If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

You know how frustrating it is when making a recipe and you don’t have all the ingredients? Now what if the ingredients are not your typical eggs, flour or sugar?
Last night I decided to make my “converted” Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. Converted in a sense that I took a previously unhealthy cookie and powered it up resulting in a recipe that requires some atypical ingredients. Unsweetened applesauce, toasted wheat germ and ground flaxseed.
Apparently I should have checked my cupboards better before starting this potentially doomed recipe since I was missing 3 of the ingredients.

Now to plan the replacements.
I replaced my natural applesauce with canola oil. Replaced my toasted wheat germ with whole wheat flour and replaced the 4 Tbsp ground flax with 1 egg.
Mixed it all together, threw them in the oven and hoped for the best.
They turned out delicious and remained a healthier cookie.

So just in case we all aren’t confused enough by the terminology and symbols being used by the food industry – now they want to change the name of High Fructose Corn Syrup to Corn Sugar?  And doing this name makeover will change the health impact?  Not neccesarily.   

The Corn Refiners Association is asking the FDA to let manufacturers use this “corn sugar” term instead.  Why?  Because they say current terminology is confusing for the consumer.  But could it be that the consumer is more educated on the potential harm from HFCS and therefore have been decreasing their consumption?   This change seems like an attempt to make the consumer believe that foods with this added, potentially-irritating ingredient aren’t all that bad.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is abundantly found in our food supply.  You’ve seen it in everything from sugary soda to whole wheat bread .  Because of the significant consumption of this added ingredient, by any name, the numbers of people suffering from obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome has reached an epidemic.  

To me.  Call it like it is.  Something we are familiar with, so can make well-informed choices.  Don’t trick me into thinking it is better.  And if you want to change something, remove it from your product.

Making lists – one of my daily activities.  Between the grocery list, to-do list, take-to-school list, at work list and my mom list – the burden is heavy.  Lists keep me organized. 

On top of that I need to maintain my figure, control my emotions, attempt to be in three places at once – all while keeping track of where that needle in the haystack is. 

To manage these “lists” better, prioritizing is essential.  Being a positive role model for my family while ensuring they receive the proper nutrition, ranks high on my priority list.

Being a positive role model – something most of us strive for in our daily choices and health habits.  As a dietitian and parent of two young children, I have seen the influence that surroundings have on what is consumed.  If it’s in the house, it will be eaten.  Would my family love to have most of the grocery store’s snack aisle in our kitchen?  Sure.  But like I said, if it’s in the house it will be eaten. 

Which brings me to one more item for my list – GateKeeper ExtraOrdinaire.  This GateKeeper regulates which food items are allowed in the house the majority of the time.  On the GateKeeper’s acceptable list – celery, natural peanut butter, string cheese, dark chocolate, avocadoes, apples and spinach to name a few.  Items not usually on the GateKeeper’s list – iceberg lettuce, white bread, boxed macaroni and cheese, fruit snacks, potato chips and donuts.

GateKeeper ExtraOrdinaire.    Make sure your list has one.

Typical cooler Sunday morning.  I wake up wanting a nice steaming cup of cappuccino.  Not a real cappuccino, but the “add the powder to hot water” type that you can get from a gas station.  And lucky me, I found a  mix in the grocery store that was SO good and I could have it at home to enjoy a cup whenever I wanted.  Which soon became a daily occurrence.

Enter in client who was also a lover of this cheap cappuccino.  Our mission - lowering her cholesterol.  After reviewing her excellent diet history, her 4 “from the powder” cappucino a day habit stuck out like a sore thumb.  She agreed to wean off these to see what difference it would make.   After 3 months of no capp, her cholesterol was down 40 points!!!!  We were thrilled. 

So was this enough for me to stop my once daily habit?  Not quite, but thought I would try watering it down some and now – no more in the house!  I’ve switched to green tea and have at least one daily.  Packing in those cancer and heart disease fighting anti-oxidants instead of the refined sugars and shelf stable fats.

But I must tell you it still calls my name…and I am trying not to listen.

The debate…butter or margarine.  A sensitive, personal decision. 

Stick margarine is taboo because of the partial hydrogenation resulting in trans fats.  These trans fats go on to oxidize or damage cholesterol which helps to make it stick in vessels.  So use tub margarine, right?  But not one with those taboo fats.  What about the ton of other ingredients listed? 

After consuming trans fat free, tub margarine for years and using butter when baking, I am making some changes.  My decision?  When comparing pasteurized cream and salt vs a ton of ingredients.  I pick pasteurized cream and salt.

As manufacturers and consumers battle it out while trying to unravel the mystery of “what to buy” , there have been different labeling programs that have developed.  As a Dietitian, I get fairly frustrated with the added confusion this brings.  Ultimately it is designed to help the consumer (You) have an easier time picking out healthful choices in the store.   But does it make it easier or more complicated?  It seems, more complicated.

I am sure you have seen these labels on foods you would never think would be a healthy choice, like sugared breakfast cereal that is about 40% sugar?  Seems like something is mixed up.  Per the package – one cereal is supposed to “improve immunity” and another “lowers your cholesterol 4 points if you eat 3 cups of it a day”.  My question is 4 points?  What good is that.  And really is breakfast cereal the best choice to get you started in the day?  And 3 cups of it every day?   

Well, it is being noticed.  And I think it needs to be.  But where do we go from here? 

I think we need to find an answer to this and quickly. 

But wait – we have one.  Rely less on what the food labels says and eat foods that don’t come with a standard food label.  Natural, wholesome foods that have not been altered by food manufacturers. 

This remains our best choice. 

See more about this….http://bit.ly/1BjVWd