Archive for the ‘The Truth’ Category
The Truth … about Puffins
t says: I was at Trader Joe’s yesterday, my least favorite grocery store in the world (although that’s another story …). I found some Puffins cereal. I had had some before and wasn’t blown away, but I was later told that I picked the wrong flavor. Silly me. They should have said it on the box: “this flavor isn’t as good as peanut butter – go for that instead”. In any case, because peanut butter was “where it’s at”, I picked up a box. It’s … ok. But I figured that it’s at the very least healthier than better-tasting cereals … right? Maybe.
Puffins on the left, Apple Jacks on the right
Apple Jacks have lots of vitamins and minerals. Puffins do not. Puffins have more fat and calories, whereas Apple Jacks have more sugar (12 g per cup vs. 8 g per cup). Also, keep in mind that the Apple Jacks have a 1 cup serving size, while Puffins are 0.75 cups per serving – although by weight, they are more similar than not, probably because Puffins are really dense.
Are you surprised that maybe Puffins aren’t the super-cereal you thought? After all, it is often touted as being better for you that sugary kids cereals, because Puffins may be made of “good stuff”, thus lacking a lot of the processed “things” that are in Apple Jacks … including the fortification. Which should people eat? In my completely unprofessional opinion … that depends! If you don’t eat the healthiest selection of foods that would be able to cover all of those missing vitamins and minerals that you’d miss if you chose Puffins, then I’d go for Apple Jacks. If your daily diet is flawless … fine … enjoy those insipid puffs and the ability to look cool while you shop for cereal in that “organic” section of the grocery store. Personally, I was raised exclusively on sugary cereals, and I’m fine [kinda]! At the very least, Apple Jacks are better for you than those “Great for Breakfast” Tasty-kakes (Tasty-kakes are in fact never good for breakfast … actually, I think Tasty-kake stopped putting that phrase on their donuts and coffee cakes).
What’s the point … ? I don’t know. I did it for the drama …
The Truth … about Hellmann’s “Real-ness”
t says: I decided to start up a new category of posts dealing with the fabled question: “why?”. Not every one will deal with food, and I’m not even sure if there will ever be another post. I guess the truth about “The Truth” is that I just couldn’t figure out in which of the existing categories this particular post belongs …
It all started when I was watching television and saw a Miracle Whip advertisement in which they mocked Hellmann’s campaign of being “real” (i.e. they called it “real boring” or something like that). Not having seen Hellmann’s ads, I had no idea what they were talking about. Later, I finally saw a Hellmann’s ad that professed that their mayonnaise was “real” as it was made with good stuff like eggs, oil, and vinegar … but did anyone else see the fine white print at the bottom of the screen? You can watch it here. It said something like “Contains a small amount of EDTA to protect quality”. I then remembered that one of my bosses mentioned how EDTA was added to mayonnaise … wanna know why?
We humans love calcium. Our bones use it to be nice and strong. Our muscles, brains, and nerves use it to function properly. It turns out that mold and other nasty things also love calcium, too! Without calcium, they either don’t grow or grow very slowly. What does this have to do with mayonnaise? Those “real” ingredients that Hellmann’s is using contain calcium. This is good for our health, but it’s also good at making foods go bad, as those nasty things can grow in mayonnaise! So the fine people at Hellmann’s add EDTA. EDTA is kind of like a calcium sponge. The EDTA will suck up the calcium so that fungus can’t use it, thus, things won’t grow in the mayonnaise so quickly. How else could an egg-based product stay fresh in the fridge for so long?
Do I ding Hellmann’s for claiming to be “real”? Maybe. I’d say it’s “real-esque”. But I think they need to call a spade a spade – which maybe the fine print in the ad is enough. In the end, it is clear that a not-natural “chemical” is added to the food product … and if you can’t deal with chemicals in your food, you shouldn’t eat Hellmann’s. But for me, I don’t want to buy mayonnaise every time I want a spoonful for my sandwich hankering – so I’m totally fine with it! It’s not like I depend on mayonnaise for my daily calcium requirement, anyways.
after dinner sneeze 