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RSS FeedA recent report suggesting sugar substitutes can lead to weight gain, a report this summer that diet foods can make us fat, and now today’s Chicago Trib article about how diet crazes shape our grocery shelves but fail to change our habits, fills me once again with astonishment. It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. 
Silky fatback and kosher salt photo by Donna T. Ruhlman
We have a serious fat problem in America. It has nothing to do with our obesity problem. We also have a salt problem, and it’s not about hypertension. Fat and salt are the leading bugaboos in America’s on-going national diet program, the wrench in the spokes of our quest for good nutrition, the evil forces which, in our fearful helpless craving for them, prevent Americans from achieving their whole-grain, high-fiber, all-natural, Rocky Mountain health. And what can we do about it?
Eat more fat! Salt your food naturally.
Americans have a hopelessly neurotic relationship with what they consume, of this there’s little disagreement, a neurosis that’s built into our culture from the broadest levels of agriculture and government, which demand that we subsidize farmers to grow crops you can’t eat without industrial processing, all the way down to our grocery store shelves, which are packed with confusing, marketing-spun messages about what’s good for us and what’s not.
Snackwells, for instance. Who’s the clever executive who came up with that name? Want a healthy snack? Try buying … Snackwells! Are Americans stupid enough to buy that? You bet! (More here from Trib article on the Snackwell story.)
Just about every box and bag on the grocery store shelves has some kind of “low fat” version, sometimes even if the real version doesn’t require fat in the first place. On a recent flight, I was handed a Quaker Oats Granola Bar—granola, it’s good for you, and it’s low fat. Granola doesn’t need much fat, if any, in the first place; but it does need sugar and you can bet that’s the reason my Quaker Oats “low fat” granola bar was every bit as sweet and chewy as a Milky Way bar. And on the previous flight, the first ingredient in the blueberry muffin I’d been given was sugar, not flour.
The sad fact is that fresh food that is good for you is significantly more expensive than the processed crap that truly is bad for our diet, not to mention our food production system. And the people who most need food to be healthy are the ones who can least afford it. The millions of Americans on a restricted food budget will see little choice other than to buy the cheap calories provided by agribusiness corn.
What drives me crazy though is the American cook and the American consumer, who truly do care about food and cooking, but are continually mislead, largely by an uninformed media and unchecked marketing, notably with two of the most fundamental components of cooking—salt and fat.
I say unto you: Fat is good! Fat is necessary. Ask any chef. Fat does not make you fat, eating too much makes you fat! We aren’t filling our bodies with sodium because of the box of kosher salt we use to season our food, we’re doing it with all the processed food that’s loaded with hidden salt. And American cooks and American diners need to understand the differences.
I hope it’s obvious that a diet composed of vast quantities of saturated animal fats is not good for anyone. This kind of fat has been linked to elevated blood-cholesteral and heart disease—people who have issues with these problems need to be cautious. And some people have serious issues with hypertension and high-blood pressure—salt will exacerbate these.
But most people don’t have these problems, and for them, fat is not bad, not evil, not dangerous. It’s a pleasure in the right quantities and we shouldn’t be made to fear it. If you eat natural foods, plenty of vegetables, and avoid foods that come in a box or bag or is in some way processed—food that’s often loaded with salt—you should be able to salt your food to pleasing levels. Food needs to be seasoned for the best flavor.
As ever the French can teach us about a healthy relationship with food. American’s scratch their heads over the so-called French Paradox—how can the French eat all that rich fatty food and have lower levels of heart disease and associated problems. I’ll bet their red wine does help, as has been suggested, but what is more likely the case, in my opinion, is that the French eat more natural foods than Americans, and they eat it in appropriate quantities. That, I would bet money, is the root of their ability to eat a heavily salted duck confit, dripping with duck fat, and not have a problem with it, to luxuriate in Epoisse and Reblochon. They can do this precisely because they don’t eat “low-fat” granola bars and blueberry muffins that have more sugar than flour and eggs.
The French paradox. It can’t be their diet—given all that evil stuff they eat. Must be that red wine they drink! Can we really be so stupid? You bet!
Americans need to be better educated about the food they eat, what’s truly good, what’s harmful, quantities that are necessary, and super-sizes we don’t need. Until we find out for ourselves from reliable sources the answers to these questions, instead of relying on knee-jerk media alarmism and marketing hooey, we’re not going to eat the food that both satisfies our souls and our bodies, and will perpetuate our fat and salt dysfunction.
It seems so simple, doesn’t it?
EAT. REAL. FOOD.
Not processed, fake food that lists ingredients you’ve never heard of, or can pronounce for that matter!
Why is this such a difficult concept?
I completely agree with your essay. In nearly all the offices I’ve ever worked in, the majority of the staff goes out to lunch every day, and they get stuff like a KFC meal (because it has no trans fats?!) or a “Market Fresh” sandwich at Arby’s (which, btw, has more fat and calories than a regular Arby’s roast beef sandwich!?). And of course the office kitchen is stocked with Snackwells, sugar-free hot cocoa, baked Lay’s, low-fat Snapple and a variety of diet sodas.
Naturally, everyone partakes in many or even all of the “foods” listed above on a daily basis, thinking they are being “healthy” by avoiding real potato chips or the regular Coke.
Crazy.
That was a very good read. You are a pretty smart guy. You injected enough anger into it to get the message across without belabouring the point.
Very good rant, Michael.
I appreciate your statement that the healthiest foods are too expensive for those on tight budgets. Remember when processed foods were more expensive than the healthy stuff? Now it’s done a flip flop.
Some words I try to live by: “Too many steps often take you in the wrong direction.”
Love your writing, love this post but really the 100 calorie Hostess pack ad seems a little ironic.
I’m a personal pastry chef on Capitol Hill (trained by Mesnier & Ramsdell), and I have to teach my clients the difference between pure, simple ingredients and those unknown processed, chemical-based food-like products (“Now With Emulsifiers & Stabilizers For Longer Shelf Life!”) they’ve all learned to love.
My baked goods are flavor-intense, which means you can enjoy a smaller portion and be just as satisfied. Not one of my clients (including Congressman Cracker & Senator Sleazeball– Hey, I signed non-disclosure agreements) had any idea that La Madeleine’s sucree crusts and fillings came out of a box that fell off a truck in the alley until they hired me.
And I provide the caloric, sodium, and fat content per ounce for each item. No surprises.
This, I’ve found, is the only way to convert the masses: Knowledge, even for those who would use it to feel superior to others, just might save their lives.
Thanks for the rant!
May I have another?
Snackwhales is more like it.
Great post Michael!
The “low-fat”, “low-sodium” diet along with other diet fads, allow the companies to capitalize on our fears. An analogous topic would be the “kills 99.99% germs” soaps and cleaners. The soap companies prey on our fear of germs and look what it’s gotten us into. Our hyper-cleanliness is causing more people to have severe allergies, mutant drug resistant viruses, etc.
I try to eat as many natural/less processed foods as I can since I’ve come to the conclusion that all those added chemical stabilizers, etc. are what’s making me sick. But on the other hand, I still have to read the ingredients on the “healthy” alternatives because as you’ve stated, they might not be what they seem.
Thank you, Michael Ruhlman. Truly, thank you. Now start slapping some skulls and make people realize this! They’re too thick-headed! I once took a half-hour to make my manager believe that butter is good and margarine is bad. Lots of old programming for that. People need to read what they eat!
Consumers Union (Consumer Reports folks) campaign to contact legislators about tainted meat
http://tinyurl.com/2jnjlj
Read Michele Simon’s “Appetite for Profit” if you haven’t already.
Corporations pay huge public relations fees to manage perceptions about food. They also pay big money to lobbyists to subtly influence policy in legislatures and in the courts.
Say what you will about Ralph Nader, if it wasn’t for him getting the ball rolling there’d be absolutely NO idea of what is now going on with nutrition.
Not that I’d waste my presidential vote on him.
Excellent post, Michael!
I had high blood pressure dating all the way back to high school, and I began reading and monitoring my food habits. The amount of sodium in many processed foods (and a lot of fast foods) is mind boggling. I read a book some time ago that said 70% of the average Americans sodium comes from processed food, which (as you said) isn’t even noticeable when eating the food.
Between exercise and controlling my diet, I now have normal bp, and I still keep a crock of kosher salt and another of sea salt right next to the stove. I can still season my food perfectly and my bp is normal.
And the easiest way for me to keep away from the “easy” prepared frozen meals at the grocery store is this: prepare extra when making a meal and freeze it. Makes for an easy meal later on, that’s better and healthier than what I have ever found in the frozen food aisle.
Amen!!!
Definitely preaching to the choir on this one! The problem of people not being able to afford real food, as opposed to processed crap is true enough. But I think it really has to do with education.
That being said, whenever I go to my parents house and see the way they still eat, with all their health problems, they look at me like I’m the food-nazi when I tell them that chips and “diet” soda should not be a part of their daily diet. If I whip out a stinky cheese, some charcuterie and a bottle of red, they think I’m from another planet.
Keep fighting the good fight!
Bravo! Perfectly said. The conglomerates have induced food phobias by their very advertising. Low-fat (i.e. all fat is bad), low-carb (i.e. all carbs are bad), etc. What we need is educated consumers – this starts early in life, learning to cook and eat real food.
Well said Ruhlman! Next round is on me.
Living in the middle of “Diet Country”, ie California, many people I know consider anything with fat, carbs, sodium to be worse than poisoning small kittens with car exhaust fumes.
The “chicken breast only please” diet has got to go!
Ruhlman – once again you hit it square on the head.
There was an ad on the Travel Channel (watching Bourdain’s show) the other week for a prescription medicine for people with chronic constipation. I had a double-take and backed up the Tivo to see if I was hearing things or not. It’s just another side-effect of people eating processed crap and nothing fresh or healthy or made from scratch – we get “diseases” like “chronic constipation”. Eat some salad, for god’s sake – don’t take a pill. Don’t get me started with that Alli stuff.
Great article.
That’s a righteous rant, Ruhlman, and I agree 100%.
Well stated! There is no doubt that our portions of both food and drink need to be smaller if as a society we are to improve our obesity profile.
I once heard (although I didn’t fact check it so I guess in this instance I’m one of the poorly informed media!) that when McDonalds originally started selling hamburgers that the Happy Meal burger and fries portions were the standard portions for anyone who ordered a meal. How did we end up needing so much more food to be satisfied at the same time that our lives were becoming less physically taxing due to automation?
I recently wrote a blog post about how to avoid the extra 278 calories a day each of us now ingests in beverages. I hope you’ll check it out:
http://danamccauley.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/
thanks for the sanity.
A-freaking-men. As a home cook, this is the gospel I’ve been trying to preach to my friends and family for years. I truly believe that most people have no idea what they’re putting in their mouths when they eat processed foods, nor do they realize the sheer quantity of processed foods they’re eating. If more people started reading labels and showing some awareness of what they’re ingesting on a daily basis, or what they’re feeding their kids, we’d have far fewer health problems in this country.
It doesn’t help that, as you say, those processed foods are so freaking cheap. Especially when you factor in coupons (ever flipped through the coupon section of your Sunday paper? there is NO real food in there).
Sorry to all the pastry chefs for my comment, but when I go for dinner, I would love to see a dessert menu with a low glycemic dessert and not one made with sugar substitutes.
Sugar free for a diabetic, is not something made with fructose or malt sugars, agave nectars…these just digest at a slower rate but still cause sugars to rise…
In other words, stay away from inside the middle of the store and you will do okay.
Read the ingredients. If you can’t pronounce, chances are it ain’t good for you. If it doesn’t make sense (number one ingredient in pasta sauce would be sugar?!?!) then put it back down.
Stay off processed foods for a year and just try to eat it again.
very well stated.
as someone who as a very love/hate relationship with the scale, i met with a nutritionist a few years back and was shocked to find out that she not only allowed fat in the plan she gave her clients, but insisted that you must have some for your body to function properly! who knew!
i agree that cutting out processed food is difficult, especially if you’ve grown up on it, but those weeks where all my dinners are homemade and my snacks consist of yogurt and fruit instead of chips and crackers, i sure do feel a lot better and have a heck of a lot more energy.
This is a rant I have been giving for years.
Same issue with losing weight. You can not eat yourself healthy; exercise HAS to be part of the deal.
Unfortunately it has all gotten more complicated as we go along. Food groups, pyramids, plans…. Yet the healthiest eating I have found is to look farther back. Eat good food made with REAL ingredients. Then put them in the correct proportions. Sugar should not be the first item in cereal or muffins.
Eating healthy with real food isn’t that hard; it is just harder than nuking a frozen “healthy” meal which is only good for you next to the non-healthy version.
Until we get our priorities straight the poor will never have access to quality food. I don’t think it is going to happen soon if ever.
You are absolutely right… you perfectly put into words what I have been trying to tell my friends for years. I wish people did not rely on substitutes so much… why not just eat the real thing, but a little less of it? It tastes better, so it’s worth it. There is so much bad information out there, no wonder so few people know what to eat.
Of course, I believe that many people in this country don’t care what they put into their bodies as long as it’s fast and filling, which is one of the reasons why so badly treat the animals we eat (like those poor abused cows at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.).
The information is out there, but many people don’t care to find it.
Being a Diabetic for a long time, I know that Fat does not cause people to get fat, an excess of sugars in the body causes people to gain weight. A low glycemic diet is how people should be eating, not avoiding any foods.
i would prefer to eat less of a full bodied cheese than one that is low fat and tasteless.
People do need to watch their sugar intake and nothing else. in my opinion of course
well said
and thank you
I’m not sure if you have ready “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan. It is his follow up to “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” It tackles many of the issues that you spoke of in your rant specifically focusing on an American problem he calls “nutritionism” (a word originally coined by someone else a few decades ago). He also discusses the French paradox to a great extent and tackles in a rather concrete, but yet liberating way the ways to explain and over come many food issues. I did not enjoy it as much as “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” but still found it enlightening and insightful, and would reccommend it to anyone looking for a more concrete understanding of food fads and why they are so prevalent in America.
Sugar Bad. Not a good thing for my business.
But yes oh so true. 170 when i began as a pastry chef, 232 when i was In vegas. The truly scary sugars are the ones that are so refined; invert sugar, glucose, dextrose (you can’t even taste this shit, but all those calories are still there) corn syrup (how do we even digest this stuff). As for all the processed foods…
The more you fuck with the root of some thing, the more you fuck it up, and the more it fucks you.
Amen brother. I’m teaching a little cooking class right now where I’m attempting to educate several people, including myself, about healthy eating habits.
The awesome part is that you can get way better tasting food, stay full longer, and lose weight at the same time. Moving away from processed foods is extremely hard for those of us who have grown accustom to it…but it’s so worth it. I feel better than I have in years and I’m chalking that one up to my healthier eating decisions.