Favorite Tools: Great New App to Help With Making Healthy Choices

Nota Bene: I apologize for the lapse in articles these past two weeks as I have not written as many I would've liked. Sometimes it takes me longer to write these when I'm feeling under the weather, so stick with me- Thanks for your patience!

I stumbled across this app for my iPhone & was pleasantly surprised at how helpful it was in educating people about healthy food choices. With food manufacturers using tricky language & inventing new names on a daily basis (all with the FDA's & USDA's support, mind you), it can be more than baffling attempting to decipher packaging on foods. Many people see the words 'all natural', 'healthy choice', 'reduced'-this-and-that, etc. & think that they are making wise & thoughtful choices in regards to their health when in fact it is just not that simple.

Fooducate is not just for the iPhone, but for Android & online use as well. It works by scanning a barcode or searching for a product, the user is instantly able to see information about the product (good & bad) whether its present on the label or not. This information is gathered by requesting it from the manufacturers & also gathered research by the creators of the program (with the help of the users too!).

Pink Slime...

   I had heard of the controversial meat additive that is referred of as 'pink slime' long before the media frenzy these past few weeks & the long over due public outcry calling for the manufacturers to stop adding it to our meats. As I was watching the news last night, there was a short story about the pink slime additive that caught my attention. So when I heard on the news that Texas governor, Rick Perry visited & toured a Nebraska meat plant that is responsible for making the pink slime, I was rather shocked. Perry along with 2 other governors toured the facilities to support the company & their pink slime product. Governors of Texas, Kansas, & Iowa, three of the top 10 beef producing states in the nation- #1 spot going to Texas, stated that beef containing the additive was "leaner" & therefore healthier. The governors ended their press conference by eating hamburgers made from Beef Products, Inc. or BPI's  beef.

A Beef Products Inc. processing plant in South Sioux City, Neb.
The company injects fatty beef trimmings with ammonia to remove E. coli and salmonella.

   This controversial product has been called "safe" by the company who makes it, Beef Products, Inc. & the USDA has agreed with them. For decades, 'lean beef trimmings' or its informal name pink slime, has been used as a processing agent to kill bacteria in meats. The ammonia solution first came about in order to use other parts of the cow that otherwise could not be eaten by people.These fatty trimmings & connective tissues harbor significant bacterial growth & so where used in things like pet food rather than meat for human consumption. By soaking these trimmings & riding them of deadly bacteria like E coli, meat factories were then able to produce more meat, more cheaply which ultimately leads to more money!

Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein=MSG

"What could be better for us than protein? And everyone knows that vegetables are good for us. Thus, 'hydrolyzed vegetable protein' sounds safe and even wholesome. However, this is the chemical method of producing monosodium glutamate. A mixture of hydrolyzed proteins contains the salts of other proteins as well, and monosodium glutamate may comprise as much as 20% of hydrolyzed vegetable protein (the usual range is 12-20%). The flavor enhancement produced by this mixture is almost entirely dependent on MSG. Few people are aware that products containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein frequently are advertised as "all natural". While MSG must be specifically listed on food labels, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, which contains MSG, may be designated simply as 'natural flavorings'."

 --George R. Schwartz, MD  In Bad Taste: The MSG Syndrome

   Oh my. Where do I even begin?! My crusade against MSG started years ago & is ever strengthened when I run across someone who is unknowingly ingesting such a harmful chemical. I definitely know what its like to suddenly realize that my carefully selected diet was not as scrupulous as I had thought. My MSG epiphany occurred in Whole Foods when I was about to put 'organic black bean soup' in my shopping cart when just for the heck of it decided to read the ingredients. Much to my dismay it contained the chemical I had been trying to avoid. As I went through my kitchen, it dawned on me that I had been eating products containing MSG for years. Even products that appeared healthy, had the words organic or 100% natural were in fact not good for me whatsoever! 

   The excerpt above from Dr. Schwartz explains the problem precisely. If it says "No MSG"on the product, then we want to assume that the manufacturers are producing something healthy. A good example: In an attempt to select healthier foods, a friend of mine came back from the grocery store with sea salt & lime tortilla chips. The bag even said no MSG on the front. We were about half through the bag when I happened to look at the label & saw yeast extract. 
   I soon discovered that the FDA requires a product to clearly label monosodium glutamate on its packaging. However, food manufacturers can use up to 20% of MSG in another ingredient without having to label it as monosodium glutamate. So names like hydrolyzed plant protein, yeast nutrient, & hydrolyzed oat flour which contain MSG get overlooked on the label because of healthy sounding names. 

   It seems as if people are either 1) naive in assuming a product is healthy since it has 'natural' or 'organic' on the label or 2) would rather remain blindly ignorant just so they can continue eating a favorite snack. How have people become so impervious to labels? We check the fine print on everything else, so why can't we take the few seconds to check our food?

There are more than 40 different ingredients that always contain the chemical MSG & even more ingredients that often contain it. I challenge you to look through your pantry & find these synonyms for MSG: