Welcome to the game that gives you the nutrition label and ingredients list of an absolute horror-food and asks you to identify the infamous member of the Fitness Mantra Hall Of Shame.

Without further ado, today’s item:

(Click The image to enlarge)

Identify “XYZ” (it is the same in both places and I had to erase it because it is the solution)!

Solution to Name That Shame #3: Special K Strawberry Bar! (and you thought it was soooo good for you! Tip: it’s not.)

What happens when you allow a Government Commission to decide what is healthy for the citizens? You get food-standards that are so laughably lax that most junk foods can now be considered quite nutritious!

New European Commission Food-Thresholds passed by a group in Brussels have made a mockery of deciding what is healthy. For example, for bakery products, all they want is a maximum of 500 mg sodium, 25 g of sugar and 8  g of saturated fat. This leads to comical situations:

An analysis of 120 foods common in the UK diet by Oxford University suggested that a Tesco jam doughnut with 200mg of sodium, 18g of sugar and 5.7g of saturated fat per 100g would easily meet the health threshold [...] Other products that would be approved would be Sainsbury’s pork sausages, salted Kettle crisps and a Burger King Whopper. [The Independent]

The takeaway? Please don’t the government decide what is good for you! If they can decide that a doughnut is good for you, then it’s quite obvious they haven’t the first clue about how they should be tackling the growing obesity problem. Colin Walker, senior public affairs officer at Which? says: “The UK Government needs to get these proposals thrown out and completely rewritten.”

One would certainly hope so … for the good of all Europeans!

Time for another edition of Name That shame and today I pick one of my favorite “Hall Of Shamers”. These guys promote their products as – get this – “weight-loss” products, but one look at their nutrition label and ingredients and you’ll see just what the food industry can get away with.

This label is taken directly from their company website so you can rest assured, I am not making this up!

Can you identify this so-called health-food?

Answer to Name That Shame #2: Twinkies

Well folks, it’s that time again when I give you the nutrition label and ingredients list of a positively shameful food-product and you try to identify it!

Here is this week’s mystery food:

Ingredients: Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour [Flour, Reduced Iron, B Vitamins (Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Folic Acid)], Sugar, Water, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable and/or Animal Shortening (Contains One or More of: Soybean, Cottonseed or Canola Oil, Beef Fat), Whole Eggs, Dextrose. Contains 2% or Less of: Modified Corn Starch, Glucose, Leavenings (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate), Sweet Dairy Whey, Soy Protein Isolate, Calcium and Sodium Caseinate, Salt, Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 60, Soy Lecithin, Cornstarch, Corn Flour, Corn Dextrin, Cellulose Gum, Sodium Stearyl Lactylate, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sorbic Acid (to Retain Freshness), FD&C Yellow 5, Red 40.

If you recognize this chemical concoction fire away in the comments section below. Answers in the next edition of Name That Shame!

Answer to Name That Shame #1: Laffy Taffy!

With so many food products with absolutely horrendous ingredients floating around the supermarket aisles, I thought it would be fun to run some mini-quizzes to see if you can identify some of them given just their nutrition label and ingredients.

Here’s the first one:

INGREDIENTS: Corn Syrup, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil, LESS THAN 2% OF: Mono and Diglycerides, Malic Acid, Salt, Artificial Flavors, Soy, Lecithin, Artificial Colors (Blue #1, Red #40, Yellow #6)

Answers will appear in the next edition of Name That Shame, but if you can recognize this abomination, then answer in the comments!

Yes, the title is a little sensational – but it’s true. As a city, over the past two years, New York’s 5 million residents gained a total of about 10 million pounds – or about 2 pounds each! If you think that does not warrant attention (it’s just a pound a year, after all), then consider this from the New York Times blogs …

[...] the weight gains were particularly concentrated among the heaviest New Yorkers. The city’s rates of obesity and new diabetes diagnoses both increased by 17 percent during the two-year study period, compared with a 6 percent increase in obesity prevalence and no increase in diabetes diagnoses nationally.[NY Times]

“Broad”way indeed!

The city’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden is obviously troubled and he does recognize that educating the consumer about cutting down on calorie-consumption is an important first-step toward solving this very real crisis:

“To tackle this problem and help prevent the devastating effects of these conditions, New Yorkers must to take in fewer calories, and to help them do that we must change our environment. Consumers must have calorie information readily available when they are ordering food at chain restaurants …[NY Times]

Too bad his own city is not with him when it comes to providing calorie-information to its citizens. New York’s chain restaurants were supposed to post calorie counts of menu items starting Monday. But the inevitable court-challenge from the New York State Restaurant Association group means that New York cannot enforce this law until April 14th. Why? Apparently some constitutional rights were being infringed!:

[...] the state restaurant association says the rule violates the First Amendment. The group believes it forces businesses to put message on their menus.[AHN]

With things the way they are, is it any wonder that even simple – and potentially life-saving – procedures and regulations take forever to see the light of day?

A favorite section of Men’s Health magazine, for me at least, is “Eat This Not That” in which more healthful alternatives are prescribed in place of their unhealthy counterparts.

Sometime back they posted a mind-blowing list of The 20 Worst Foods In America and I just had to share that with you folks. Be prepared to gasp in horror as you read all about the calorific monstrosities being served in restaurants across America.

Here’s an example of an after-dinner heart-stopper: Chili’s offers a Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream with 1,600 calories, 78g of fat and 215g of carbs.

But, wait a minute. Remember the Great Wall of Chocolate from P.F.Chang’s? That delectable, yet deadly, delicacy has 2240 calories, 90g of fat and 376g of carbs! So looks like Chili’s loses this round although I am sure that someone, somewhere is at this very moment crafting a creamy, chocolate-rich confection that’ll knock the calories off the competition!

Well it’s time for another edition of Food Horror and it’s unfortunate that one of my favorite restaurants has to be featured on this page. As vegetarians, we find few restaurants can offer us tasty and healthful options, but P.F. Chang’s was always a favorite except they didn’t have a branch in Connecticut when we first moved here. That changed last month, when their first branch opened bang in the center of Stamford, right by the mall.

The very next occasion we had to celebrate, we drove all the way to Stamford to reacquaint our eye with the ambiance and tongues with the gastronomic treats P.F. Chang’s has to offer and we were certainly not disappointed. From the familiar sculptures of the twin horses guarding the door to the large mural of a Chinese village scene above the bar, the restaurant continues to remain faithful to tradition. The food, while unlikely to be described as “spectacular”, is well above the standards set by other restaurants that serve vegetarian fare. The Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps still maintain that delicate balance between crunchy and tangy, the Coconut Curry Vegetables is aromatic and flavorful as ever and the Banana Spring Rolls are crispy, sweet and the only way we know to end our dinner.

Actually we might have ended our dinner with the Great Wall Of Chocolate which, according to the site, consists of “Six layers of rich chocolate cake frosted with semi-sweet chocolate chips and served with raspberry sauce.” But I was fortunate enough to have seen their online menu (complete with ingredients and nutrition info) and that helped me avoid this calorie, sugar and fat laden disaster:

2240 calories, 376g of carbs and almost 90g of fat. Infact, the head waiter told me they have a stretcher on standby and Stamford Hospital’s Emergency Ward on speed dial just in case someone decides to test the limits of their arteries with this brown bombshell. I mean, this would have been too much even if we split it like we always do. So although it looked and sounded delicious, we just passed on the offer (the guys holding the stretcher were decidedly unhappy with our decision) and chose the Banana Spring Rolls instead (not too much better nutrition-wise, but still manageable).

I sure hope someone talks to them about portion control, and real soon. Thankfully, they still carry some pretty healthful choices for those so inclined. Case in point is their Buddha’s Feast (choose the steamed version):

I guess it’s just a question of knowing (and more importantly, ordering) what’s good for you. What’s your favorite at P.F. Chang’s? And how special should the occasion be for you to go for the Great Wall Of Chocolate?

Hardee’s, the “fat-food” joint famous for its excessively high-calorie fare (with lovely names like “Monster Thickburger” and “Loaded Omelet Biscuit”) is back with a vengeance.

Since a picture speaks a thousand calories, I’ll leave you with this gem (image derived, tearfully, from Hardee’s Nutrition page):

This food horror sails triumphantly into the FitnessMantra Hall Of Shame. A proud member, I am sure.

[AP: Hardee's Unveils 920-Calorie Burrito]

Technorati Tags: health, nutrition, hardees, country breakfast burrito, calories

The TV ads look simply amazing: a woman sitting on the floor and eating her cereal and explaining how easy it is for her to stay healthy. The secret, you ask? Why, she simply stuffs herself with Kellogg’s so-called “SmartStart” cereal every morning and she is sure to stop heart-disease right on its tracks.

Well, not so fast. Although Kellogg’s is one of a limited number of top “Breakfast Brands” like Quaker, General Mills or Kashi, it still lags far behind the rest in terms of healthful ingredients and is one of the biggest users of artificial sweeteners and trans fats in its products. Read on to know what these harmful artificial ingredients are and how they could be doing the heart more harm than good …

First take a look at the Kellogg’s Smart Start Healthy Heart Cereal’s Ingredient List and Nutrition Information: (adapted from the official website):

Isn’t it amazing that after everything you’ve heard and read about trans fats being bad for you and even recent news that High Fructose Corn Syrup being bad for your arteries, Kellogg’s continues to thumb its nose at you and other consumers and includes these ingredients in their high profile products. Note the presence of partially-hydrogenated soybean oil in the oat clusters and remember 0g trans-fat simply means that trans fats are between 0 and 0.5g. More than one serving a day and you are already increasing your risk for the heart-problems associated with trans fat consumption.

Also, while the good news is that SmartStart contains a very good fiber profile (5g total with both soluble and insoluble parts) and a healthy quantity (7g) of protein, watch out for the insulin rush as 17g of sugar invade your bloodstream from just one serving. It’s no surprise really since we have sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, molasses, honey, malt, corn syrup, polydextrose (you didn’t know that was a sweetener, now, did you?!), cinnamon and vanilla-flavor (count them – that’s 9!) all contributing to the product’s sweetness! Since when did we need this kind of a tongue-melter first thing in the morning?

It’s high time Kellogg’s stopped taking consumers for granted. It’s no surprise that all the women featured in the SmartStart website are holding onto their hearts (for dear life, I presume!) Fitness Mantra wishes their hearts the best of luck. If they are “Smart”, they will “Start” by dumping this cereal and grabbing some good old fashioned oatmeal or Cheerios and top it with a few nuts and berries. Now that is a breakfast that will actually do your heart some good!

Technorati Tags: Kellogg’s, SmartStart, breakfast, cereal