ColumnWhat if we saw snack foods for what they really are?

Cheese puffs, bags of mini chocolate chip cookies and caramel chocolate bars, that’s what good snacks are made of, right?

Of course we all know better than that, but if you were to take a look into the vending machines of most schools over the past few years, you might have thought otherwise. Companies spend around $149 million a year on marketing to kids in schools, most of it going to beverages. To change that, the Obama administration has implemented new rules in regards to food and advertising in schools, part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.

Part of it involves offering up healthier snack foods than the good ol’ regular vending machine options. The new USDA standards include limits on calories, sodium and sugar. Snack foods with grains must have at least 50 percent of whole grains, or have whole grains listed as the first ingredient. That means no more Frito-Lay’s Cheetos Oven Baked Flamin’ Hot Cheese Flavored Snacks and other assorted culinary fineries.

Ready for the really shocking result? Kids are not happy about it. “Michelle Obama is single-handedly ruining my life by changing school lunch and the vending machines,” tweeted a student, one of many complaints that students have been making online. Here are a few more gems from the Twitterverse:

“michelle obama killing me putting whole grain rice krispies treats in the vending machine this is unamerican and just plain cruel”

“Everytime I think of Michelle Obama taking away the good vending machine I just want to eat a big mac! #Youdontownmemichelle #takethat”

“Me and Michelle Obama gonna fight if I dont see chewy sweettarts in the vending machine tomorrow”

Yeah, she’s pretty terrible, that Obama lady. Who does she think she is trying to get you to eat more carrots? That’s just grotesque.

That kind of response is of course ridiculous, and I feel that the only real appropriate counter response to it is this amazing trailer for a fake film called Snackpocalypse.

Ah yes, the issue of snack foods turning kids into zombies.

But wait, that’s not really that absurd of a claim. After all, unhealthy snack foods affect our brains and our bodies. Too much sugar is linked to mental health problems and lethargy. It’s one of the most addictive substances out there – eight times more so than cocaine – and companies are happy to keep feeding it to us, putting us all into a sugar-dazed state. Sound like a zombie apocalypse yet?

Sure, snack foods high in fat and sugar aren’t going to turn you into a real zombie, but how they do make you feel isn’t that far off.

So good on Michelle Obama for working to tighten up nutritional guidelines, and for cracking down on food companies marketing to kids in school. Because if anything, we don’t need fewer guidelines, we need more. Pair that with better education about real food and you can be sure that we’ll be well on our way to avoiding the snackpocalypse.

Related on EcoSalon

20 Best Foods for Your Brain

Crispy Baked Carrot Chips Recipe

Improving the Food System and Fighting Obesity

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Phil Whitehouse

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We know most mall food is bad, we just know it-so why are we eating it?

After a long day of slogging through slow-moving crowds and sighing in disgust at the way fitting room lighting inexplicably adds 10 years and 20 pounds to your body, it’s no wonder you’re tired and irritable enough to console yourself with some mall food. But don’t just shuffle up to the nearest counter and blindly point. Not only are mall food courts rife with disturbing health violations, including trays that are dirtier than public toilets, they’re also packed with unhealthy, artery-clogging meals, snacks and beverages, often made with low-quality ingredients.

Cinnabon

Found in nearly every mall across America, Cinnabon draws in drooling patrons with intoxicating, far-reaching aromas of cinnamon and sugar that activate our must-eat-junk-food-now impulses. Give in, and you’d better be prepared for what will come after, which is at best a diet-busting calorie explosion and at worst, a potential diabetic coma. There’s absolutely nothing low in calories and fat on the menu. The signature roll weighs half a pound and contains 670 calories and 34 grams of fat, but by far the worst item you could choose is the Caramel Pecanbon, a snack that will annihilate your daily calorie allowance with 900 calories and 41 grams of fat.

Smoothie King

The word smoothie conjures visions of fresh fruit, yogurt, juice and nutritious add-ins like wheatgrass and hemp powder. But not all smoothies are created equal, especially at Smoothie King. This beverage chain proclaims itself to be the “healthy alternative to unhealthy food choices” – but be careful what you order. While they do have 38 smoothie options under 300 calories (in the 20 ounce size, as long as you say the words “make it under 300” when you order, eliminating added sugar and juices), you might want to avoid the options they classify under “Indulge.” In the largest size they offer, 40 ounces, the Peanut Power Plus Grape smoothie has 1,460 calories and 42 grams of fat. Even worse is the Hulk Plus Strawberry, ironically listed under Shape Up, which packs 1,928 calories and 64 grams of fat. You’d have to be a bodybuilder or an Olympic athlete to burn that off.

Olive Garden

Remember the days when Olive Garden made their own pasta, and many of their menu offerings were actually prepared in-house from relatively fresh ingredients? Probably not, because those days are long gone. Step into an Olive Garden kitchen and you’ll find cooks reheating frozen pre-breaded chicken patties, manicotti, ravioli, breadsticks, sauces and virtually everything else they serve. While it’s possible to eat relatively healthy here with options like minestrone soup and Venetian Apricot Chicken, most of this restaurant chain’s meals are packed with fat, calories and sodium. The Create Your Own Pizza appetizer has 930 calories, 28 grams of fat and 2,970 milligrams of sodium, for starters, and the Pork Milanese tops that with 1,510 calories, 87 grams of fat and 3,100 milligrams of sodium.

Olive Gardens will start popping up in even more malls in the coming months, as chain restaurants start taking advantage of empty retail space left behind by flailing department stores and other businesses. Depending on where you live, it’s likely that you’ve got a much more authentic Italian place nearby. FYI, Olive Garden doesn’t really have a cooking school in Tuscany where their “chefs” master Italian cooking techniques; they rent out a hotel for a couple weeks out of the year and generate fake quotes on behalf of their restaurant managers to garner local publicity. Olive Garden is to authentic Italian food as Cheez Whiz is to fine, aged Parmigiana Reggiano.

Sbarro

This is the place to get floppy, bland, oily triangles of dough, cheese and sauce bigger than your head, if that’s what you’re into. Sbarro has arguably some of the worst-quality pizza of any chain in America, especially when you factor in the likelihood of being handed a dried-out slice that’s been sitting under a heat lamp for a few hours. It’s just not worth it. While these quick food court bites won’t necessarily break your diet at about 300 calories a slice, avoid the stuffed sausage and pepperoni abomination: it’s got nearly 1,000, plus 47 grams of fat and 2,516 milligrams of sodium.

Panda Express

This Americanized, fast-food Chinese mall staple might seem like one of the best options at the food court, health-wise, and most of its offerings are definitely lower in calories than the fried chicken, pasta and pastries found elsewhere. But like most of the Chinese food found in America, Panda Express is laden with sugar and sodium, not to mention preservatives and artificial flavorings. It’s re-heated meat and veggies in thick corn syrup sauce. One of the most popular menu items, Orange Chicken, contains 500 calories, 810 milligrams of sodium and as much fat as 9 strips of Oscar Mayer bacon. The Broccoli Beef is a much better choice at 150 calories and 7 grams of fat.

We also wonder where all that chicken comes from?

T.G.I. Friday’s

The Olive Garden of ‘American-style’ food, T.G.I. Friday’s offers massive portions of overly salted, calorie-laden, generic food-like substances that came straight out of a walk-in freezer. This nationwide chain is often one of the only sit-down restaurant options in malls and can be a tempting retreat from all of the noise, activity and bright lights of the food court. But a Fitness Magazine perusal of the menu found just two meals under 500 calories, with most clocking in at over 1,000. Alongside Applebees, IHOP and Outback Steakhouse, T.G.I. Friday’s earned an F in Men’s Health‘s annual survey of America’s Unhealthiest Restaurants.

Auntie Anne’s

If you’re going to indulge in a carb-heavy snack, a soft pretzel is one of the most satisfying ways to do so. Just be aware that like the unreasonably enormous treats at Cinnabon, what you’re eating is more like a meal than a snack, and it’s probably going to make you feel sluggish afterward. The Glazin’ Raisin pretzel has over 500 calories and over 100 grams of carbohydrates.  One Jumbo Pretzel Dog contains 610 calories, 29 grams of fat and 1,150 grams of sodium. Add salt and dipping sauces, and you’ll be well on your way to a battle with bad blood pressure.

Quizno’s

Men’s Health named the Large Tuna Melt at Quizno’s the worst mall food in America, and it’s not hard to see why. When you get it with cheese and dressing, it packs in 1,820 calories, 147 grams of fat, 2,020 milligrams of sodium and 85 grams of carbs. Continuing the bacon comparison to give you an idea of just how much fat that is, you might as well sit down to 49 strips of greasy strips. So that’s why Quizno’s declined to reveal its nutritional information for so many years. If you’ve got the option of a Subway in the same mall, you’ll have access to much healthier choices.

Taco Bell

Freestanding Taco Bells aren’t exactly known for offering high-quality or even mediocre food, and the ones located in mall food courts are no better. The “Mexican” food chain is notorious for numerous health violations in its restaurants all over the country, and food poisoning incidents like the one in 2006 that sickened over 70 people in 5 states. Taco Bell has attempted to improve its reputation lately with fresher “Cantina-style” offerings, but it’s still Taco Bell.

Chick-fil-A

By now, even people who had never heard of Chick-fil-A in their lives are well aware of the restaurant’s controversial donations to anti-gay-marriage causes thanks to the recent hoopla that made fried chicken sandwiches into a symbol of intolerance. The chain also sued a kale farmer for producing t-shirts and other merchandise reading “Eat More Kale,” alleging that he was ripping off their “Eat More Chik’n” slogan. And on top of that, Chick-fil-A just really isn’t all that great. The Spicy Chicken Deluxe sandwich has 570 calories and enough sodium to take up your entire daily intake. Chick-fil-A’s grilled nuggets meal might sound like a good choice for kids, but it has the same amount of cholesterol as a Big Mac.

Photo: The Pizza Review

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Big Macs aren’t good for you. You’d think the world would know this by now, but more often than not we witness McDonalds drive-thru traffic jams that our own friends and family are in. It’s one thing to hear, to know better, to understand; and it’s another thing to internalize, accept, and react accordingly. So let me say this again: Big Macs aren’t good for you and here are some reasons why.

An Icon is Born

In 1967, McDonald’s franchisee Jim Delligatti began to serve double-decker cheeseburgers on a double-cut bun in an effort to find a way to structure the messiness caused by the company’s token “special sauce.” Expanding from its humble beginnings in Uniontown, PA to locations across the nation as soon as the next year, the new burger was labeled the “Big Attraction” with its two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions and sesame-seed bun. Today, the Big Mac has come to be a symbol of everything stereotypically American – capitalism, commercialism, and gluttony.

The original sales price of the iconic Big Mac was 45 cents, compared to the current $3.00, and today McDonald’s sells as many as 550 million Big Macs per year in the U.S., with a scope of some 120 countries.

The Fat Facts

Let’s talk about the one of the Big Mac’s biggest offenses: fat. A Big Mac is by no means a stranger to it. Each serving packs 550 calories, 260 calories of which come from fat. That’s nearly half of the entire burger’s calories and 45 percent of your daily balance! And of this whopping 29 grams of fat, 10 grams are saturated and 1.5 grams are trans. A Big Mac also contains 75 mg cholesterol, which is 25 percent of your daily allowance. And similarly alarming is the Big Mac’s sodium content. Each serving contains 1,070 milligrams.

Now, if you’ve done some of your own research, don’t be fooled by the Big Mac’s apparent virtuous side. According to the nutritional profile made available by McDonalds itself, each serving contains 3 grams of dietary fiber, 25 grams of protein and offers 6, 2, and 25 percent of our daily vitamin A, C and calcium requirements. Sounds positive, right?

It is important to keep in mind that not all nutrients are the same across the board, and this supposed uplifting aspect to the Big Mac is shadowed by its downsides as well as the quality of its ingredients. For example, the protein you get from animal products differs substantially from the protein you receive from plants, in terms of quality, assimilation, and overall health benefits. The fiber, protein and vitamins in a Big Mac are frankly not that compelling.

If You Can’t Pronounce It, Don’t Eat It

Given the stats, it doesn’t take a wild guess to know the Big Mac is compromising big time in the ingredients department.

Among the many ingredients that make up the Big Mac bun, for example, are high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, calcium silicate, wheat gluten, emulsifier (mono- and diglycerides, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of fatty acids, ethanol, sorbitol, polysorbate 20, potassium propionate), sodium stearoyl lactylate, dough conditioner (corn starch, ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfate, calcium peroxide, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, enzymes), and calcium propionate (preservative).

That’s a mouthful.

Aside from the fact that most of those are nearly impossible to pronounce at first go, many of these ingredients are dangerous. Azodicarbonamide is even banned in some countries around the world because it is a respiratory sensitizer and may harm people with asthma or those prone to allergies – to say nothing of the obvious culprits in the list, such as high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.

The “special sauce” is indeed special – for its creepy add-ins, that is. The sauce includes high fructose corn syrup, sugar, the preservatives propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, and hydrolyzed (corn gluten and wheat) proteins.

And if you knew what any of that actually meant, you’d realize “hydrolyzed proteins” is just a fancy way of spelling out monosodium glutamate, or the infamous MSG. The flavor enhancer, MSG, has been picking up a lot of heat these days, because it is reported to cause headaches, flushing, sweating, numbness, a rapid heart beat, chest pain, nausea, and weakness, among other things. The sauce also contains the fertility-damaging polysorbate 80 and its preservatives are known to inhibit nutrient absorption – if, of course, there were any particularly beneficial nutrients to speak of in the Big Mac to begin with.

Best of the Worst

On a positive note, the only time you should eat a Big Mac is by association. A Whopper contains 760 calories and 47 grams of fat, a Wendy’s quarter-pound single with cheese has 500 calories and 26 grams of fat, a Hardee’s Thickburger comprises 910 calories and 64 grams of fat, a Sonic Cheeseburger with mayo packs 700 calories and 42 grams of fat, and a 10-sack of White Castle sliders has 1,700 calories and 90 grams of fat. But that’s the only health list a Big Mac will top.

So, instead of rolling through the drive-thru, consider making a homemade, “real” version of a burger.

Vegan Chickpea Burger

Serves 5

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas, mashed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large white onion
• 2 hot peppers (or 1 jalapeno)
• 2 scallions
• 2 garlic gloves
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1.5 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 3 tbsp ground oats
• Buns, avocado, tomato, red onion, and lettuce for garnish

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

Image: Leo Almighty

The post The Breakdown: Looking at the Nutrional Value of a Big Mac appeared first on EcoSalon.