I'm feeling like a fraud... I've fallen off my self created wagon, BIG TIME. It's been ages since I've paid much attention to my rules. My junkie tendencies have taken over... just one chip, just this time... and suddenly I'm a full fledged eater again. I'm still not quite making the connection between what I know, what I want and what I actually DO. So when I'm here I'm preaching, but I'm not practicing... I feel like a smoker telling everyone how successfully I've quit, telling them how they can do it too... and then sneaking out for cigarettes. So I'm outing myself. Part of why I created this blog was to have some accountability to all of this.
The problem isn't that we've slipped back into eating pre-packaged grocery store items... we're still pretty good when we do cook at home. The problem is that we've gotten back into our eating out habit.
So, time to recommit. This is just as important to me as when I started, but I'm having trouble seeing that right now. All I can see is the easy road and the excuses. I need to give some thought to next steps.
I advised a friend today that to succeed at something she was trying to change, she needed more than just goals. I told her she needs to decide what steps were going to get her to her goals. So maybe I should be following my own advice (gee, you think??). My ultimate goal is to be a healthier/happier person... pretty vague and indefinable. I need something more tangible.
Ok... so here's my homework for tonight:
1) Set tangible goals
2) Decide on steps to achieve those goals
3) Set markers for success, and rewards for reaching those markers
It's Wednesday, so I'll report back by Friday.
In the mien time, if you have any suggestions to set me on my way feel free to let me know.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
"Happiness is Found Within"
I know I've been absent here for quite a while, but my blog has never been far from my thoughts. It just keeps getting lower and lower on the list of things I'm prioritizing, especially with the nice weather. Normally I'd be prone to feeling bad about this... but I've been prioritizing things like being outside, joining a writing group, working on my other writing projects, planning my next trip, joining a book club... so I've put my guilt aside and decided I'd get back here when I got back. All that said, I've been working out this post in my mind for a good 3 weeks now and I have been compiling bits of information in that time.
Last week I was eating some very delicious ice cream, on a very warm evening. Hubby noticed something I found rather funny... on the side of the container were the words "Happiness is Found Within". Now I'm rather torn about this phrase on the side of my ice cream. I can't deny that on one of the first evenings that the city did not cool down after the sun disappeared, the first evening that to me screamed "SUMMER!", that moment with my husband and my ice cream, was happiness. The kind that makes life good by spotting it with pin points of joy. So: warm night in April + husband + ice cream = joy. The equation wouldn't have quite added up any other way. Sometimes, food can add to happiness. I'm still having some trouble with this phrase on the side of the ice cream container. Why? Because I have trouble with the idea that food can equal happiness. It's a concept I'm trying to balance with my learning not to rely on food for emotional rewards. I'm not there yet, so I have trouble with a label that tells me that junk food = happiness... even though it can. Confused yet? Me too... sigh.
All of this leads me to the topic at hand: Labels. Not the kind we put on people, the kind we put on food, and our willingness to believe them without question. What got me thinking about this was an email sent to me by a friend about All-Bran Snack Bites. Up until now I've been pretty conscientious about keeping brand names out of my blog... partly because I'm not here to provide shortcuts, vilify particular foods or brands, or make up your mind for you... I'm here to encourage you to read labels, do research and think things through for yourself to come to your own conclusions about what you feel is acceptable for you to put in your body. I'm going to use All Bran as an example, citing nutritional information provided on their website (allbran.ca) to reinforce a point I feel is exceptionally important.
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the brand name "All-Bran"? Pause for a minute and think on it.
Done? I think of something healthful. My first instinct is to trust All-Bran as a brand to feed me something nutritious. It's right there in the name, right? BRAN! What if I were to tell you that the first ingredient on All-Bran Snack Bites, Cinnamon/Brown Sugar Flavour is: SUGAR/GLUCOSE-FRUCTOSE! So, not a good start. I decided to put the Snack Bites up against a similar product from a brand none of us thinks of as "healthy" - Hershey's. Here's how the two measure up on a few of the main nutritional facts:
All-Bran Snack Bites, Cinnamon/Brown Sugar Flavour (1 serving = 1pkg or 28g)
100 Calories
3.5g Fat
5g Fiber
4% of your daily sodium requirement
8g sugar
Hershey's Snacksters, Reese Flavour (1 serving = 1 pkg or 20 gr)
100 Calories
4g Fat
3% of your daily sodium requirement
8g sugar
So, let's note a few things here. Same calorie count, but you get more food for your calories with the All-Bran. Almost identical fat content. Very similar sodium content. Equal amounts of sugar. Fiber is the great divide here with the Hershey product having negligible amounts and the All-Bran bar having 5 grams. So, yes overall the All-Bran Bar comes out ahead as the better choice - but not by a huge margin. I'd be interested to compare ingredients, but couldn't find them on the Hershey site. I'm fairly certain All-Bran would come out ahead there as well, but after having a look at their ingredients I'd have to say they don't make the list of things I'm eating.
On a slightly separate bent, but still with regards to labeling, I've come across some very interesting factoids around fiber. Notice lately that every where you turn in the supermarket things are boasting about some magic ingredient they contain to make your life better/healthier? A lot of products are claiming to be high in fiber. Awesome, right? Fiber is terrific for us. Yes, it certainly is... however according the Centre of Science in the Public Interest many foods are having a form of fiber known as "purified powders" added to up their fiber content. Unfortunately this group is asserting that these types of fibers (check ingredients lists for: Polydextrose, maltodextrin and inulin) carry almost none of the benefits that you think you should be getting from fiber. My rule of thumb is that if they contain ingredients I can't identify (ie: inulin, maltodextrin and polydextrose) I don't eat them. Here's a safe bet... if you're not getting your fiber from a plant, you should at the very least be able to identify the ingredient it's coming from in your food (ie: whole grains).
Some other interesting label tricks to watch for:
Sugar (or anything else for that matter) - just because it's not the first ingredient doesn't mean it's not the most prevalent one. Pay attention to how many times different forms of sugar reoccur on an ingredient list - if there are 3 or 4 different types of sugar, chances are sugar should have been first on the list. Nice loophole Mr. Corporation.
Serving Size - we like to assume that if something comes in a pre-packaged "single serving" size, that the nutritional information matches the size offered in the package. Not necessarily, so be sure to check.
If you have a preconceived notion about a particular food or brand, and have been assuming it has health benefits, read the nutritional information and ingredients! Now that you know what's in your food you can make an educated decision about whether or not you want to eat what's in it!
The moral of the story: You don’t believe my ice cream container when it tells you “happiness is within”; so why would you believe that bag of taco chips is better for you because it says “multi-grain” on the bag? Or to paraphrase Michael Pollan: A carrot didn't need to advertise for you to know it was healthy.
Last week I was eating some very delicious ice cream, on a very warm evening. Hubby noticed something I found rather funny... on the side of the container were the words "Happiness is Found Within". Now I'm rather torn about this phrase on the side of my ice cream. I can't deny that on one of the first evenings that the city did not cool down after the sun disappeared, the first evening that to me screamed "SUMMER!", that moment with my husband and my ice cream, was happiness. The kind that makes life good by spotting it with pin points of joy. So: warm night in April + husband + ice cream = joy. The equation wouldn't have quite added up any other way. Sometimes, food can add to happiness. I'm still having some trouble with this phrase on the side of the ice cream container. Why? Because I have trouble with the idea that food can equal happiness. It's a concept I'm trying to balance with my learning not to rely on food for emotional rewards. I'm not there yet, so I have trouble with a label that tells me that junk food = happiness... even though it can. Confused yet? Me too... sigh.
All of this leads me to the topic at hand: Labels. Not the kind we put on people, the kind we put on food, and our willingness to believe them without question. What got me thinking about this was an email sent to me by a friend about All-Bran Snack Bites. Up until now I've been pretty conscientious about keeping brand names out of my blog... partly because I'm not here to provide shortcuts, vilify particular foods or brands, or make up your mind for you... I'm here to encourage you to read labels, do research and think things through for yourself to come to your own conclusions about what you feel is acceptable for you to put in your body. I'm going to use All Bran as an example, citing nutritional information provided on their website (allbran.ca) to reinforce a point I feel is exceptionally important.
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the brand name "All-Bran"? Pause for a minute and think on it.
Done? I think of something healthful. My first instinct is to trust All-Bran as a brand to feed me something nutritious. It's right there in the name, right? BRAN! What if I were to tell you that the first ingredient on All-Bran Snack Bites, Cinnamon/Brown Sugar Flavour is: SUGAR/GLUCOSE-FRUCTOSE! So, not a good start. I decided to put the Snack Bites up against a similar product from a brand none of us thinks of as "healthy" - Hershey's. Here's how the two measure up on a few of the main nutritional facts:
All-Bran Snack Bites, Cinnamon/Brown Sugar Flavour (1 serving = 1pkg or 28g)
100 Calories
3.5g Fat
5g Fiber
4% of your daily sodium requirement
8g sugar
Hershey's Snacksters, Reese Flavour (1 serving = 1 pkg or 20 gr)
100 Calories
4g Fat
3% of your daily sodium requirement
8g sugar
So, let's note a few things here. Same calorie count, but you get more food for your calories with the All-Bran. Almost identical fat content. Very similar sodium content. Equal amounts of sugar. Fiber is the great divide here with the Hershey product having negligible amounts and the All-Bran bar having 5 grams. So, yes overall the All-Bran Bar comes out ahead as the better choice - but not by a huge margin. I'd be interested to compare ingredients, but couldn't find them on the Hershey site. I'm fairly certain All-Bran would come out ahead there as well, but after having a look at their ingredients I'd have to say they don't make the list of things I'm eating.
On a slightly separate bent, but still with regards to labeling, I've come across some very interesting factoids around fiber. Notice lately that every where you turn in the supermarket things are boasting about some magic ingredient they contain to make your life better/healthier? A lot of products are claiming to be high in fiber. Awesome, right? Fiber is terrific for us. Yes, it certainly is... however according the Centre of Science in the Public Interest many foods are having a form of fiber known as "purified powders" added to up their fiber content. Unfortunately this group is asserting that these types of fibers (check ingredients lists for: Polydextrose, maltodextrin and inulin) carry almost none of the benefits that you think you should be getting from fiber. My rule of thumb is that if they contain ingredients I can't identify (ie: inulin, maltodextrin and polydextrose) I don't eat them. Here's a safe bet... if you're not getting your fiber from a plant, you should at the very least be able to identify the ingredient it's coming from in your food (ie: whole grains).
Some other interesting label tricks to watch for:
Sugar (or anything else for that matter) - just because it's not the first ingredient doesn't mean it's not the most prevalent one. Pay attention to how many times different forms of sugar reoccur on an ingredient list - if there are 3 or 4 different types of sugar, chances are sugar should have been first on the list. Nice loophole Mr. Corporation.
Serving Size - we like to assume that if something comes in a pre-packaged "single serving" size, that the nutritional information matches the size offered in the package. Not necessarily, so be sure to check.
If you have a preconceived notion about a particular food or brand, and have been assuming it has health benefits, read the nutritional information and ingredients! Now that you know what's in your food you can make an educated decision about whether or not you want to eat what's in it!
The moral of the story: You don’t believe my ice cream container when it tells you “happiness is within”; so why would you believe that bag of taco chips is better for you because it says “multi-grain” on the bag? Or to paraphrase Michael Pollan: A carrot didn't need to advertise for you to know it was healthy.
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