Too bad the picture's going to give this one away, I'd have loved to have had you guess.
You might have guessed, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, quality grains - but you'd have been very, very wrong.
According to an article I read in Today's Dietitian magazine about "Healthful Vending in Today's School", the correct answer is apparently "popped" potato chips.
So what's so "healthy" and "better for you" about Popchips?
Well best I can gather is that they have 20% fewer calories than potato chips, but the same amount of sodium, and no more in the way of fibre or protein.
You know what they also have due to the inanity of articles like the one in Today's Dietitian?
A Health Halo that lets school boards pat themselves on the back about what a great job they're doing with their students and misinforms students about a product that at best, with a huge stretch, could be described as every so slightly less bad than potato chips.
If this product truly strikes today's dietitians as "healthy", or, "better for you", then I'd say there's something terribly wrong with today's dietitians.
Only silver lining here is that I'm pretty sure Today's Dietitian, is going to prove to be a valuable source of blog-worthy nutritional madness, as according to the magazine's Media Kit, it's,
"a powerful marketing vehicle for nutrition products and services. Our partners let our reputation work for them, and those partnerships have helped thousands of companies enlighten and educate a responsive audience of more than 110,000 RDs and nutrition professionals about their products, brands, and companies."Translation?
All the nutritional spin that's fit to print.
Posts
As a dietitian myself...I'm embarrassed. There's no way I would endorse "pop chips" as anything remotely healthy! I strongly believe in the power of WHOLE foods and preach that to all my clients. You won't see me recommending these! Ifschools really want kids to be healthy, maybe they should start teaching ths kids/parents how to pack their own healthy snacks and allow ample time to let them eat them.
ReplyDeleteSo I've jokingly served veggie chips as a vegetable. What is being taught in Health classes that people don't recognize this stuff is junk food?
ReplyDeleteSad that stuff like this gives RD's a bad rep as shilling for the big food industry...and gives self proclaimed "nutritionist" ammo to put down RDs. I keep claiming that not all RDs support the processed "health" food industry (or fast food).
ReplyDeletekind of off topic, I apologize, but i've been enjoying your blog and others for a few months now and have been trying to educate myself and improve my health overall. It can be disheartening to see how much information that's out there is bunk! So my question is, where can I find reliable information as to recommended daily servings and the like? The Canada Food Guide seems to not be the place to look, what is? Thanks in advance to anyone that can lend some guidance!
ReplyDeleteHi Vera,
ReplyDeleteI'm partial to Harvard's Healthy Eating Pyramid.
Best,
Yoni
This emphasises the need to critically evaluate health claims. At least "Today's Dietician" is a trade publication and not a mainstream magazine (although it claims 110,000 readership). It puts me in mind of the recent study of British newspapers and their health claims (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/17/bad-science-health-reporting) which showed that 62% of claims made in the top ten newspapers in the UK were backed by "insufficient evidence".
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dr. Freedhoff, I look forward to checking that out!
ReplyDeleteThe Harvard Pyramid looks fine except it seems to ignore some salient facts which suggests, even there, the shadowy hand of Big Agro in the background. For instance, soy in North America is genetically modified making it (and its byproducts like tofu) very hard to trust. It contains huge amounts of pesticides. Beans imported from China are deficient because of their cavalier attitude towards food safety. We just don't know where the beans are coming from nor what's been done to them. Bottom line: caveat emptor because soy is an iffy product. Ditto for canola and corn. I won't even touch upon some of the other food issues highlighted in the movie Food Inc. So, like (as my grandchildren would put it), where does that place the consumer?
ReplyDeleteVera,
ReplyDeleteI looked around at the Center for Science in the Public Interest website and found this article which talks about a pretty good plan, overall. I'm not generally a fan of CSPI because they use what I consider an unnecessarily judgmental tone in their writing, as though everyone's food decisions revolve around trying to avoid things like "spare tires," but I think their nutritional advice is sound.
I love what I learn about food here. since I was 16 I think the Canadian food guide, has changed 4 times and it confusing, to the average person,the labels, and nutrition information that is put on processed foods, and we live in a society, that makes it difficult to know what to eat that is good for you, It is almost a full time job, learning to eat right, when I first found out I had type two diabetes, it took me almost 4 years of changing my diet, to learn to be a good diabetic..and I learned it did not have to mean not eating good things to eat, but to be in control of what went into the food I ate and much less processed foods, but there are still times, when you may not have the time to cook from scratch or would like a healthy treat, and learning to pick something out of the numerous claims to fame of what labels itself healthy and is not..was more difficult for me, until I came across your blog..I have learned so much..from you and appreciate the time, effort and respect, you put into, educating the public..your a winner..
ReplyDeleteThank you acceptancewoman, I will also check out that information! It really is difficult and as anonymous mentioned, practically a full time job trying to figure it all out. Alot of the time, the things you learn are so depressing it makes "ignorance is bliss" sound like the way to go :)
ReplyDeleteProblem is, the word "healthy" seems to have two definitions. Most sane people (like myself) think of "healthy" as having a positive definition - that is, it contributes something to one's health and well-being (beyond energy).
ReplyDeleteBut the food industry often uses the term in a negative sense... that is "less unhealthy." So a snack is labeled "healthy" if certain "bad" things have been removed.
PopChips are lower in fat than regular potato chips, but they're still nothing more than seasoned potato starch.