The Cleverness of Food Industry Marketing - Now Showing! Check Your Local Grocery Store for Show Times.

A recent trip to the local grocery store revealed the cleverness of food-industry marketing. From strange names for sugar to questionable claims on salt, I saw many processed and packaged foods disguised as healthy.

Most food-industry marketers know that we want to cut calories, fat, sugar, and sodium. This leads to the food-industry producing reduced versions of highly processed foods that have been stripped of vital nutrients, micro-nutrients, and nutrients we have yet to discover. Not to mention fiber that helps us to digest the foods that we eat.

For instance, an actual piece of fruit is full of nutrition. Packed with fiber, vitamins and natural antioxidants, fruit can help fight the cellular damage that leads to heart disease and cancer. However, once the fruit is processed, stripped of fiber, and the vitamin C has been cooked out of it, the nutritional value is null, void, nada.

Reduced or low sodium food products are another area where the food-industry tricks us into buying highly processed foods. Eating whole foods with 700 milligrams of sodium is much better than eating processed foods with the same amount of sodium. Whole foods contain complex carbohydrates, protein, fats, fiber and other critical nutrients to help lessen the effects of sodium.

A close friend once told me that there is no such thing as FREE in life. He said, "if I don't expect a lot for a little or something for nothing, I can never be misled." If the food industry removes or adds something to make natural foods more marketable and stay longer on the shelf, then the price we may ultimately pay is our health.

I have personally chosen not to expect a lot for a little from the food-industry cronies. I hope you will too.
 

Walmart Introduces "Great for You" Brand

What's for dinner? Walmart plans to feature some of its house-brands with a green "Great for you" label this Spring. This is a campaign to offer healthier food options and fight childhood obesity. While the label will not provide any nutritional information, it will be affixed to in-house brands with lower fat, sugar, and artificial additives. About 20-25% of the Walmart house brands will meet the criteria. Walmart believes that it shouldn't cost you more to eat healthier.

The criterion is outlined at www.WalmartGreatForYou.com, and it focuses on all-natural food, including fruits, vegetables, whole-grain pastas, and low-fat dairy products. Foods that have too much fat, or too many artificial ingredients won't make the cut.

I commend Walmart for taking action to help everyone afford to eat healthier. As our nation's largest grocery retailer, this is a giant step for all Americans to live a healthier style. We will do our part to educate consumers of the benefits of eating healthier through monthly webinars, articles written by health and nutrition experts, and a network of restaurants, farmers, and organizations that promote wellness.

I know that the views vary greatly from person to person in regard to Walmart. This is why I would like to focus on the good things that anyone does to further the movement to eating healthier in America. We can't wait for the government, lobbyist, food manufacturers, and others to do the right thing for our health. The journey of a million miles starts with the first step. Great first step Walmart!

Events Promote Healthy Food Choices

BY SUSAN SHERRILL

Whole Foods Market and Rip Esselstyn, author of “The Engine 2 Diet”, will host a screening of the food documentary, “Forks Over Knives” at the Ridgewood Public Library. 125 N. Maple Ave., on Monday, Feb. 13.  The film examines the claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that affect us can be controlled, or even reversed, by avoiding animal-based and processed foods – in other words, adopting a vegan diet. The evening begins with a reception from 6:30 to 7 p.m.; followed by the hour-long film and a question-and-answer session with Esselstyn.

On Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Esselstyn will host a Heart Health Workshop at the Whole Foods in the Bergen Town Center, Paramus. He will sign copies of his book and share tips on healthy eating, losing weight and decreasing your cholesterol.

Both events are free; for more information visit wholefoods.com.


Rip Esselstyn

Minimum Controllable Calories

When I was in flight school, we often practiced a maneuver to control the airspeed by pitching the airplane up to decrease speed and down to increase speed. The engine power was used to maintain altitude. This took some getting used to because I always associated power with speed.

Oddly, this maneuver has given me an idea for controlling calories. Instead of eating low calorie foods, let's control our calories by decreasing the portion size to reduce calories and increase the portion size to increase calories with real food.

All calories are not created equal. It’s very important to consume only as many calories as is needed for your body and physical activity. However, it’s equally important to try to eat whole foods that are full of the nutrients and micronutrients that really keep your body healthy. Foods that are unprocessed and un-tampered with are more filling, delicious, and nutritious than the processed foods that may leave you feeling hungry all the time, and consuming more calories throughout the day.

I guess that flight training really did come in handy.

5 Slimming and Nutritious Foods

Now, that we've survived another January of fade diets based on low calorie foods,  let's get back to the basic principles of losing weight.  

Below is a great link to whole food choices that are nutrient dense and have been scientifically proven to fill you up, shrink your appetite, or help you drop pounds by Keri Glassman, R.D. from Women's Health. Hey guys don't laugh. We can learn a little something from the women and I won't even tell the boys.


http://fitbie.msn.com/slideshow/5-slimming-and-nutritious-foods

 

USDA awards $40 million grants to boost local food supplies

(Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department on Friday awarded $40.2 million in grants to farmers, ranchers and farmer-controlled rural business ventures aimed at spurring locally produced food supplies and renewable energy ventures.

USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said 298 recipients in 44 states and Puerto Rico will receive business development assistance through the Value-Added Producer Grant program.

"These projects will provide financial returns and help create jobs for agricultural producers, businesses and families across the country," Merrigan said in a statement.

"This funding will promote small business expansion and entrepreneurship opportunities by providing local businesses with access capital, technical assistance and new markets for products and services."

Recipients included Living Water Farms, a 3-year old family company located in Strawn, Illinois, two hours south of Chicago, which produces hydroponic greens for restaurants and grocers; Agriberry, a family-owned berry and fresh fruit operation near Mechanicsville, Virginia; and Green Mountain Organic Creamery of North Ferrisburgh, Vt., which markets certified organic, bottled pasteurized milk, butter, ice cream and other dairy products.

Denise Kilgus, one of the founders of Living Water Farms, said in an interview that the grant will be a good boost.

"The grant is going to help us get out more so we can market our product, talk to the chefs and build out our business," she said. "It's a start up business and everyone pitches in."

She said they already serve gourmet restaurants in the Chicago area including Frontera Grill and retail markets like Whole Foods.

Funds may be used for feasibility studies or business plans, working capital for marketing value-added farm products and for farm-based renewable energy projects, USDA said.

"We gave them a grant so they could try and figure out what was the best path for them to take to be successful," said USDA Rural Development Illinois Director Colleen Callahan.

Eligible applicants included independent producers, farmer and rancher cooperatives, agricultural producer groups, and majority-controlled producer-based business ventures.

URBAN FARMERS FORGE AHEAD

The grants were announced at a conference on "local/regional food systems" at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Aside from the farmers awarded USDA grants in the more traditional rural settings, the meeting also featured numerous innovative urban farmers in search of investors and customers.

Many of the urban farmers were seeking the same kind of grants for their operations as those awarded to rural farmers.

Growing Home, a not-for-profit business that uses urban farming of vegetables as community development and job training for ex-convicts and the unemployed, uses greenhouses and retilled, composted vacant city lots to produce organic food.

"We will have 40 people go through transitional jobs programs where they get paid," said Harry Rhodes, executive diretor of Growing Home Chicago, which operates in the economically depressed southside neighborhood of Englewood.

Rhodes said obtaining start-up money for greenhouses, equipment and other essentials has been one of the biggest challenges over the last ten years. But it now supplies farmer markets in the city as well as high-end local restaurants like Charlie Trotter's.

"Everything is certified organic. We are the only urban farm that is in Chicago that is certified organic," Rhodes said.

Another successful Chicago start-up is Farmed Here, an "aeroponic" and "vertical" farm in an Englewood building where basil and arugula are grown in water under controlled conditions and supply 20 local food stores and restaurants.

"We are on a commercial scale," said Jolanta Hardej of Farmed Here, adding that the group plans to open a 90,000 square foot facility in the Chicago suburb of Bedford Park.

Warren Ribley, state director for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development, said that the state has invested about $4.8 million over the past four years to expand urban gardening and "help build these new local food systems."More than 600 youths in Chicago neighborhoods have been employed through the urban garden program, he said. 

As Whole Foods Network expands across the nation, we will do our part by subsidizing loans, offering marketing assistance, and providing access to a network of restaurants for family farms, urban farms, and local organic and natural food suppliers. We realize that we must increase the supply of natural and organic food to decrease our dependency on commercial farming and drive down prices for consumers. 


Spread the word about Whole Foods Network.

Food Network's Whole-Grain Wrap Taste Test

Food Network recently conducted a Whole-Grain Wrap Taste Test. Find out how 5 popular flour tortillas (a.k.a. wraps) fared below.

Food Network Taste Test

After asking our Facebook fans their favorite brands, we sought out to add them to our taste test. However, finding popular brands was not as easy as we originally thought—and we learned that wraps are found in MANY locations throughout the market. When looking for wraps, check the deli counter, commercial bread aisle and the Mexican food aisle. If that doesn’t work, ask the store manager. At one supermarket, they stored some wraps next to the raw meat (that just screams food safety issue to me).

The Criteria
For this taste test, we rated the wraps based on taste, texture, ingredients, cost and nutritional information including calories, fat, and fiber. Each variety was rated on a 5-point scale (5 being the highest). We also looked at the size of each wrap. A 6-to-8-inch wrap is a reasonable size and has as many calories as in 1½  to 2 slices of bread.

Wrap-itz 100% Whole Wheat Wraps
Rating: 3.5
Cost: $0.37 per tortilla
Nutrition Info (per tortilla): 120 calories; 2.5 grams fat; 20 grams total carbohydrates: 3 grams fiber
Our Take: These wraps were so soft and tasty, I couldn’t stop munching on them. The ingredient list starts with stone-ground 100% whole wheat and 100% whole grains—just what the dietitian ordered. You’ll also find omega-3’s and calcium added to them, unfortunately the grams of fiber was the fewest of the bunch and it was also the most expensive.

Trader Joe’s Handmade 100% Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas
Rating: 4.5
Cost: $0.11 per tortilla
Nutrition Info (per tortilla): 160 calories; 5 grams fat; 25 grams total carbohydrates: 4 grams fiber
Our Take: These wraps had a soft and chewy texture and nutty flavor. Although this wrap was higher in calories than most of the others, it has a good amount of fiber and the price couldn’t be better!

Flatout Flatbread Light Italian Herb
Rating: 3.5
Cost: $0.35 per flatbread
Nutrition Info (per flatbread): 90 calories; 2.5 grams fat; 16 grams total carbohydrates: 9 grams fiber
Our Take: By popular request we tested this brand even though it’s categorized as a flatbread. We grabbed this flavor since the label touts that it’s made from 100% whole wheat, plus the Harvest Wheat variety was not available. Although the Light Italian Herb has 90 calories per serving, the Harvest Wheat has 120 calories, 2.5 grams fat, 23 grams carbohydrates, and 6 grams fiber. The herb flavor was a bit strong, but the texture was much soft and even a bit cake-y.

Chi-Chi’s Whole Wheat Tortilla
Rating: 2.5
Cost: $0.29 per tortilla
Nutrition Info (per tortilla): 170 calories; 4 grams fat; 28 grams total carbohydrates: 3 grams fiber
Our Take:  We were glad to see whole wheat flour listed as the first ingredient, but were then disappointed that it was followed by enriched flour. The flavor tastes closer to a white tortilla rather than a 100% whole wheat one, though it did have a nice mouth feel.

Mission 100% Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas
Rating: 3.0
Cost: $0.34 per tortilla
Nutrition Info (per tortilla): 130 calories; 3 grams fat; 22 grams total carbohydrates: 3 grams fiber
Our Take: Whole wheat flour is the first ingredient followed, to our disappointment, by water and vegetable shortening. The tortilla had a chewy texture but didn’t have that whole wheat, nutty flavor. It also had the fewest grams of fiber with only 3 grams.

Honorable Mention
Some of our Facebook fans gave La Tortilla Factory and Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Wraps glowing reviews. We searched high and low but were unable to get our hands on them.

What's in your wrap?

In Traditional Societies, Where People Don't Eat Processed Foods, Heart Disease Is Rare

Since heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in this country, you would think a cure that could dramatically reduce these deaths would have been discovered by now. However, the most effective remedy remains prevention..

"In traditional societies, where people don't eat processed foods, heart disease is rare," said Dr. Arthur Agatston, cardiologist and author of The South Beach Wake-Up Call. "If you start with a healthy diet in childhood, heart attacks are almost completely preventable."

Some studies have shown that up to 70 percent of heart disease can be averted with the right regimen, according to Dr. Walter Willett, chair of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. However, is diet alone as powerful as drugs? "Oh, no, it's much more powerful," said Dr. Willett during an ABC Good Morning America interview. " Statins, the most effective single medications for reducing heart disease, only cut risk by 25 to 30 percent. In fact, you would need a cabinet full of prescription drugs to bestow all the benefits of a serious heart-healthy meal plan. There's nothing a drug can do for your heart health that foods can't do, too," Dr Willett said.

A truly healthy diet that features a broad range of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes--seems to be the best way to prevent heart disease. Hippocrates understood the concept more than 2,000 years ago: "Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food."  

There you have it - food is more powerful than drugs. I have often wondered why we spend billions of dollars to find cures for health diseases if the primary cause is what we eat? I mean wouldn't the money be better spent on educating people to eat healthier to improve their health and prevent disease?  What exactly are the organizations that claim that they are researching to find a cure or treatment searching for? If you know, please tell us all.

Beyond the Meatrix®

Join Leo, the young pig that wonders if he is "the one," Chickity, the feathered family farm defender, and Moopheus, the trench-coat-clad cow with a passion for green pastures as they expose the problems with factory farming while making the world safe for sustainable family farms.

Visit www.TheMeatrix.com  to learn more about what you can do to help defeat factory farms villains. As my sister Wendy would say "Good Stuff"!

 

I want to give special thanks to my beautiful Niece Zarhea for sharing this video she first saw in her 9th grade class. It is good to know that our schools are starting to educate the students. Now, we need to educate the parents.

BREAKING NEWS - McDonalds and Other Fast Food Chains Stop Using Household Cleaner "Ammonium Hydroxide" in Beef Additive

McDonald's said this week that it was no longer using the controversial ground beef additive known as "pink slime" in its hamburger recipe. Taco Bell and Burger King have also reportedly repudiated the "slime," which consists of spare beef trimmings that have been treated with ammonium hydroxide to make them safe and at least semi-palatable.

Apparently, the move came after "Food Revolution" and "Naked Chef" star Jamie Oliver made public calls for chains to abandon the "slime," which has been manufactured by Beef Products Inc since 2001. Some are pointing to his advocacy as a central factor behind McDonald's decision.

And Jamie wasn't the only critic of "pink slime". The New York Times raised serious doubts about "pink slime" in a 2009 investigation of the product. It was also criticized in the 2010 documentary "Food Inc."

Part of the criticism stems from a general sense of disgust. People don't like hearing that they're eating spare trimmings of beef from strange parts of a cow. Nor, for that matter, do people like to hear that they're eating ammonia.

The USDA, for its part, approved of the ammoniated beef trimmings. In 2007, when it mandated increased testing for most ground beef, it specifically exempted "pink slime," even though the ammoniated beef comes from the parts of the cow most likely to harbor pathogens. The USDA argued that the beef's ammonia treatment would kill any bacteria lingering in the beef.

I want to give a big thanks to Jamie Oliver for putting the heat on McDonald's and other fast food chains to get rid of the "slim" in their burger recipe. Why on earth do we need a recipe for ground beef anyway. Shouldn't you just take some beef, grind it, and grill it? Maybe add a little sea salt and ground black pepper to taste - hold the ammonium hydroxide please. Then put it on a bun with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions. It appears that many fast food joints feel that putting three more cents per pound in their pocket is more important than risking our health with salmonella and E. coli. I'd say we show them what's more important to us.


Another win for Whole Foods!!!! Keep on the heat Jamie.

Monsanto's Toxic Milk - Banned in Europe

                                          Video by www.preventcancer.com/

This video shows how some companies will do anything to increase profits at the risk of our health. Please help us to spread the word about eating more natural and organic foods in the US by encouraging others to visit www.WholeFoodsNetwork.com. We can't afford to wait for companies like Monsanto to do the right thing for our health and wellness. We must take back control over the foods we consume, and that will only happen through educating consumers.

"Our mission is to educate the consumer of the value of eating less processed foods without compromise, and to help prevent-diet-related illnesses through a network of restaurants that feature "whole food" menu items and businesses that promote wellness."