Our Story     Meet the Founder     Join Our Team     Rewards Program     Blog
Jun 13
Love0

I Do Not Think That Means What You Think it Means, Part 2

By BBBlog

Last week, we talked about how some seemingly easy-to-understand words were being stretched too far, things like “all natural,” “high protein,” “zero trans fat,” and “low carb.”  Unfortunately, Brown Baggers, there are more buzz words to be wary of, so get ready.

It seems like the words “sugar free” and “no sugar added” would be good things, right?  It would seem so because we could all watch our sugar intake more closely, right?  Sure, but unfortunately sugar free and no sugar added usually mean that artificial sweeteners and/or man-made sugar alcohols were added instead.  Artificial sweeteners can adversely affect the digestive systems of people with sensitive stomachs and have a host of other negative attributes to boot, so adding them to your food instead of sugar isn’t the healthiest idea.  Stick with natural sugar, or better yet natural sweeteners like honey, agave nectar, and maple syrup (to name a few), and just cut down on your sugar intake.

Think foods that say “high fiber” will give you that boost in fighting heart disease and keeping the digestive system moving?  They might, but the side effects might not be what you’re looking for.  Most of the time, foods with added fiber are using chicory root fiber, polydextrose, and oat fiber, or what are called “functional fibers,”  which are actually fibers, but they may make you bloated and gassy and don’t have the same full effects as those fibers which occur naturally in food.  If you just make sure to work in your fruits, veggies, beans and whole grains every day, you’ll more than likely get plenty of fiber without “adding.”

Gluten-free is very important to people with Celiac disease or wheat/gluten allergy, but others have taken up the banner of the gluten-free diet as well, and so market shelves all over are full of foods proclaiming that they are gluten free.  And guess what?  They are!  By law, foods that are labeled “gluten free” may not contain any gluten or wheat, so in this case, you’re getting just what you’re told.  What they don’t tell you is that what these foods lack in gluten, they make up for in calories.  You’d do better to get your gluten-free foods the natural way—by eating foods like, rice, sweet potatoes and quinoa (to name a few) that naturally contain no gluten.

What can you take away from all of this?  Be wary.  Read labels.  Most importantly, if you only want to eat food that is what it purports to be, then stick to the basics:  fruits, veggies, nuts, fish, poultry, etc.  For the healthiest diet, keep your processed foods to a minimum.  Come see us at Brown Bag for breakfast or lunch or both!  When you eat with us, you always get just what you asked for!

Published June 13, 2013

Jun 07
Love0

I Do Not Think That Means What You Think It Means: Brown Bag Talks Food Labels

By BBBlog

Thinking that phrases like, “sugar free” and “fat free” sound a little too good to be true?  Then you’re ahead of the vast consumer curve out there.  Food companies and marketing execs the world over take note of trends—that’s their job—and as people have turned in the last decade or so toward high-protein, fat-free, sugar-free, no-sugar-added, low-carb foods, more and more options have become available for purchase.  But are those products all that they seem? Thankfully, consumers have taken a turn toward the healthy side of street, but buzzwords and nutrition don’t always go hand in hand.

Take the term “all natural,” for example.  Are you thinking this means that your chips were fresh potatoes, cut up and dropped into a vat of pure vegetable oil (or other oil), and fried, cooled and packed off to you without so much as a preservative to tarnish their “all natural” state?  Think again.  These days, “all natural” can mean all sorts of things because the FDA hasn’t yet come up with a hard and fast rule on what exactly “all natural” should mean.  It doesn’t seem like such a hard question, does it?  Apparently, it is because today “all natural” can mean that your food still has preservatives and genetically modified ingredients in it.  Want to stay away from some of those things?  Read the labels and stay away from foods that stray from whole ingredients that you readily recognize.

Another term that seems to be applied fairly liberally these days is “zero trans fats.”  One would think that zero still means nothing, but apparently today zero can equal amounts like 0.5%, which may be a small number but is still greater than zero.  Lots of foods have the words “zero trans fats” stamped right on the front for all the world to see, but they still slip some trans fat in there and call their product(s) “trans fat free” (unless you look closely at the nutrition information).  Sure, you’re still getting a lot less fat than a Super Value Meal at McDonald’s, but over time, those trans fats can build up and cause health problems, like high cholesterol.

If you’re thinking that “high protein” and “low carb” are the key words for any food you want to eat, than don’t go gently into that ingredient list.  Take a long look for words like “soy protein isolate,” for example.  Sure, soy is high in protein, but you’d do better to get your protein from edamame rather than the manipulated and processed form available in “high protein” packaged foods.  Try chicken, lean beef, fish, quinoa, or beans to get a pure source of protein.  And who says sky-high levels of protein are good for you, anyway?  Too much protein can kick your kidneys into hyper-space.  Carbs are not demons, they are part of a healthy, balanced diet, and when you eat “low-carb” processed foods, you’re getting artificial sweeteners and processed sources of fiber which can never compare nutritionally to the pure fiber of bananas, oatmeal and raspberries (to name just a few sources).

“I do not think that means what you think it means,” says Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride.  He may have been referring to the continued misuse of the word “inconceivable,” but his words should be at the forefront of your mind when it comes to food labeling.  Truth in advertising very often doesn’t apply to processed, packaged foods.  Look at all of the lawsuits against food companies, if you don’t believe us.  At Brown Bag, we believe in healthy, fresh food, made from scratch and sourced locally whenever possible.  If you are what you eat, don’t you want to be the best and most healthful food you can be?

May 31
Love1

Neotame: The Sweetener so Small You Won’t Even Know it’s There

By BBBlog

We’ve all heard of aspartame—the artificial sweetener.  You can taste its particular brand of sweetness in your food and you see its name written on labels, often right on the front of a package.  Do you know why it’s there?  It’s labeled on your food’s packaging because the FDA requires it to be there for those people who can’t tolerate one of its ingredients: phenylalanine.  Some companies, however, just list phenylalanine alone on the label.  If you’re familiar with this chemical because you have an intolerance to it, then you recognize the warning; but if you aren’t familiar with this word, then you may not realize that you are ingesting an artificial sweetener.  So, now you know.  End of story, right?

This is where Neotame comes in.  Neotame is another synthetic sweetener developed by Monsanto as its patent for aspartame was running out.  Neotame is made by adding 3-dimethylbutyl (a chemical that the EPA lists as hazardous) to aspartame; Neotame is heat tolerant (so you can bake with it), it is between 7000 and 13,000 times sweeter than table sugar, and 30 times sweeter than aspartame.  Here’s where the problem comes in: Being 30 times sweeter than aspartame means that less is needed to do the same job, therefore, the FDA doesn’t require it to be included on labels.  If an ingredient comprises less than 1% of a product, the FDA does not require that it be listed on labels.  Right now, it’s estimated that Neotame is being used alone or in conjunction with other artificial sweeteners in several hundred food products in the US (some of them even labeled “organic”), and more than likely, you don’t even know it.

Neotame is not yet available for individual purchase, but clearly, it’s a busy bee.  Food manufacturers love it because so little is needed to do the job of sweetening and it’s far cheaper than using table sugar (sucrose) or high-fructose corn syrup.  Opponents of the sweetener point to its origins in the sweetener aspartame and the controversy that goes along with it.  There are many arguments against aspartame (and hence, Neotame) citing medical reasons, but the FDA and more than ninety countries worldwide disagree.  We’ll leave the decision up to you whether to partake or not.  Studies conducted on Neotame are few, and apparently all sponsored by the parent company, so the controversy extends despite the FDA’s assertions that both Neotame and aspartame are safe to eat at the levels currently being consumed in the US.

What do you think?  Do you eat foods containing artificial sweeteners?  Do you think labels should indicate the presence of the sweeteners even if the levels contained in products equals less than 1%?  Brown Bag is committed to serving you food you can trust from local farmers, whenever possible.  When you eat with us, you know what you’re getting.  We want to know:  Does that matter to you?

May 23
Love0

Rapuzel’s ‘Do Diet, Part 2

By BBBlog

If you’re like most women, you take care of your hair.  You may even be somewhat obsessive about your hair—and who can blame you?  The thing is, healthy hair isn’t as difficult to get as people sometimes think; and one of the best ways to get there is through healthy eating.  So, this week, we’re finishing up our list of the top 10 healthy foods for your hair!

6.  Spinach:  Spinach is packed to the tips of its leaves with iron, beta carotene, folate, and vitamin C, and all of these things help to keep hair follicles healthy and scalp oils doing their thing.  If you’re a spinach fan, this is great news for you!    Eat your spinach salads, sauté it with garlic and olive oil, bake it up in a calzone or quiche!  You may not get biceps like Popeye, but you’ll have the strongest hair around!

7.  Lentils:  Think of lentils as the Mighty Mouse of good-for-your-hair foods!  They’re tiny but they pack a punch! There’s always room on your plate for  protein, iron, zinc, and biotin, right?  Do yourself (and your lovely locks!) a favor and take two scoops!

8.  Greek Yogurt:  Greek yogurt has been making a splash in the last few years, and it’s no wonder why. If you’ve tried Greek yogurt, you’ve noticed the difference—both in texture and flavor—from regular yogurt.  Greek yogurt is thicker and more tart due to the process used to make it.  But did you know it’s also hair-friendly?  Greek yogurt has a higher protein count than regular yogurt; it also contains vitamin B5 pantothenic acid, which is an ingredient very often used in hair care products) and vitamin D. Some research suggests that vitamin D promotes hair follicle health, but the ways in which that work are still being examined.

9.  Blueberries:  Blueberries may as well wear tiny little capes.  They are a super food par excellence and tasty to boot!  These little blue heroes are bursting with vitamin C (among other things), and vitamin C is critical for circulation to the scalp; it also aids the tiny, little blood vessels that feed hair follicles. Scrimp on the C, and you might start seeing a lot of breakage. So, grab a blueberry smoothie (made with Greek yogurt!), toss a handful in your mouth between meals, or make them dessert, but keep the blueberries around!

10.  Poultry:  It’s really all about the protein.  Poultry (and lean cuts of beef and other meats) are loaded with it. The birds are also packing plenty of zinc,  iron, and B vitamins, as well, which keep your ‘do long and strong.  In case you didn’t know, hair is almost completely protein, so when you munch on foods high in protein, you’re giving your hair exactly what it needs.

A few more tips for you hair lovers out there:

Red meat is great for iron and iron deficiency has been linked to hair loss and baldness, especially in women.  Keep your iron levels up to keep what you’ve got and help re-grow what you’ve lost.

Bananas, beer, oats and raisins all contain silica, which is great for keeping hair thick and durable.

Vegetables oils, including, olive, sunflower, peanut and safflower, help keep hair shiny.  Researchers say about one teaspoon a day  is sufficient to stave off dullness.

 

If you’re struggling with your locks or just hoping to do some good while eating great, give some of these suggestions a try.  Changes to hair and skin aren’t overnight; be patient, come see us at Brown Bag and we’ll load your lunch with as many of these hair-healthy foods as possible.  Then, sit back and wait, Rapuzel!  Beautiful hair will be yours!