Eat Out Eat Well

processed food

Free Food Is Hard To Resist (And A Caloric Nightmare)

By Leave a Comment

Morning meeting.  Right in front of you: platter loaded with bagels, danish, and doughnuts parked next to giant coffee urns.  A freebie breakfast and the beginning of a blood sugar roller coaster ride.

No worries if you miss the morning carb fest – if all the platters aren’t picked clean the remnants will surely end up in the snack room next to the birthday cake (it’s always somebody’s birthday) or the leftover cookies from someone’s party the night before.

Costco on the weekend.  There are at least three tables manned by people offering you samples of hot pizza, luscious cheesecake, or tooth-picked pigs ‘n blankets.   Just the right size to quickly and neatly pop into your mouth – especially when you circle back for seconds.

Errands. Stops at the cleaners, the tailors, the veterinarian, the hair salon.  On the desk or counter:  giant bowls piled high with freebie candy.  You can dig deep for the kind you like – Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, mini Snickers, Tootsie Roll pops.  You name it — it’s usually there for the taking.

Party or wedding.  How do you escape the platters of salami, cheese, mini quiches, and then the desserts covered with icing, whipped cream, and powdered sugar?

What’s The Problem With Free Food?

Not a thing if you don’t care about calories, nutrition, and how you’ll feel after an overload of sugar, fat, and salt.  Tons of “starving” students and young (and not so young) adults have chowed down on ample quantities of free food.  Here’s the question:  are full bellies with no impact on the wallet ultimately the best choice?

Occasional dips into free food are probably not going to hurt anyone in reasonable health.  But, on a consistent basis, there is certainly a downside to your health.  There could me a more immediate concern, too.  A whole bunch of non-nutritious (junk, processed, and high calorie) food eaten right before a time when intense concentration and focus is necessary (translation:  exams and presentations) could certainly have a negative impact.

Why Do We Find Free Food So Attractive?

Most of us find it pretty darn hard to ignore “free food,” the food that’s just there for the taking. It’s everywhere – and we’ve become accustomed to valuing cheap calories.  Think about it:  when was the last time you resisted the peanuts, pretzels, or popcorn sitting on the bar counter?  What about the breadbasket – that’s usually free, too.

We don’t have to eat any of this stuff.  But we do.  Why?  Some of us have trouble passing up a giveaway regardless of what it is.  Some see it as a way to save money – despite possible negative health consequences.  And a lot of us use “free” as an excuse or sanction to eat or overeat sweet, salty, fatty junk food.

And the calories?  Free doesn’t mean calorie free.  But it’s all too easy to forget about those calories you popped in your mouth as you snagged candy here and tasted a cookie there.  Yikes.  You could eat a day’s worth of calories cruising through a couple of markets and food stores.

Before The Freebies Land In Your Mouth

How about creating your own mental checklist that, with practice, can help you figure out whether or not it’s worth it to indulge.  Even f you decide to go for it and taste the salami, butter cookies, and cheese cake, at least you’ll have made a mindful decision rather than mindlessly shoving food in your mouth.

Ask yourself:  Is the food you’re so willing to pop in your mouth . . .

  • fresh and tasty, with some nutrition?  It might be if you’re at a wedding or an event, but the odds go down if it’s food handed out at the supermarket or grabbed out of a large bowl at the cleaners.
  • clean?  How many fingers have been in the bowl of peanuts or have grabbed pieces of cheese or cookies off of an open platter?
  • something you really want – or are you eating it just because it’s there?
  • loaded with fat, sugar, and salt that adds up to mega calories?  Every calorie counts whether it’s popped in your mouth and gone in the blink of an eye or savored more slowly and eaten with utensils off of a plate.

Choices, Choices

Just because food is free doesn’t mean you have to eat it. No one is forcing you.  Beware of the cascading effect:  if you let yourself sample the candy, pizza, cheesecake, popcorn, or cookies, perhaps you’re giving yourself permission to continue to overindulge in food you probably don’t want to/shouldn’t be eating.

Highly caloric, sugary, and fatty foods can act as the key to opening the flood gates that cause you to continue to indulge for the rest of the day (weekend/week). Loading up on simple sugars – the kind found in candy, cookies, cake, and many processed foods – causes your blood sugar level to spike and then to drop –leaving you hungry very quickly and pretty darn cranky — and isn’t great for your waistline, either.

Road Trip? Why Not Roadmap Your Miles And Your Meals?

By Leave a Comment

Planning a road trip?  You know that you’re going to have to stop for a snack or a meal along the way.  Do you leave your food choices to chance?

I drive a lot.  I have three long road trips coming up in the next month. I know that I’m going to stop for a snack or meal —  either because I need gas; I’m bored, stiff, and tired; I’m hungry – or any combination of the above; and, quite frankly, because I love rest stops and truck stops.

The lure of a rest stop can be hard to pass up when you’ve been sitting in the car for hours on end. You walk in and you’re assaulted by an array of vending machines, candy racks, fast food, donuts, coffee, and every bottled drink under the sun. You’re a captive consumer (there’s probably no other place around that you know of to stop other than the roadside rest stop, truck stop, or gas station) – and, you crave something to:

  • Keep you energized and awake
  • Ease the boredom
  • Reward you for endless hours of driving (especially of you have complaining or fighting kids with you)
  • Bring back memories of summer road trip food you had when you were a kid (as a parent I can admit that you often give in and buy all kinds of stuff for your kids because they’re driving you crazy)

The Trap And The Danger

An endless stream of high carb, high fat, high calorie, and processed food is just begging you to plunk down your money so you can immediately indulge (watch how many people start eating the food they’ve bought before they even pay) or to take with you (in case there’s a pending famine).

The real danger – aside from the damage to your waistline – is that the high carb processed foods spike then crash your blood sugar — which ends up making you really tired and cranky.  Drowsy drivers are most definitely not safe drivers.

Cranky drivers make life miserable for everyone in the car – not a great tone to set if you’re going on vacation.

Some Ideas

  • It may take away some of the road trip spontaneity, but when you pack up your car pack some food, too.  Fill a cooler with water, fruit, yogurt, sandwiches, whatever you think you will eat and that will keep you alert and energized (aim for some complex carbs and protein).  Why not throw in some portion sized bags of nuts and popcorn, too?  Planning ahead means you’re not at the mercy of the vending machines and racks and racks of candy, chips, and baked goods.
  • Use an app or your GPS to find nearby restaurants as you drive through various communities. A little searching can help you find places with healthier options than you might find at a rest stop. This can be really helpful for anyone with allergies or special dietary requirements.
  • If you haven’t done either of the above and just want to play it by ear – or pit stop – at least have your own mental list of some good, better, and best choices of food to buy.  The danger is that the candy, chips, fries, and donuts call your name the minute you walk in the door.  If you know that you’re going to head straight for the nuts, or popcorn, or even a burger, that’s great, as long as the giant chocolate chip cookie and the bargain 32 ounce soda for 99 cents doesn’t grab you first. Try to decide what you’re going to buy (hopefully, a good choice) before you go in – and then stick to your decision.

Enjoy your road trips.

Burgers (Yes) Or Hotdogs (No) on Your Grill?

By Leave a Comment

Burgers – Is That A Yes?

Sort of.  A study just published in the journal Circulation analyzed the effects of eating red unprocessed meat  (100g a day of unprocessed beef, pork, or lamb) compared to processed meat products (50g of meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting, or with added chemical preservatives such as sausages, bacon, and salami).

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public health analyzed data from studies that looked at red and processed meat consumption and possible links to heart disease and diabetes. The studies included over 1.2 million people who were followed from 4 to 18 years. The conclusion:  red unprocessed meat isn’t associated with an increased risk of diabetes or coronary heart disease.  Eating the equivalent of one hot dog or two slices of deli meat a day (50 g of processed meat) is associated with a 42% higher risk of coronary heart disease and a 19% increased risk of diabetes.

Suspected Demons:  Salt And Preservatives

We’re used to the US guidelines that recommend eating less red and unprocessed meat  — but these guidelines are based on the projected effects of the saturated fat and cholesterol in the meat.  Red meat and processed meat contain a similar amount of both of these, but processed meat has about four times the amount of sodium and 50% more preservatives (like nitrates) than unprocessed red meat.

Conclusion:  this study (a systematic review of nearly 1,600 studies from around the world that looked for links between processed and unprocessed red meat and the risk of heart disease and diabetes) suggests that salt and other preservatives might explain the higher risk associated with processed meat.

What Kind Of Meat Are They Talking About?

This study defined processed meat as any meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting, or with added chemical preservatives. This includes bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs, and processed deli and lunch meat.  The unprocessed red meat included beef, lamb, and pork, but not poultry. On average, a 1.8 oz (50 g) daily serving of processed meat (half the weight of the unprocessed meat in the study), the equivalent of one to two slices of deli meat or one hot dog, was associated with a 42% higher risk of heart disease and a 19% higher risk of diabetes and they found no higher heart or diabetes risk in people who ate only unprocessed red meat.

The average nutrients in unprocessed red and processed meats in the United States contain similar average amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol. But processed meats have, on average, four times more sodium and 50% more nitrate preservatives.

Is This A Greenlight To Chow Down On Red Meat?

Not really. Eating unprocessed beef, pork, or lamb appears not to increase the risk for heart disease and diabetes — but there is no reduced risk either. There’s also a suspected association between processed and unprocessed meats and a higher risk of some cancers (especially colorectal) so it will be important to evaluate unprocessed vs. processed meat and their effects on various cancers.

Although cause and effect can’t be proven by this long-term observational study, the results do suggest that the salt and preservatives in processed meat are culprits.

SocialDieter Tip:

You’ve heard this many times:  emphasize food that is protective:  fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and nuts. Minimize or avoid processed meats that are high in sodium, additives, and fat. This is not a free pass to eat red meat with abandon but it seems that having unprocessed red meat once or twice a week is a lot better than having processed meat — like bacon, hot dogs, processed ham, bologna, salami — every day.

As one of the lead authors, Renata Micha, of the study says, to lower your risk of heart attacks and diabetes think about the type of meat you’re eating and “processed meats such as bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs and processed deli meats may be the most important to avoid.”

A Slice Of Cheese . . . Or Is It?

By 2 Comments

It’s Orange-Yellow (Sometimes White) And It’s Square

It’s the stuff that grilled cheese – the diner kind and my childhood favorite – is made of.  It’s also the stuff the makes a hamburger a cheeseburger.  It melts but sort of stays in place without running all over the pan or the grill.  You can get it individually wrapped so it’s portable and, even though it gets soft, it can even sit in a lunchbox or on the car seat and still remain a square.

It’s also sold in blocks – think Velveeta, or in spray cans – think of Easy Cheese in summer camp and college dorms, but the way we see it most is as single slices, individually wrapped or slapped together in a plastic wrapped package of 16 or 32 and upwards.

Processed For Longevity

In 1911 Walter Gerber mixed hot shredded Emmentaler with sodium citrate and discovered a cooled product that took longer to spoil (and oozed potential profit).  James L. Kraft made a fortune selling cheese to the US government during the World War 1.

75% of the “cheese” sold in the US is now processed. Processed cheese goes for longevity:  it puts self-life before flavor. That’s just one of the technical advantages is has over “real,” unprocessed cheese.  It doesn’t separate when you cook with it, and it always tastes and looks the same. It’s cheaper to produce because it’s made from less expensive ingredients.

Heat It Up

Ever get gooey globs when you try to melt cheese?  Ever try to make cheese fondue and wonder how restaurants seem to get it nice and smooth (tip: mix the shredded cheese with some cornstarch).  Processed cheese makers use emulsifiers to produce cheese that melts smoothly when you cook with it. Prolonged heating causes unprocessed cheese to separate into a bunch of jelly-like protein and liquid fat.  Emulsifiers, most often sodium or potassium phosphate, tartrate, or citrate, reduce the tendency of the fat globules in the cheese to coalesce and pool on the surface of hot cheese.

So, because processed cheese doesn’t separate or run off when it’s melted, and it doesn’t change in texture or taste as you heat it – it has become the “go to” for grilled cheese, mac and cheese, nachos, and similar foods.

Why Can’t Those Singles Be Called Plain Old Cheese?

Because of processing and additives, some softer varieties can’t legally be labeled as “cheese” in the US (FDA regulated) so they’re sold as “cheese food”, “cheese spread,” or “cheese product,” based on the amount of cheese, moisture, and milkfat in them.

Processed cheese can be made from a single cheese or a blend of several cheeses along with milkfat, cream, water, salt, artificial color, and spices. Inexpensive milk protein concentrate makes the processed cheese a whole lot cheaper to produce – but begs the question:  is it really cheese?

Is It Really Cheese?

Take a good look the next time you’re in the supermarket: as a result of legislation some types of Kraft Singles became “Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product” instead of “Pasteurized Process Cheese Food,” Velveeta became “Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product” instead of “Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread,” and Easy Cheese is no longer “Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread” but is a “Pasteurized Cheese Snack.”

American cheese

The best known processed cheese in the US is the uniquely orange, yellow, or white, mild-flavored American cheese. It used to be made from a cheese blend, most often from Colby and Cheddar.  Today, American cheese isn’t generally made from a natural cheese blend, but from a manufactured bunch of ingredients such as milk, whey, milk fat, milk protein concentrate, whey protein concentrate, and salt. When substitutes like these are used, the end product doesn’t always meet the legal definition of cheese and has to be labeled differently.

The marketing of “American Cheese” for “processed cheese” coupled with the prevalence of processed cheese in the U.S. has led to the term American cheese being used in the U.S. (and elsewhere) in place of processed cheese.

Some Facts

  • Calories in 2% Milk American Singles (1 slice, 19g)

50 Calories, 3g fat (2g saturated), 1g carbs, 4g protein

  • Calories in Kraft American Singles (1 slice, 19g)

60 calories, 4.5g fat (2.5f saturated), 1g carbs, 3g protein

  • Calories in Free Singles American Nonfat Pasteurized Process Cheese Product (1 slice, 21g)

31 Calories, 0.2g fat (0.1g saturated), 2.5g carbs, 4.8g protein

SocialDieter Tip:

A “pasteurized prepared cheese product” is a long way from nature and nourishment.  Just a heads up:  We drink about 60% of the milk we did 50 years ago, but we eat almost four times more cheese, an increase from 7.5 pounds to almost 30 pounds a person a year.  The increase is probably from the cheese in pizza, processed food, nachos, convenience food, and packaged products – not from good quality cheeses. Each 1 ounce serving of cheese (or 31/2 ounce serving of beef) rmeans a 7 gram increase in saturated fat (the bad kind of fat that, the kind that’s solid at room temperature and directly related to cardiovascular risk factors). Go for reduced fat or 2% cheese when you can.  There are fat free cheese slices – okay for sandwiches but not good for heating up – it doesn’t really melt.