Less Yellow, More Insecurity

Nutrition-related headlines tend to catch my eye, for obvious reasons. Last week there were two headlines that made all the news sources and got lots of media attention - national, local, and social. These headlines differ greatly but both sparked outrage...

Mac N Cheese to Be Less Yellow!

Millions Lose SNAP Benefits 

So, Kraft has agreed to remove some of the artificial yellow food coloring from it's Mac N Cheese (but only some varieties and not yet). Here is the AP News story which also got covered by such news sources as Perez Hilton who proclaimed "It's a good thing AND a sad thing! But mostly good!" People flocked to their facebook pages and twitter accounts to bemoan the loss of the color yellow, many (it seems) not realizing that the yellow dyes are not being removed from the original Mac N Cheese, just some of the kid-focused shapes like Sponge Bob. Others hailed Kraft for listening to the people and making the product more natural, though Kraft denied that implementing the change had anything to do with a Change.org petition.

I love a good bowl of macaroni and cheese as much as the next person (maybe a little bit more) but thought it was really unfortunate for these headlines to be happening on the same day, and for one to seemingly be getting more attention than the other.

One in seven Americans (47 million people) just lost some of their supplemental food money from SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program). Food insecurity is already rampant in America and this decrease in funds just increases that feeling. According to the Food Research and Action Center: 

"The U.S Department of Agriculture estimates that the reduction in benefits amounts to 21 fewer meals per month. Viewed differently, it leaves the average participant with just $1.40 to spend per meal, not enough to sustain health, learning or productive work. And even as these cuts are going into effect and families across the country are trying to figure out how to further stretch their impossibly tight food budgets, Congress is discussing even more drastic cuts to SNAP."

These headlines brought to mind a food drive that my middle school hosted many years ago. The classroom that collected the largest quantity of food got a special prize. The winning group was a class where one boy had gone to Sam's Club and bought a palate of ramen noodles. I'm sure there were a lot of boxes of Mac N Cheese in that drive as well, something else cheap, non-perishable, and to easy to contribute. This connection came to mind because as food stamp benefits decrease, use of places like food banks and other emergency food organizations tends to increase. So maybe the headlines are not so unrelated after all - they could be affecting some of the same people. If SNAP recipients turn to food banks once their supplemental income has run out, what will they find there? Hopefully more than just palates of ramen noodles and still-just-as-yellow Mac N Cheese.

Please consider making a donation to a local food bank during this time or starting a virtual food drive. I won't judge you if you donate ramen or macaroni, but something green (canned vegetables or cash money) might help out a little bit more.

Boston Food Bank: http://gbfb.org/
Feeding America: http://feedingamerica.org/

The Campaign Against Sugar Sweetened Beverages

When you're studying to become a dietitian, you end up talking a fair amount about sugar sweetened beverages. That's the official name for soda, juice, sweet tea - pretty much any drink that's full of calories but doesn't fill you up. SSBs, as we refer to them, creep their way into many different conversations. Should kids in schools have access to them? Should people be able to use food stamps to buy them? Is giving your kid a soda every day akin to child abuse? And now the conversation has entered the public arena with the recent ban on certain sizes of soda in New York City. Whether or not that law will go into effect remains to be seen, especially since the beverage industry has begun to fight back. But regardless, it's gotten the general public, and not just people in the nutrition industry, to talk about SSBs.

My internship director recently passed along this video about The Real Bears put out by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. I debated whether or not to share it here; while I agree with the message that soda consumption needs to be greatly reduced in many people's diets, I'm not sure if this video is an effective way of getting that message across. Take a look and then let me know your thoughts!

Good, Nutritious, and Cheap: Can it Be Done?

Before starting my dietetic internship in a couple of weeks, I have to complete an assignment where I eat for three days with the budget suggested by the USDA Thrifty Meal Plan. Based on my age and the fact that I only cook for myself, that will give me about $19 to stretch for three days. Oh, and I have to attempt to get in all of the suggested amounts of macro and micro nutrients with that money. I'm actually really looking forward to the challenge and have been contemplating various meal combinations over the past few days.

Today I ran across a link to this site, the Environmental Working Group's Good Food on a Tight Budget. While eating for cheap and still getting nutritious food is going to be hard enough on its own, it's interesting to think of the added challenge of also picking foods that have the fewest pesticides or the least amount of added chemicals. Take a look at their lists of good food on a tight budget and see if it inspires you to make a change in the way that you grocery shop. And if you have any suggestions for my three days of eating with a budget, let me know!

Today is FOOD DAY!

But you knew that already, right? Maybe not. Well, it appears that 2011 marks the inaugural national Food Day, which is sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Here is the blurb from the website:

Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes—to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. We will work with people around the country to create thousands of events in homes, schools, churches, farmers markets, city halls, and state capitals.

Healthy affordable food produced in a sustainable humane way?? Sign me up! Visit the website, www.foodday.org, to find out what Food Day events are happening in your community. Not the organized get-together type? Celebrate on your own by making sure that all of your meals today are made from "real" food. It'll taste better, be better for the environment, and make you feel better in the long run. Happy Food Day 2011!

Denmark's New Fat Tax

You may have heard the news that Denmark recently imposed a "fat tax" where they will be taxing foods which contain more than 2.3% saturated fat. That means a tax on every single food item that contains saturated fat, including meat and butter and milk. According to one article, the money raised will fund obesity-fighting measures. (For two British viewpoints check out this Guardian article and this Telegraph article.)

When I first heard about this, my initial thought was 'why Denmark?' Danish people tend to be pretty healthy in general. When I was there this summer I was talking about nutrition with our friend who is a doctor. I mentioned that the US had the 5-a-day campaign for fruits and vegetables - and she mentioned Denmark's 6-a-day suggestion. Cities around the US are just now starting to have bike sharing programs and hyping the importance of sharing the road with bikes. In Denmark you're hard pressed to find a street that doesn't have a bike lane and most towns have at least one enormous bike parking area complete with free air pumps for your tires. According to Telegraph article, less than 10% of Danes are obese. According to the CDC, 33.8% of American adults and 17% of American children are obese.

While there are likely a slew of political reasons why Denmark of all countries has decided to impose this tax, it feels a little bit like they're taking one for the team (the team in this case being all other countries that have an obesity issue). Other European countries are definitely taking note, and perhaps America should as well. I'm often frustrated by the fact that there doesn't seem to be one logical place to start solving this problem in the states (especially since a lot of unhealthy foods are subsidized by the government and backed by lobbyists). However, I think that taxing saturated fat would at least a more logical place to start than taxing soda as has been suggested by various people and publications. At least putting a tax on something like saturated fat indicates to the public that they should be consuming less of that specific nutrient. Picking a specific product like soda could send the message that as long as you're not drinking soda, you're being healthy. With processed foods full of chemical additives lining grocery store shelves, soda is just one of many products that people would be healthier living without.