My husband sent me a link to a story the other day that has been sitting on my mind ever since … if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you saw me share this link and post a few comments.

Well, here are a few more.

Men’s Health magazine just posted a review of the 20 Worst Supermarket Store Foods in America. It’s written by the same guys that wrote Eat This! Not That, which I have blogged about and think is one of the key books in every foodie/healthy eater’s library.

Here are some of the highlights:

13. WORST “HEALTHY” PANTRY ITEM

Pop-Tarts Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon (2 pastries)

• 400 calories
• 14 g fat (4 g saturated)
• 5 g fiber, 28 g sugars

Whole grain ain’t the whole truth. There’s also a glut of vegetable oil and seven types of sugar stuffed inside.

Sugar equivalent: 1 Snickers bar

Eat This Instead:

Sun-Maid Raisin English Muffins with Cinnamon (1 muffin)

• 170 calories
• 0.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
• 2 g fiber, 13 g sugars

12. WORST FROZEN “HEALTHY” ENTRÉE

Healthy Choice Complete Selections Sweet & Sour Chicken (340 g)

• 430 calories
• 9 g fat (1 g saturated)
• 600 mg sodium
• 29 g sugars

Since when has fried chicken been healthy? Certainly not when it’s cloaked in sugar.

Sugar equivalent: 2 scoops Breyers Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ice cream

Eat This Instead:

Kashi Southwest Style Chicken (283 g)

• 240 calories
• 5 g fat (0 g saturated)
• 680 mg sodium

11. WORST CEREAL

Quaker 100% Natural Granola, Oats, Honey & Raisins (1 c)

• 420 calories
• 12 g fat (7 g saturated)
• 6 g fiber, 30 g sugars

Granola, for all its good reputation, is usually weighed down by a deluge of added sugars. In fact, for the same amount of sugar, you could have a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles more than twice the size—and you’d get more fiber and save about 60 calories in fat.

Calorie equivalent: 8 chicken wings

Eat This Instead:

Kashi GOLEAN (1 c)

• 140 calories
• 1 g fat (0 g saturated)
• 10 g fiber/6 g sugars

Here are my takeaways.

• All of us in America need to be more accountable for what we put in our bodies. If we’re going to eat junk — and let’s face it, we all are — we should at least be aware of the junkiness. It’s not fair to expect people to make good choices if they don’t have the facts. Once they do? I think they (I’m including myself here, not lecturing) should be expected to find some balance. Want that pizza for dinner? Fine, great. But don’t have a cheeseburger for lunch and a bowl of ice cream for dessert.
• The companies that make and market processed food MUST be more transparent with what’s in their products. I think, and hope, that this will start to happen more and more in the future, as people get a handle on what they’ve been eating and start demanding better service. Some companies already get it: Kashi, Honest Foods, Bear Naked spring to mind. Other companies are starting to get it, by adapting their products and cutting sugars, fats, sodium and more.
• We HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO take better care of our kids, and teach them how to eat well and exercise. It has to be the fourth “R” — reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic and real food.

There are more takeaways, but it’s starting to feel like a rant. But all of this thinking made me realize — if I were in a pageant, my platform would be health and wellness, and specifically, fighting childhood obesity. It breaks my heart to see how many people in America just aren’t educated when it comes to nutrition. They don’t know how to read labels, and it’s not fair. They don’t have a fighting chance, because our world encourages eating to excess.

So, what would your pageant platform be? World peace? Couldn’t help it. Nor could I help posting this picture — the first one that comes up in a google search for pageant image.

It’s out of character for me to publish such an issue-oriented post, so I promise the next one will be more about food, and have lots of pictures! Just to end this on a light note … I present the pageant platform we should all avoid:

          

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