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Smart Choices?
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Cereal on store shelf with the "Smart Choice" checkmark!
This article recently ran on the New York Times website.
"A new food-labeling campaign called Smart Choices, backed by most of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, is “designed to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices."
Sounds good, right? Having something on the front of the package indicating the food inside is good for you! Makes sense. Allows shoppers to tell at a glance which choices are better than others, right?
Well...not so fast. The "smart choices" are not really healthy, they are just "better" than other choices!
Some of the foods that are getting the Smart Choice checkmark are sugary cereals like Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Teddy Grahams, Kid Cuisine Cowboy Kc's Ham N Cheese Ropers, SlimFast Ready-To-Drink Rich Chocolate Royale, and Lunchables Chicken Dunks!
Are they serious? These foods are all loaded with carbohydrates and highly processed!
"Eileen T. Kennedy, president of the Smart Choices board and the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, said the program’s criteria were based on government dietary guidelines and widely accepted nutritional standards."
Based on the dietary guidelines? OK...so that means carbohydrates, a little bit of protein and almost no fat, right? But does it mean highly processed foods? These foods should not, by any criteria, be considered "Smart Choices"
Dr Kennedy says "The checkmark means the food item is a ‘better for you’ product, as opposed to having an x on it saying ‘Don’t eat this,’ Consumers are smart enough to deduce that if it doesn’t have the checkmark, by implication it’s not a ‘better for you’ product. They want to have a choice. They don’t want to be told ‘You must do this.’"
Dr. Kennedy "defended the products endorsed by the program, including sweet cereals. She said Froot Loops was better than other things parents could choose for their children."
"You’re rushing around, you’re trying to think about healthy eating for your kids and you have a choice between a doughnut and a cereal," Dr. Kennedy said, evoking a hypothetical parent in the supermarket. "So Froot Loops is a better choice."
Huh?
What stores do they think people shop in? The only choices are a donut and a sugary cereal? Oh come on! Most low carbers are not cereal fans, but there are better choices than Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops and Apple Jacks! What about Shredded Wheat? Heck, what about eggs? Fruit?
"Ten companies have signed up for the Smart Choices program so far, including Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, ConAgra Foods, Unilever, General Mills, PepsiCo and Tyson Foods. Companies that participate pay up to $100,000 a year to the program, with the fee based on total sales of its products that bear the seal."
Ah! So that explains it! Produce companies should sign up, but probably won't!
We need more sensible guidelines if we want to help with the "obesity epidemic"!! Eating sugary cereals over whole foods is not going to do much but fuel the fire!
Smart choices? Most low carb advocates make smart choices....natural meats, full fat dairy, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits! That's what will help! Not making it sound like bad foods aren't that bad! They are bad! Heavily processed....loaded with chemicals....lots of sugars! That is not smart!
Here is a link to the "standards" for the Smart Choices checkmark.
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