Multigrain Pringles - Wolves in Sheeps' Clothing

 

Pringles potato chips has a new line of Multigrain Pringles that claims to "succeed where many others fail, giving you a multigrain snack that tastes great". They might taste great - if you like salt and fat - but a good source of whole grains they are not!

All three flavors (Truly Original, Creamy Ranch and Cheesy Cheddar) have only 1 gram of fiber per serving. They all list rice flour, vegetable oil and dried potatoes as their first three ingredients - a good indicator that this is not anywhere close to a whole grain or good source of dietary fiber food.

So how can a manufacturer get away with misleading consumers about a "multigrain" product that is really no different from its refined grain counterparts? Technically, Pringles isn't lying. There are "multiple" types of grain in the product - rice, corn, etc....what they're doing however, is banking on your lack of knowledge that there is a significant difference between "multigrain" (which can basically mean anything) and "100% whole grain" (which means good source of dietary fiber). You'd be hard pressed to find a 100% whole grain potato chip - especially given that potatoes are vegetables, not grains.

So if you like potato chips - go for the real thing, just keep it in moderation...and don't get fooled by the multigrain "super stack"!

Red Quinoa Salad: Texas de Brazil Style

 

Quinoa is a pseudocereal - not exactly a whole grain or  even a grass - that originates from the Andean area of South America. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) has a unique combination of amino acids that makes it one of the very few non-animal based sources of complete protein. It's also a great source of dietary fiber - one cup of cooked quinoa has five grams of fiber, 220 calories and eight grams of protein.

Quinoa by itself doesn't have a lot of taste, and it can be rather bland if not prepared corretcly. I recently had one of the best quinoa dishes I've ever tasted: the "Peruvian Salad" from the Brazilian Steakhouse Texas de Brazil. This version uses red quinoa, difficult to find in traditional grocery stores, but available in the bulk foods section at Whole Foods Market. This recipe comes compliments of Evandro Caregnato, Culinary Director at Texas de Brazil.

Texas de Brazil Quinoa Salad

• 1/2 lb red quinoa
• 1/2 gallon boiling water
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened raspberry puree
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup chopped scallion
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• Salt & fresh cracked black pepper to taste

1. Cook the quinoa in boiling water for about 15 minutes until tender but not mush.
2. Meanwhile, mix the vinegar, raspberry puree and sugar. Set aside.
3. Using a fine mesh colander, drain the water and let the quinoa cool.
4. Once quinoa is cool, add the vinegar mix, scallion and cranberries. Combine all ingredients with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 6 servings. Nutrition Information: 222 calories, 3 grams fat, 7 grams dietary fiber, 6 grams protein, 205 mg sodium per serving.

If you're interested in learning more about quinoa, check out this great cookbook, The Art of Cooking with Quinoa from Bob's Red Mill.

Getting Back to Basics During National Nutrition Month

 

March is National Nutrition Month, and this year's theme is "Nutrition from the Ground Up". The campaign focuses on the importance of making informed food choices - and God knows, consumers today are faced with a LOT of food choices! This blog regularly highlights new products that are high in fiber - some of which are more "natural" than others. More often than not, the verdict on these new high fiber products is, "they're not bad - but there are better, whole food options out there". 

To celebrate National Nutrition Month - let's get back to basics regarding foods that are high in fiber. The best, naturally-occurring sources of dietary fiber remain:

• Whole grains
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Legumes

How can you piece these parts of the diet together to meet your fiber needs? The key is to include a little bit of dietary fiber in every meal or snack. American adults should be aiming for at least 30 grams of fiber per day (even though the average American only gets 10 grams per day!) Here is a sample menu to show you how easy it is to get your fiber, without having to resort to fiber-added packaged or processed foods:

Breakfast

• 1/2 cup oatmeal (4 grams) made with 1 cup skim milk and 1/2 cup blueberries (4 grams)

Snack

• Medium-sized apple (4 grams) and part-skim mozzarella string cheese

Lunch

• Sandwich made with 2 slices 100% whole wheat bread (6 grams), turkey, cheese, lettuce & tomato
• Medium-sized pear (5 grams)

Snack

• 1 cup nonfat yogurt with 1/2 cup high fiber cereal (3 grams)

Dinner

• Burrito made with 100% whole wheat tortilla (6 grams), 1/2 cup black beans (8 grams), reduced fat cheese, salsa and chicken
• Green salad with 1/2 cup chopped vegetables (3 grams)

Grand total grams of dietary fiber in this daily menu: 43 grams!

CSPI's Whole Grain Finds & Frauds

The Center for Science in the Public Interest publishes the Nutrition Action Health Letter, the "World's Largest Circulation Health Newsletter". At $10 for a yearly subscription, the newsletter is an outstanding deal if you are interested in nutrition and enjoy humorous takes on the topic. The newsletter summarizes nutrition-related research, advocates for stricter nutrition labeling laws and regularly exposes unhealthy products masquerading as health foods. The CSPI folks are the self-proclaimed "food police" - and their Washington, DC based think-tank are responsible for:

• Terming fettuccine alfredo a "heart attack on a plate" in 1994
• Uncovering the true amount of fat and calories in movie theater popcorn 
• Forcing the 2000 USDA Dietary Guidelines to include more realistic recommendations about alcohol
  
• Getting trans fat listed on food labels as of January 1, 2006 - and most recently, 
• Launching a class-action lawsuit based on unsafe sodium levels in foods at Denny's

The "Whole Grain Finds & Frauds" article in the March 2010 Nutrition Action Health Letter delves into new whole grain products and whether or not they deserve to carry the "whole grain" title on their packaging. The products that the authors maintain are Whole Grain Finds, include:

• Kashi Frozen Entrees and Lean Cuisine Spa Cuisine (except for Butternut Squash Ravioli) use 100% whole-grain pasta or brown rice
• Kashi's TLC Cookies have no refined grains and Pepperidge Farm's almost 100% whole-grain Granola Cookies 
• Trader Joe's Blueberry & Multi Grain Waffles and Van's Organic Waffles both contain more whole wheat flour than refined white flour, beating Kellogg's Eggo Nutri-Grain Waffles, which have more white than whole wheat
• Whole Foods 365 Organic Whole Wheat pasta: Elbows, Fusili, Linguine, Penne, Shells or Spaghetti
• Amy's & Kashi 100% whole-grain pizza crust
  
• Vitalicious - 100-calorie, whole-grain VitaMuffins and VitaTops

The Whole Grain Frauds the article identifies, include:

• Cheez-It crackers "made with 5g of WHOLE GRAIN per serving" - but since each serving is 30-grams (27 crackers), that doesn't mean much
• Kellogg's Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts tout "20% daily value for Fiber" - this fiber comes from inulin, which is an isolated fiber which may not have the same health benefits as fiber that occurs naturally in foods - not to mention each pop tart has three teaspoons of sugar per serving
• Hamburger Helper has a "wholesome" line - claiming 8 grams of whole grain, but an undisclosed amount of refined grains
• Lance's Whole Grain Sharp Cheddar Cheese crackers (found in vending machines) may say they're whole grain, but the first two ingredients are white flour and oil, making them a low fiber whole-grain fraud

The article stresses the importance of looking at order of ingredients when trying to identify good sources of whole grains. For bread products, look for "whole wheat flour" to be listed ahead of "enriched wheat flour" for your best bet in identifying Whole Grain Finds.

When is a Bagel Not a Bagel?

By definition, a bagel is a firm-textured bread that is boiled and then baked. Your standard bagel will cost you 300 calories and usually has only 1 or 2 grams of fiber, depending upon the flavor. Thomas' new Bagel Thins are a completely different story: 110 calories per serving and 5 grams of fiber per thin. The only similarity between the two products are that they each maintain a hole in the middle. 

While Thomas' Bagel Thins are a worthy attempt to bulk up the fiber and bring down the calories on the traditional bagel, they really are just a repackaging of the same company's (Bimbo Bakeries USA) Oroweat Sandwich Thins, featured in a previous post on this blog. The bread in the so-called bagel is soft and chewy, featuring the texture traditional to any bread product with added isolated fiber ingredients used to increase fiber content. It's doubtful that the Thomas' Bagel Thins have ever seen boiling water before being baked!

If you are looking for a real low-calorie bagel, you might consider another Thomas' product, the 100 calorie bagel. They're small - and not always high in fiber - but at least it's boiled and a bagel...not just flattened out whole wheat bread with a hole in it!

Mott's Plus Fiber Applesauce

Mott's Applsauce has a new line of "Mott's Plus" snack-sized applesauce cups. Three different flavors are "formulated with important nutrients for which women often don't meet their daily requirements":

• Cranberry Raspberry flavor has 3 grams of dietary fiber
• Apple flavor provides 10% of the daily value for calcium (100 mg)
• Pomegranate provides 17 mg of the protective antioxidant vitamins C & E

While natural no-sugar added applesauce consists of apples, water and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) - the high fiber variety has a lot more ingredients, including maltodextrin (an isolated fiber) and apple puree concentrate, which help give it 2 more grams of fiber per serving than the standard variety.

Here's how the Mott's Plus Fiber No Sugar Added applesauce stacks up against their traditional No Sugar Added applesauce:

Are you wondering why all commercial applesauce contains added ascorbic acid (vitamin C)? If you've ever cut an apple and watched as it turned brown when exposed to air, then you have witnessed the phenomenon known as enzymatic browning. Vitamin C is an antioxidant - meaning that it prevents oxidation on the fruit surface. When vitamin C is added to a fruit or vegetable's flesh, it prevents discoloration. 

So is Mott's Plus Fiber No Sugar Added applesauce the healthiest apple product you can eat? Not exactly. From its ingredient list you can see there's a lot of stuff added to bulk up the fiber and make the high fiber version taste good. In actuality, if you like apples, then choosing a good old apple is your best choice. One small sized apple (2 3/4" diameter) has 80 calories and 4 grams of fiber, not to mention that a real apple is also packed full of water and will cost you less per serving than an applesauce cup. As with a lot of these new high-fiber processed food products, it seems logical to ask - "Why mess with the real thing?"

High Fiber Diet Linked to Lower Weight and Waist Circumference

 

An article published in this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition studied the effect of a high fiber diet on almost 90,000 healthy Europeans aged 20-78. The researchers followed the subjects for six and a half years, analyzing dietary fiber intake from cereal sources vs. fruit and vegetable fiber sources to study the effect on weight and waist circumference. 

At the study's conclusion, subjects who increased total dietary fiber (regardless of fiber source) intake by 10 grams/day experienced a statistically significant prevention of weight and waist circumference gain. Intake of cereal fiber led to prevention of both weight and waist circumference gain, while fruit and vegetable fiber intake was inversely associated only with waist circumference and not weight gain.

The researchers conclude that their data supports the beneficial role of increasing dietary fiber - especially cereal fiber - in the prevention of body weight and waist circumference gain. 

Are you looking for ways to increase your intake of dietary fiber from cereals? Here is a list of some cereal grains to include in your diet:

• Wheat
• Barley
• Millet
• Oats
• Rye
• Triticale
• Buckwheat
• Quinoa