Hidden Trans Fats

The following message appeared in my mailbox as part of Left Coast News/Left Coast Events*:

Planet Organic Health Food Store Selling Trans - Fats...

Planet Organic Market on Quadra St., a 'health food' store, is selling products containing trans fats.

The products are made by Rising Star Bakery of Victoria, and other bakers as well.

I mentioned this to Planet Organic management a couple of months ago and I think they assured me they would do something about it, but 2 months later nothing has changed. Since it seems that everyone is trying to avoid trans-fats; which are known to be dangerous in a variety of ways, it seems strange that a Health Food store would continue to sell them, especially since many people do not read labels and maybe trust Planet Organic to be selling safer products.

Perhaps you can mention this to them the next time you go there...

For information: Jack at jetkino@yahoo.ca

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What's in the Box?

One of my big peeves is companies who slap a weight related label on their product that is misleading. While I don't think the ads for Quaker's latest Weight Control instant oatmeal are misleading, I think the packaging alone may be.

Here's why:

Quaker Instant Oatmeal: Maple and Brown Sugar vs. Quaker Weight Control Instant Oatmeal: Maple and Brown Sugar. A package of the original variety is 43g, and has 160 calories, with 20 calories from fat; the Weight Control package is 45g, and has 160 calories with 25 calories from fat. So, where's the savings?

Both list "whole grain oats" as the first ingredient but the "classic" formula lists sugar second whereas the Weight Control formula lists whey protein isolate.

The ads claim that the oatmeal will keep you full longer and with protein powder as the second ingredient it will -- and if you add fruit to your bowl you'll have something that your body will consider a balanced meal. Just don't buy it thinking that "weight control" is equivalent to "low calorie."

Facing up to Fatness.

Most days, I don't think about the size and shape of my body. Not consciously at least. But this month I had to buy a formal gown. The shopping experience left a lot to be desired -- and I think that's a kind way to say it. I felt frustrated and very unwanted, but at the end, I had two lovely dresses.

Last night, I did the necessary alterations on the full ball gown and tried it on. I asked hubby to take a photo, which he did. I looked at the photos and my first thought wasn't, "good, it does fit" but instead, "hell, I look fat."

And tomorrow, I will be sitting in a room full of people thinking just that. It sucks, I hate it, but I can't escape it -- not immediately anyway. So, it's back to portion resizing and all that stuff. Again.

When Light Means Fat.

During a recent trip to Washington state, I picked up some cans of Starbucks™ iced coffees: Iced Coffee Italian Roast and DoubleShot® Light. I was surprised to find that the one labelled "light" was the higher fat choice.

Here's the calorie breakdown:

Iced Coffee, Italian Roast

serving size: 325 ml (11 fl oz)
total calories: 100
total fat: 1 g
calories from fat: 10 (10%)
calories per ml: 0.31

Double Shot®, Light

serving size: 192 ml (6.5 fl oz)
total calories: 70
total fat: 4 g
calories from fat: 35 (50%)
calories per ml: 0.36

Compare to

Double Shot®, Regular

serving size: 192 ml (6.5 fl oz)
total calories: 140
total fat: 6 g
calories from fat: 54 (39%)
calories per ml: 0.73

Home made iced coffee (4 fl oz brewed coffee plus 4 fl oz whole milk)

serving size 340 ml (8 fl oz)
total calories: 120
total fat: 4 g
calories from fat: 35 (29%)
calories per ml: 0.35

Maybe I should just stick to black coffee. Hmm.

Bad food idea.

MLB - We're lovin' it: Minor league team creates donut burger [from ESPN.com]

OK... whoever dreamed up this idea should be slapped:

The ballpark sandwich will include a hamburger topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon -- all between a "bun" of Krispy Kreme Original Glazed donuts.

At about 1,000 calories and 45 grams of fat, this is almost the full day's intake for some people. What the heck were they thinking???

It also reminds me of the Twinkie Weiner Sandwiches (split Twinkie, insert cooked hot dog, add squeeze cheeze, attempt to eat), made infamous by Weird Al Yankovic through the now cult-classic movie UHF. Blech.

Sorry, let me shove something down your throat.

There's something a bit troubling about an ad series which is currently in heavy rotation. The product is an instant blender drink -- the tagline is "Ready. Just in time."

To emphasize how fast they are, the ads show a mother or wife coming to the rescue of a physically or emotionally hurt husband or child. In each case the woman says nothing -- offers no word of comfort, no physical bond -- but instead rushes to the kitchen, opens the freezer and pulls out the product. She deftly chucks it in the blender, whirrs, and presents it to the hurt individual, as the announcer says "Just in time."

What really irks me is how the ads play to the "food equals comfort" cliché.

Unfortunately, this cliché is one of the major psychological hurdles facing those trying to lose weight. Everyone has favourite comfort foods -- usually they have to do with happy memories around a dinner table or similar; they may have been the roast your mother cooked every week or the way your dad made spaghetti on the weekend. In many cases, comfort foods are starchy, fatty or sweet.

This product isn't actually bad for you (most flavours are fat-free and deliver 160 calories for a 400 ml serving size -- the exception is (no surprise here) the pineapple coconut which delivers an extra 30 calories, all from saturated fat) but I object to using a food product as a pacifier.

Canada Gains Weight.

CBC News: Canadians getting dangerously fatter, study says

Well... I guess that was inevitable. The panic-fueling stories from America weren't enough to scare Canadians into losing weight so now Canada gets its own front-page fat study.

Yeah, we get it. OK?

According to most BMI calculators, I am considered obese -- in fact currently, after losing weight, I am just shy of the class 3 level of obesity mentioned in the article.

And yet, I can walk up several flights of stairs without (completely) losing my breath; I fit into a clothing size that is widely available; and I see a lot of people walking around every day who are clearly heavier than me.

I think the problem is that it has become more acceptable to be dangerously overweight. When I was a teen, I could barely fit into the largest size available in most clothing stores -- size 15. Now, most stores include up to size 18 or XL; it's only sizes 20+ or XXL+ which are most often banished to the plus size outlets.

Of course, there's the whole issue of "fat acceptance" -- on the one hand I feel very strongly that overweight and obese people should be free from discrimination, but I start to waver when someone sues the airlines because they can't fit in the seats. It's a thorny issue at the best of times, and not one I care to mull over too closely here.

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At any rate, since starting to supplement my diet with 5-HTP about two weeks ago, I have been able to cut back on evening snacking (always a danger zone) and get enough sleep that I don't feel like having two carafes of coffee in the mornings. In that time I have also lost 5 lbs. Yay, me!

A Pox Upon the Popcorn Palace

Popcorn, in and of itself is a pretty good snack. Movie theatre popcorn is not.

A cup of plain, air-popped popcorn weighs in at about 30 calories and negligible amounts of fat. A cup of oil-popped popcorn with butter or buttery-topping has about 80 calories -- most of it from artery-clogging bad fats. And of course, there's about 20 cups in one of those tubs.

One of my biggest slides over the past year was my return to eating movie popcorn. Until recently, I worked nights so seeing a movie in the theatre was a rare occurence. In the past year, I went to at least 20 films in the theatre, and I think we bought big tubs of popcorn almost every time.

I shudder to think how many times popcorn stood in for dinner, how many calories -- especially from fat -- that went into my diet, and how much cash went out of our budget (a combo of the large popcorn, a large drink and a candy bar is $11.99 at the theatre chain we frequent most often).

To combat this, I plan to use a combo of pre-planning (eat before the movie!), willpower (have a coffee instead of popcorn!), and avoidance (watch movies at home!). Cinemas, be forewarned: your profits are about to take a hit from this viewer.

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Read more about the fat content from Kansas State University and at Weightloss.about.com; more about the economics of movie popcorn at Slate: The Popcorn Palace Economy - The thirsty moviegoer fuels the business. By Edward Jay Epstein

Starting Over Again.

It is too easy to drift away from eating healthy. I haven't stepped on the scale in a while but I can assure you, I have gained weight. I started slipping a while ago... buying cookies with coffee; eating crappy fried foods; skipping vegetables. Bah.

Starting this week, though, I will be working a flex time schedule which means my lunches will no longer be a leisurely hour but instead a half-hour. Food-wise this is probably a good thing. It means I will be taking more sandwiches and snack foods (hopefully smart snacks!) that I can eat at coffee breaks as well as lunch time.

I also need to be motivated to fit exercise into my routine. I have no idea how to do this since I really dislike it, on principle. I love the way I feel after I have exercised but I am so seldom active that I seem to forget that feeling, so it doesn't contribute to my motivation.