you actually had a measuring cup in there so that you could know within calories and mg’s of various ingredients, precisely what you were ingesting.
But dude…don’t you remember us eating entire boxes of Frankenberries at one sitting? Velveeta and Rotel cheese dip until we ran out of chips…at least once a week? Surely some of those toxins are still in some recess in our livers right? I mean when you pick up a box of Cookie Crisp and look at the nutritional contents, it just says “N/A….move on.”
Now that you mention it, I think I will take a stride toward a more healthy diet. The next time I think about having a nice Newcastle or Amber Bock, I’ll have a Miller Lite instead. I’ll even go you one further….I’ll switch from Crown Royal, to Crown Royal Special Reserve….less impurities. I feel healthier already. :-)
Ah, yes, my brother, but it’s possible our Frankenberry didn’t have any HFCS. “HFCS was rapidly introduced in many processed foods and soft drinks in the US over the period of about 1975–1985,” according to Wikipedia.
Also, I would venture that we were much more physically active than the average child today (or even the average child back then).
I’ll bet that the scare about trans fats (hydrogenated oils) probably began with a few people perceived as freaks.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m still a freak, but, you know, just sayin’.
I think some would argue nothing is worth switching to Lite beer, but would love the problem of choosing between Crown Royal and Crown Royal Special Reserve.
In regards to the whiskey, you’re probably paying more for the words “Special Reserve” than for any noticeable improvement to taste. Just sayin’, is all.
My favourite yogurty snack (or meal) is plain yogurt mixed with your aforementioned granola, some diced apple (I like Granny Smith), and a healthy smattering of dark chocolate chips. Yum!
And seriously: a measuring cup in your cereal?? Freak.
When it comes to sweeteners in general, I’ll always pick the brown raw sugar over anything else. But, that said, I don’t look real close at food labels either.
When I diet (which is often and ineffectively, perhaps because it’s insincerely), I try to avoid processed grains and any kind of sweetener. Try walking through the supermarket or looking at a restaurant menu and finding something *not* sweetened with HFCS, particularly if the product is aimed at the taste buds of a 4-year old. My mother used to call sweets of any kind “empty calories.” Your director of the GW Weight Management Program says there’s no difference chemically between sugar and HFCS. Probably true. Sweets used to be treats. Now you can’t get away from them. I believe the difference which has affected the quantities that we consume is the marketing. Thank you, ADM. Just sayin’.
We’re label watchers as well. Just started reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” about just such concerns. But, man, even I don’t keep a measuring cup in the cereal.
We try to avoid the HFCS as much as possible, stick with straight sugar and buy organic as much as we can afford. But straight yogurt is a tough pill to swallow. I’d suggest stewing a few strawberries in a small amount of sugar over night. It doesn’t take much. Then mix that with the yogurt. Norah will eat that all day if we let her. Bananas just aren’t sweet enough by themselves to cut the yogurt taste.
And Charles, seriously…what little gain you get from the lite beer, it just ain’t worth it, man.
If you take plain, unsweetened yougart and mix it with a little ranch dressing, it will take on the taste of the ranch and you don’t need nearly as much of the fatty dressing. Also. you can use plain, unsweetened yougart as a substiture for sour cream. Try it - it works… it least it does for me.
Well Mark, I do have a measuring cup in my cereal so let them laugh. And I do believe that fruit mixed in with yogurt and granole is one of the best breakfasts discovered. I am the one who introduced Simon to it. If you remember to do it before bedtime, mix the granola and some frozen mixed fruit into a bowl with the yogurt and leave it in the fridge, All of the flavors mix together and the granola softens. YUM!!!
I think that if it didn’t grow from the ground or off a tree, don’t eat it. However I have to imagine that meat is a vegetable for me to eat that. I love meat but I can’t bring myself to believe it was once a grazing animal. Denial, I love it!!!
I believe all of it is bunk.
Item 1. When we were kids (as Charles said to you) we ate nothing but sugar. The candy store was right on our corner. We had fireballs, squirrel nuts, Hershey bars, Pixie Stix, Lik-M-Aid..etc. We WERE however, very active back then. My parents didn’t bring me 3 blocks to go somewhere like some kids do now.
Item 2. The Aspertame thing tends to go in cycles. First it’s deadly, next it’s not. Kinda like Coffee, Alcohol, and just about everything you’ve ever heard of that you enjoy.
Personally, I do enjoy Splenda. BUT..I have one packet every couple of weeks, not 10 packets a day.
I would rather have “Sugar in the Raw”, for the flavor. Again though, I don’t use sugar much.
I’m trying to eat better now.. lets hope it continues.
I’m glad everybody got in their shot about the measuring cup in the cereal. I eat a little more than one serving, but that’s all I eat until lunch, so I figure I’m okay.
Amy, kindred spirits are we! I wonder, though, as a Canadian, what measurement units do you use?
Thanks to everyone, too, for the ideas. I might just try a few.
My absolute favorite breakfast for a few years was Grape-nuts in my yogurt, but then I figured out that the Grape-nuts gave me severe gas. I think I’ve mentioned that here before, but it’s always humiliating to mention it again.
It is easy to find food products containing HFCS, and where you might not expect it.
Dave - There have been some classic flip-flops on what’s safe, I agree. I think that aspartame and other substances probably go unnoticed in most people but there’s enough evidence for me to believe it is harmful to quite a few. It sounds like you and I agree that the rise in child obesity rates is more likely from inactivity than some evil ingredient, but families also eat out a lot more than they used to and buy more prepared foods than before. We ate lots of sugar, too (but don’t tell Dad). Lik-m-aid was a personal favorite. And then we rode our bicycles the mile back to our house. Okay, sometimes it was our motorcycles or our three-wheeler, but that’s still active compared to sitting inside playing NintendoDS (or whatever’s the hot portable game these days).
Sugar in the Raw adds great flavor to coffee and tea. Glad to hear you like it, too.
Hey Mark…
I am having this struggle here at my home. Wanting to make better choices for myself, my husband and my kids. The part that is the hardest is on my grocery budget each month. Trying to find healthier alternatives whether organic or not just seems to be a daily battle.
I will keep trying!
:)
By the way, do you need an address for the signed straw?
I measure in cups. Actual 250ml cups. I think the only metric we use as Canadians- Most Canadians is kilometers. Everything else still remains standard. Even inches I use inches before centimeters. No one can lie to me, I know exactly what 6 inches looks like.
Man, I was thinking this topic was pretty boring (sorry, honey) ’til Amy came along talking about measurements! Talk about spicing things up - I mean, this topic was about food, right? Get it? “Spicing” things up? Sorry - bad pun (I get that from my hubby - you all know it’s true!).
P.S. I know what MORE than 6″ looks like (hope Pops isn’t still reading this thread!).
Anna - The budgetary consideration is not lost on me, for sure! I only buy a few things labeled “organic.” I might buy carrots that contain only carrots, but I guess I can’t guarantee they weren’t treated with some kind of evil pesticide or herbicide. Oh well. We all do what we can.
I am still taking your requests for a straw as a joke, but one more question like that and you’ll find yourself the proud owner of a signed straw. Where’s my signed coaster?
Amy — Well, um, actually, milliliters would be metric. But that’s okay. We’ll just take our fluid ounces and go on about our business.
As far as your inches comment? I’m just going to let my wife’s words speak to that.
Ah, you were speaking about childhood obesity… well that’s a completely different story.
I’ll email my thoughts on that to you.
Thanks for the compliment, Shan. ;)
Must I explain. 250 ml is one cup is 8 oz. I have a measuring cup one cup/ 250ml/8oz in my cereal. It has all three measurements on it. However, one cup is one serving not 250ml is one serving. So, I also cook in fahrenheit not celsius. I do prefer feet over yards and kilometers over miles. And the weather since you are curious is celsius. I am very versitile. Sort of.
OH! and I don’t know what you were talking about but if I were going to by a 6 inch length of fabric at the fabric store, they wouldn’t be able to sell me 6 centimeters for the same price… What did YOU mean Shan :oP