Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Simple Wins; Cereal Bars Are Evil!


So we were on our way to a farmer's market on a sunny & 65 Sunday with our new friends from Ventura, Amber & Tim and their little boy Sawyer. While we were all walking down toward the market, Amber was talking about a book she was reading that discussed looking beyond the nutrition facts on food and taking a better look at the ingredients. I thought, yeah, that makes sense. But I obviously didn't think to process that idea when marketed to, right. What I mean is, cereal bars are evil. Yes. Let me explain...

I bought these cereal bars from Vons, deceitfully titled "Eating Right; uniting flavor & nutrition"; "naturally flavored fruit & grain bars". And that with a quick glance at the 2g fiber, 0g sat fat and low price put them into my dorky basket without a second thought. But after Amber's comment (and our great farmer's market experience, which I may tell you more about if I'm not too tired), Heather took another look at the cereal bars. And below, if you will allow, I will list the ingredients to solidify (much like my artery walls) our message. And remember, they are listed in order of composition (first = most):

Filling: fructose, high fructose corn syrup, fruits (apples, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries), sugar (as if they needed MORE sugar), glycerin, maltodextrin, modified corn starch, sodium alginate, natural flavor, calcium chloride, malic acid, sodium citrate, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate (preservative), red #40, blue #1.
Crust: enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), oat bran, canola and/or soybean oil, raisin paste, liquid whole eggs, molasses, glycerin, oat fiber, brown sugar, liquid invert sugar, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate), wheat bran, salt, honey, cellulose gum, sodium bicarbonate, sodium propionate (a preservative), vitamins and minerals, niacinamide, zinc oxide, reduced iron, calcium carbonate, pyridoxine, hydrochloride (vitamin b6), riboflavin (vitamin b2), vitamin a palmitate, thiamin dydrochloride (vit b1) and folic acid.

Whew, my "splagnon" hurt just thinking about all that crap needing digestion. I can't believe they use words like "naturally flavored" and "nutritious" and a picture of two happy, healthy people frolicking in an open field on the back. It reeks of deception. But I guess that's just another word for "marketing".

Farmer's Market: Among others, we talked with a guy who is part-owner of some "happy cows" beef farm: free-roaming grass-fed non-hormone-juiced cows from just up the 101. He talked about his experience of trying supermarket beef once and getting sick from it. He even gave us 2# of their ground beef FREE to try! Which we made into some great-tasting sloppy joe's.

Simple wins, I reckon.