Category — Articles Of Note

• Michael Pollan on Big Food vs. Big Insurance
• Training apps for your smartphone
• Mark Bittman’s twist on chicken w/40 cloves of garlic
• Are you a “foodie,” “cook,” or “home-cook?”
• Learn to make a Asian fusion dish with Gwyneth (video!)
• What Marion Nestle has to say about BPA

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If you’re at a loss sometimes, you’re not alone.  A recent survey by the Shelton Group showed that nearly 2/3 of the 1,006 U.S. consumers polled try to purchase foods produced in an environmentally friendly way.  But the consumers rated “100% natural” as the most reliable label claim, far ahead of “100% organic.”  It seems that consumers think that the word ‘organic’ is more of an unregulated marketing term, when really, the opposite is true.  ‘Natural’ is an unregulated word – organic foods must meet government standards to be certified as such. 

Want to know more?  Here is a guide to what the organic certification really means.  And here is a good article from the Chicago Tribune that talks about the Shelton Group study and goes further into the confusion regarding food labeling.  The Tribune also has a handy-dandy guide to the difference between “organic” and “natural” labeling on a variety of products that you can find here.

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The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy/Food and Health Program just released its “Smart Guide” to hormones in the food system.  It’s a PDF that you can download, and it has some good history and background information on where different synthetic hormones turn up and why, and also includes some tips on how to reduce your total hormone exposure from food and drink.  Check it out for yourself here.

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OK, so remember how I posted Sigg’s confessional letter from a week or so ago?  The one where they finally admit that their pre-’08 bottles have trace BPA in them?  I’ve been reading more about it, and thinking more about it, and it’s got my ire up.  It’s slimy what they did – during all the BPA fury, they just kept quiet, even denied that their bottle linings contained BPA, and then they changed their liners (such an admission of guilt) but yet kept the bottles with the old liners on the market.  I BOUGHT SMALL BOTTLES FOR MY DAUGHTER IN EARLY SEPTEMBER OF LAST YEAR – WITH THE OLD FREAKIN’ LINERS.  I SPENT $17.99 FOR EACH OF THEM. 

All told, I have 7 Sigg bottles with the old liners.  The small ones for L., some medium, some large.  Over $100 in Sigg bottles that I don’t want to use anymore. 

I found this post tonight on one of my favorite blogs, and it does link to a site that says that Sigg will replace your bottles for you, with the ones with the new liners, if you write to them and if you pay the postage to send them.  So here’s my question.  Can we trust them?  I mean, the new liners are some new chemical concoction.  Who’s to say that’s A-OK?  They do have 100% unlined stainless steel bottles, but they don’t seem to be in stock, and the letter the linked-to site received says Sigg will replace the bottles with ones with the new liners.  I don’t want any liners any more.  I think Sigg should send me whichever bottle I want in return for my old bottles, in order to create good will with one of their former #1 fans.  Or else I’m going to recycle all those mothers and order myself a slew of Kleen Kanteens.  Do you hear me, Sigg??  I feel ripped off, snookered and hoodwinked.

So please comment!  What are you going to do? 

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From the Epicurious Blog – ways to doctor up prepared foods.  Sometimes, you gotta take shortcuts.

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There is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about how the American Heart Association is recommending that people limit their sugar intake.  In a statement issued last Monday, the organization recommends that most women limit their sugar intake to 100 calories, or about six teaspoons, a day; and for men, the recommendation is 150 calories, or nine teaspoons daily.

The issue is that on the nutrition labels we see, sugar is listed in grams – a unit of weight, not volume like teaspoons . . . from what I can find, a teaspoon of sugar is equivalent to approximately 4.2 grams – so now you can do some division and see how many teaspoons are in your favorite food or beverage.   You might be shocked!

A lot of health-conscious folks I know eschew soda, but do eat things like fruit-flavored yogurts and/or packaged juices, which usually do have a lot of sugar.  Add to that ice cream, cookies, sugared cereals – well, by the end of the day you have yourself (in the words of some advertisement) “a sugar situation.”

What to do?  I don’t like artificial sweeteners as an alternative – they’re dubious in terms of long-term safety and to me, they’re just another chemical to add to the soup that’s already in our bodies (although, remember, I do love me a diet Coke once in a while – so moderation here too, friends!).  I have noticed over the years that when I limit my sugar consumption, fruits, etc. taste sweeter to me.  That is, when I wean myself off the hooch that is Halloween Candy, or Christmas cookies, or just a weekend bender involving Nabisco® Pinwheel® cookies and get back to fruits, I notice how sweet a peach can be, or a nice apple, or some strawberries or my other BFF of the summer, cantaloupe.

Don’t get me wrong, I love sweets.  Unless I had to for some extreme health reason, I’d never cut sugar completely out of my diet.  I do, however, limit my consumption of foods with added sugars – keeps my empty calorie consumption down and makes more room for foods with nutritional value.

Do you have a “sugar situation” going on?  Have you tried eliminating added sugars from your diet?   Why?  How long did you keep it up? 

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Are you all familiar with these?  A campaign by the EWG to give top-level, usable information to families to maximize their environmental health.  I know I sing the EWG’s praises so often – I just feel that they most often represent a balanced, logical approach to all this toxics madness.  After all, you could really make yourself nuts trying to follow the latest this-n-that, right?    You can subscribe by email and get updates every time they publish a new tip. 

Today’s is on chemical flame retardants in the home – something I’m sure our microfiber-ballistic-cheepie-kidproof sofa is full of . . . but at least I’ll know more for the next purchase, right? 

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Grub Street (NYMagazine.com’s food news) has released its Where And What To Eat in Boston for Fall ’09.  I really need to get to Olecito, period.  Haven’t been to the Inman location, and here they are, opening an outpost.  I’m feeling skeptical about Todd English’s new venture, Curly Cupcakes . . . but maybe Todd has what it takes to change my mind about cupcake boutiques?

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