May 15, 2012, 8:43 am
updated May 15, 2012, 10:03 am

SERVING up a SMILE 5/15/12: Ingredients or “Food”? Take the Quiz to Find Out!

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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE! Take this quick quiz to see how much you know about reading labels!.



In the photo above, which packaged food item is better? Read on for answer


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There’s no shortage of people out there telling you that they have the trick that can get you into the body you want. There’s even less of a shortage of products that provide the allure of better you on the horizon. There’s books that in the title alone prompt us to eat THIS instead of something reportedly less desirable, such as THAT (plot spoiler: its ALL questionable). There are programs, meal plans, and all sorts of plug-and-play options that make us believe we will be healthier and better by merely saying “I do.”

Then there’s the matter of time. While we are practicing our independence and gaining back OUR time (you know, by watching television), we are effectively reminded in nearly every ad for everything that we have no time. No time to cook, no time to clean and no time for exercise. What’s interesting about this is that we shell out more money for others to do things for us than ever before. We once built our own homes, raised our own livestock, grew our own produce and even made our own clothes—all of these things are now done for us.

It’s not been all that long ago that bread was something that was made in the home, and every day, if one wanted to provide “convenience foods” for their family. A loaf of bread comes baked, bagged, and emitting a slight radioactive hue that keeps it “fresh” on the counter for ages. Fresh, of course, being a word to be used lightly because it barely resembles bread at all, much less having any actual freshness to it. Thank goodness we discovered penicillin in bread mold before we began preserving our food to ensure that it may live forever, mold and flavor-free, on a grocer’s shelf.

And because our bread lives on, we have little need to run to the store, right? We can shop in quantity and store “food” in the freezer, on the counter and even in the pantry for months. Oh I am not saying what’s there isn’t edible or even digestible but from here on out, I think we all need to make air quotes when we are discussing virtually anything in a box that lasts forever that isn’t a nut, a bean or dried grain. Think about it. “Food,” that is.

Quick! Look in your pantry. Does the majority of the stuff inside of it qualify as ingredients or “food”. If it’s ingredients, great! If it’s not, ask yourself how much time you’ve really saved by all of these convenience “foods”.

Now that you've evaluated your own supplies, your next assignment is to go to the grocery store on an observation mission. Health experts are always telling us to shop the outer loop of the store. If this is what we are to do, then why is majority of shelf real estate filled with “food” that we are supposed to eat in moderation? If we are supposed to put a little effort into the maintenance of our bodies and health, why is it the messages everywhere are that we need to find more conveniences to reduce our effort and increase our leisure time?

The answer is simple, and that is that we are being sold on the ideal life, as opposed to living it. Somehow, by lining those grocery shelves, we are made to believe that in saving time, we will find more to do all of the things we intend to do—to exercise, to eat better and to enjoy the heck out of life. All that from a box of “food,” that, if we take time to eat its contents really slowly, probably doesn’t even taste that great. But that’s for another discussion.

When you are in the grocery store, do you ever look in the carts of fellow shoppers? Many of the carts are being pushed about the aisles by serial dieters, people who think that the convenience of a high fiber but mostly chemical cereal bar will help them get the body they want. Serial dieters have come to believe that anything with the word skinny on the packaging MUST be good—because food manufacturers never lie (just ask the Kashi folks, who’s president defended the brand’s use of GMOs last week by arguing that it isn’t his fault that the FDA doesn’t regulate the word natural).

Are these shoppers bad people? Of course not. They are not uneducated people either. These people are you and me—average Americans—that are doing what they’ve been trained to do to lose weight.

I struggled for more than a decade of my life, all the while getting fatter and less healthy, buying all the products I thought would help me find weight loss success. I was buying into the dream of the body I wanted. And in doing so, I also bought into the guilt of feeling badly about my desires to eat foods that weren’t always the best options. The more cardboard diet food I ate, the more high fat, low nutrient foods I craved. The cycle went on and on and on and the boxes on those inner aisles of the store had me just where they wanted me: unhealthy, fat, and motivated to try the next best thing to fix me. It was a body rental, of sorts, as I imagined in my mind the body I wanted while I ate the food they wanted me to.

It isn’t about money, either, or whether you have a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods in driving distance, as most of the “food” in their shelves is still packaged and prepared also. In fact, all of the packaged food that reportedly saves us time actually adds to our bottom line at the checkout stand. It’s a tangled web, further indebting us to “convenience” and further instilling what we’ve been told our shortcomings are—money, resources, energy and time.

Now I know plenty of boxes claim to be the answer to these limitations but, then again, these boxes also claim to contain food.

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Remember our quiz at the top?

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Food item A. is a meal replacement bar from a “diet” program that is reportedly Mediterranean in nature. As Mediterranean as soy protein isolate, ogliofructose and artificial color can be, I suppose.

Food item B. is the label off of a bag of dog treats. I am not joking. Ever wonder why the vet asks if we allow our dogs to eat "people food?" People "food" isn't only bad for dogs. If we go by the list of ingredients above, it seems we feed our pets better than we feed our children.

There is, of course, a third option, food item C.

Item C. is real food. Real food consists of ingredients, that we toss together, in our homes to feed ourselves and the people we love.

Contrary to what advertisers will have us believe, it does not take longer to cook real oatmeal on the stove, stir in peanut butter and some banana slices (or maple syrup and raisins and walnuts) than it does to sit in the drive through waiting for McDonalds to prepare it for you. And made at home, it has more food in it and less “food.” Check out the ingredients label on McDonald’s oatmeal sometime just for kicks!

Real food can be a salad in a jar or a fancy potato boat or an unadulterated apple for goodness sake. A banana or a handful of nuts is the better choice every time over a meal replacement bar that is supposed to magically bring us to balance with enhancements, preservatives and even fish gelatin (really).

I don’t care what those labels say, those boxes of food will never make you skinny or pretty or rich. Never. More importantly, they will never make you healthy and strong.

For the love of all that’s good, for the love of your body, and for the sake of being truly well, become more ingredient minded and less “food” tolerant. Don’t wait for something bad to happen to make change. Eat real food now and love the body you are in instead of the one you dream about. I believe in you and I know you believe in the power within also--otherwise you wouldn't be here. You can be well.

Love the foods that love you back.~

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