All posts tagged ingredients

Get Over Your Sweet Tooth

Can you remember the first time you tasted sugar? I can’t.  It’s always been a part of my life.  It’s likely always been a part of yours.  Sugar has been deeply rooted in our culture for over a century.  Since the 1970s, is has been entrenched in most of our food.

While sugar has always been a part of my life, it has not always been around.  Especially not in such abundance.  In fact, sugar, just a little over a century ago, was a very scarce thing.  People’s primary source of sugar was from fruit, and then from occasional seasonal honey.  Food then, in comparison, was awfully bland to the food we eat today. 150 years ago, people would get excited to eat an apple, for its sweetness.  Today, apples are probably the blandest of our sweet food options.

Today, sugar for us is not a once-a-day thing.  It’s an every meal and every snack habit!  That is how abundant it is!

I don’t need to go into detail about the impact sugar has on your levels of insulin, or your brain chemistry.  It is powerful stuff.  And we are addicted to it.

Try giving it up for a week.  It’s harder than you think.  Added sugar is everywhere.  Here’s a list (sourced from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/added-sugar/MY00845/NSECTIONGROUP=2) of ingredients that mean “added sugar,” not naturally occurring sugar:

  • Brown sugar. Granulated white sugar with added molasses for flavor and color, commonly used in baking.
  • Cane juice and cane syrup. Sugar from processed sugar cane. Further processing produces brown or white solid cane sugar.
  • Confectioners’ sugar. Granulated white sugar that has been ground into a fine powder, sometimes with a small amount of cornstarch. Commonly used in icings and whipped toppings.
  • Corn sweeteners and corn syrup. Corn sugars and corn syrups made from corn and processed cornstarch.
  • Dextrose. Another name for glucose.
  • Fructose. Sugar that occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables and honey.
  • Fruit juice concentrate. A form of sugar made when water is removed from whole juice to make it more concentrated.
  • Glucose. A simple sugar that provides your body’s main source of energy. Also called blood sugar because it circulates in your blood.
  • Granulated white sugar. This is table sugar, or pure crystallized sucrose, made by processing raw sugar from sugar cane or sugar beets. It’s commonly used in baking or to sweeten tea or coffee.
  • High fructose corn syrup. The most common sweetener in processed foods and beverages, this is a combination of fructose and glucose made by processing corn syrup.
  • Honey. A mix of glucose, fructose and sucrose created from nectar made by bees.
  • Invert sugar. Used as a food additive to preserve freshness and prevent shrinkage, this is a mix of fructose and glucose made by processing sucrose.
  • Lactose. Sugar that occurs naturally in milk.
  • Maltose. Starch and malt broken down into simple sugars and used commonly in beer, bread and baby food.
  • Malt syrup. A grain syrup made from evaporated corn mash and sprouted barley.
  • Molasses. The thick, dark syrup that’s left after sugar beets or sugar cane is processed for table sugar.
  • Sucrose. The chemical name for granulated white sugar (table sugar).
  • Syrup. Sugar comes in many forms of syrup, a thick, sweet liquid that can be made from the processing of sugar or from sugar cane, grains such as corn or rice, maple sap, and other sources.
  • White sugar. Same as granulated white sugar (table sugar).

Sweetness is universally appreciated, and human beings are hard-wired to consume these quick carbohydrates every chance we get.  Those chances used to be rare.  Now they are everywhere, and too much of a good thing can make you sick.

Try giving up added sugar.  No artificial sugars, either!  See The 7-Day Test.

Leave a Comment
by demogirl06 on August 2, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Food Production and Policy
Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by demogirl06 on August 2, 2010

http://mariamaestevens.com/2010/08/02/get-over-your-sweet-tooth/

GMO Ingredients… Everywhere!

If you know anything about me, you should know that I am avidly opposed to genetically modified food.  In fact, the majority of people in the United States are at least wary of it, and many people think they have never consumed GMOs.  Little do they know that GMO foods and ingredients are not labeled, and there is no law in effect that makes is mandatory to do so.  Such a law would cripple the GE sector of agribusiness, which is working as hard as possible to popularize GMO foods among the masses.  GMO foods are the key to world hunger, they’ll say.  They’re non-threatening and substantially equivalent to natural foods.

If you, like me, are grossed out by GMO foods, but aren’t fully transitioned to a whole food organic diet, you might like to took a look at the following figures and lists.

Over 90% of soy in the United States is GMO.  Over 80%, canola.  Over 85%, corn. Over 85%, cotton.

That means that you have at least an 80% chance of eating GMO-derived food if you see vegetable oil or vegetable fat and margarines (made with soy, corn, cottonseed, and/or canola) appearing on your food’s ingredient list.

If you think that’s not bad enough, be wary of dozens of GMO food additives.  The following (source: http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/BuyingNon-GMO/index.cfm) is a list of common ingredients and food additives that appear in processed food prevalent in the Standard American Diet (SAD):

Ingredients derived from soybeans:

Soy flour, soy protein, soy isolates, soy isoflavones, soy lecithin, vegetable proteins, textured vegetable protein, tofu, tamari, tempeh, and soy protein supplements.

Ingredients derived from corn: Corn flour, corn gluten, corn masa, corn starch, corn syrup, cornmeal, and High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).

Some Food Additives May Also Be Derived From GM Sources:

Ascorbic acid/ascorbate (Vitamin C), cellulose, citric acid, cobalamin (vitamin B12), cyclodextrin, cystein, dextrin, dextrose, diacetyl, fructose (especially crystalline fructose), glucose, glutamate, glutamic acid, gluten, glycerides (mono- and diglycerides), glycerol, glycerol, glycerine, glycine, hemicellulose, hydrogenated starch hydrolates, hydrolyzed vegetable protein or starch, inositol, invert sugar or inverse syrup, (also may be listed as inversol or colorose), lactic acid, lactoflavin, lecithin, leucine, lysine, maltose, maltitol, maltodextrin, mannitol, methylcellulose, milo starch, modified food starch, monooleate, mono- and diglycerides, monosodium glutamate (MSG), oleic acid, phenylalanine, phytic acid, riboflavin (Vitamin B2) sorbitol, stearic acid, threonine, tocopherol (Vitamin E), trehalose, xanthan gum, and zein.

What the hell are all those things?  If you don’t know, why are you putting it in your mouth?  If you can’t conjure up an accurate image of what those ingredients actually are, you shouldn’t eat it.

Leave a Comment
by demogirl06 on July 29, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Food Production and Policy
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by demogirl06 on July 29, 2010

http://mariamaestevens.com/2010/07/29/gmo-ingredients-everywhere/

Rubbing In The Poison

About 5 years ago, I read an article about a girl who killed herself on accident.  It was kind of a Darwin Awards thing, where she unwittingly put herself into danger; only, it was a bit unfair, as we’re all led to believe what she was doing was safe.

This girl, a track athlete, was rubbing a pain-reliving cream into her legs several times a day. If you’ve ever used Tiger Balm, Icy Hot, of Ben Gay, you know what kind of effect creams like these have.  They warm and/or cool the surface of the skin and help relieve pain (for some).  She was a heavy user.  So heavy, that she absorbed too much of the active ingredient of this product through her skin and it poisoned her.

Dead.

Wow.  Just like that.  From a body product. Of course representatives of her product  probably advise against using that much.  But that’s not the point.  She, like millions of others, was gaily rubbing traces of poison–synthetic chemicals–into her body.

“…according to the FDA, we each use nine personal-care products daily, containing about 126 chemical ingredients.“ (The Hundred Year Lie, Randall Fitzgerald).

Try to pronounce just one of those 126.  Hell, I’d be hard-pressed to even name 126 whole food ingredients.  Food is energy.  Food is medicine.

When did chemistry elbow out nutritious foods and medicinal plants?  Answer: when we figured we were too smart for nature.

We’re smarter than nature.  Let’s dump fluoride  (highly carcinogenic) into our water and drink it–because it’s (hopefully) good for our teeth.  Let’s irradiate our food.  Let’s pack our meat full of nitrites, synthetic hormones, and antibiotics–oh, and before we ship it, let’s bathe some of it in ammonia to kill any dangerous bacteria.

That all sounds like a bad idea, but most people are completely unaware of how widespread some practices are.  Things that defy common sense are done routinely.

We live in a toxic environment.  These chemicals and pollutants, deemed safe at acceptably low levels by our governing agencies, collect in our tissue (particularly fat).  They accumulate over a lifetime, and there is no scientific study (or computer, for that matter) sophisticated enough to study every possible permutation of interactions between hundreds of thousands of synthetic chemicals.

We skipped safety and dove in head first. We have no idea what the synergistic effect can be of these inputs in our bodies.  No wonder cancer, neurological, and auto-immune disorders are on the rise (all diseases that tend to occur out of nowhere).

There’s not a whole lot we can do but eat an organic and nutritious diet, minimize our exposure to pollutants, and exercise regularly (exercises hastens your body’s recycling process, and pushes some toxins out).

Oh, and here’s what I would have told that poor girl: if you wouldn’t eat it, don’t rub it all over your skin.

Leave a Comment
by demogirl06 on July 21, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Fitness & Lifestyle
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by demogirl06 on July 21, 2010

http://mariamaestevens.com/2010/07/21/rubbing-in-the-poison/

Energy Bars

If you know anything about me, you know that I’m cheap.  When I see how much money people throw away on marked-up food products, I shake my head sorrowfully.  What are they paying for?  Generally, loads of high fructose corn syrup, palm oil, and soybean oil.

Gross.

Today, I’m attacking energy bars–AKA–adult candy bars. They are energy bars because they are packed with energy, given their size.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  After all, some people need easy energy for performance needs–not the average American, though.  The average American is tricked into thinking these bars actually promote their health, balance their nutrient intake, or some other fabulous feat.  Nope.  It’s just food.

If it’s a low-quality bar, it’s junk food.  High fructose corn syrup, or brown rice syrup, some other kind of syrup, chocolate, palm oil, maybe added protein powder or fiber.

If it’s a high quality bar, it contains identifiable food: dates, almonds, oats, whatever…

…but if that’s all it is, then why are we forking over $2.50 per teeny weeny little bar?

Most food products are just different assemblies of the same ingredients. Food companies cannot turn a profit off of the ingredients alone.  It has to be marked up, have added value, come in shiny plastic, or some fancy box.

If you want an energy bar, here it is… go to the bulk section of your super market.  Buy some raisins or dates, sunflower seeds or cashews or almonds, oats or flour, cocao powder or dark chocolate chips, maybe even some protein powder or shredded coconut.  It doesn’t matter.  Chuck a handful of each intended ingredient into a food processor (maybe with  a tiny bit of water) and blend (or dice and mix by hand).  Presto!  Energy paste! Roll it out and bake it for 5-10 minutes, just to dry it out a little, or leave it on your windowsill in the sun.

You can buy the ingredients for bottom dollar.  It takes 10 minutes to take a handful of each ingredient and blend it together.  For 15 bucks, you can have 25 energy bars.

If you are too lazy to make the bars, there is no difference between eating a bar, and just eating the ingredients as a trail mix.  Throw it in a bag, shake, and go.

Leave a Comment
by demogirl06 on July 1, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Food Production and Policy, Nutrition, Recipes
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by demogirl06 on July 1, 2010

http://mariamaestevens.com/2010/07/01/energy-bars/

I Thought It Was Whole Grain!

What?  That bread your eating?  You tried to make the healthy choice with that fluffy brown-looking bread that feels a lot like Wonder Bread, only it’s whole grain.  How did they do that?

Here’s the scoop on labels:

When the package says “whole grain” or “whole wheat,” that means that a serving (roughly 16 grams) must contain 8 grams of whole grain flour.  In other words, your whole grain bread may consist of up to 50% white flour!  So make sure to buy packages labelled “100% whole grain,” to ensure 16 grams of whole grains per serving.

“100% wheat,” “cracked wheat,” “stone ground,” “bran,” “7-grain,” “15-grain,” etc. do not mean 100% whole grain.  In fact, it only means that the product contains such things–not that it contains a lot of it.  Check the ingredient list.  Ingredients are ordered by weight, so make sure your whole grain appears first on the list.

Don’t be misled by color.  Just because it’s dark doesn’t mean it’s whole grain.  Often times, manufacturers will use molasses or other additives to darken the bread.  Always check the ingredient list to see if whole grain flour is in the product, and hopefully it is early in the list.  Also, check the fiber content of the bread.  The higher the %DV (daily value), the more whole grain it probably contains (unless there is added bran).

What to look out for:

Avoid ingredients like “enriched wheat flour.”  In translation, the flour was so heavily processed that it had to be “enriched” to restore lost nutrition.

Yeast needs sugar in order to raise bread, so don’t freak out if you see “sugar” on the ingredient list.  However, it should appear late in the list, which means there are many fewer calories in the bread derived from that added sugar.  Always avoid bread sweetened with “corn syrup” and “high fructose corn syrup.”  Molasses, and honey are preferable; again, see that they fall late on the list.

In a best-cast scenario, your bread contains: whole grain flour, water, oil, sugar, yeast, and salt–maybe eggs .  That’s about it.

Why eat whole grains?

Because I said so.  But really, because it’s in your best interest.  Whole grains and whole grain products come with the original bran from the grain (note my emphasis on “original,” as many products have added bran).

Whole grains provide dietary fiber, several B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and folate), and minerals (iron, magnesium, and selenium). When you remove the bran from grain, you lose most of this.

Why is this nutrition important?

Fiber helps lower cholesterol, and is good for colon health.  It is also filling, and slows the release of sugar into the bloodstream.

B vitamins are essential for good cell metabolism (everyone likes a good metabolism!). They maintain healthy skin and muscle development. They promote healthy cell growth and division.  They enhance immune system and nervous system functioning.

Trace minerals are dietary components that govern numerous activities in the body, from thyroid function to a cell’s oxygen-carrying ability.

Bottom line:

Read carefully and know what you’re eating.  The industry relies on consumer ignorance to sell products.

Leave a Comment
by demogirl06 on May 2, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Nutrition
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by demogirl06 on May 2, 2010

http://mariamaestevens.com/2010/05/02/i-thought-it-was-whole-grain/

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 52 other followers