Hot Topics: Think You're Making Healthy Choices? Maybe Not!

By Kara Pifer

When making your weekly grocery list, you probably think about all the items you plan to eat the upcoming week. This includes all meals, snacks and beverages and most likely it becomes a long list fairly quickly. Mine usually starts at the back of the store, getting milk, eggs and yogurt, winding through most of the aisles getting cereal, rice, and bread and ending at the front where I pick out my produce for the week. I usually glance at the nutrition information on the packages I grab, but for most items that I buy, I either know what the values and ingredients are, or I trust the particular brand and feel that they could never make a very unhealthy product. Sometimes, this can lead to trouble. Have you ever done this? Trusted a brand and then when you got home and tried the product, realized that there is something you wouldn’t have normally eaten in it? Or worse, that the nutritional values are unhealthier than you ever expected? I can honestly say that it has happened to me on a few different occasions.

Luckily for consumers there are numerous books, including one of my favorites Eat This, Not That, that can help you choose a better product in different categories. These books help consumers differentiate between the best and worst choices on the shelves and highlights important information such as “avoid this product for the sodium content” or “watch out for all that saturated fat!” They also usually explain why some products are so good!

Sometimes, consumers on the look-out may find an article online that contains valuable information about the products you are consuming on a regular basis, especially those you may believe are healthy choices. One news article on MSNBC included items that I would not have originally labeled as a bad choice. Kashi, which I have always viewed as a good choice in the grocery store, took the lead for worst breakfast cereal on the market. This is somewhat disheartening to me as when looking for a good healthy option for breakfast, I have been known to reach for the Kashi cereal box. Fortunately for me, I have never actually tried the particular product, Kashi Summer Berry Granola, but I’m sure many have. This product contains 18g of sugars with just one cup! This is a very large amount of sugar for the one cup of cereal you are getting to enjoy, especially when you believed that you were making a good, healthy choice. On the upside, Kashi GoLean has many benefits including a high protein and a high fiber content, which is the suggested replacement for your berry granola. 

Interestingly enough, supermarkets are not the only places with foods fooling the United States. A recent study by researchers at the University of South Carolina and Loyola University published information about the way people think about food. The study included both ‘dieters’ and ‘non-dieters’ which helped in labeling the participants. The experiment was conducted by describing a food item in two different ways. One description called the item a “salad” while the other called it a “pasta.” The item was in fact described the exact same way, with all of the same ingredients in the same order, but the description label was different. When the dieters were asked if the item called a “salad” would be healthy, they almost always said yes, the item would be healthy. The same item, when described as a “pasta” lead participants to believe that the item is unhealthy, even though it is the exact same recipe! I feel that had I been a participant, the word “salami” would have been an immediate tip-off to an unhealthy meal, but participants must have ignored that word and listened only to ‘salad.’ Does this happen with everything we eat? When we look at the salad options in restaurants, do we automatically assume they are healthy choices? After years of nutritional education, I am sure that those in the field are well aware that you must look at ingredients, but what about our clients? Do they look at ‘Fiery Taco Salad’ and assume it’s healthy?

This same study used a similar method and included tastings for a second trial. The second trial unfortunately was not for the salad, which I would have enjoyed, but rather was more suitable for those with a sweet tooth. This study included college students that had either a sample labeled “fruit snacks” or “candy snacks.” The students that were given the “fruit snacks” ate a larger amount overall that the students who were given the “candy snacks” despite the fact that they were the same product. These two studies have led researchers at the University of South Carolina and Loyola University to believe that it is not the food nutrient labels and ingredients alone that lead consumers to their shopping decisions, but rather the key “healthy” words used in the title or descriptions. When items in the grocery seem like they would be a healthy choice, does that mean we feel we can eat more without feeling guilty because we could be eating something so much worse? Possibly.

For information on the study: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42689216/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/

For the online article listing bad breakfast choices: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42671704/ns/today-today_health/