Just last week a law suit was filed against General Mills in a California district court. The complaint is that the snacks are being marketed as healthy when they are filled with trans fats and sugar. I don’t know how this case will turn out, so many of these things balance on who involved has the most financial resources and skills.
The point of this article is that a lot of advertising is very misleading. I am completely convinced that just about all processed snacks; even the ones billed as healthy, have more sugar than is good for you. Further, it does not end there. The whole “healthy food” industry needs to be looked at with a skeptical eye. One example is the new gluten-free foods that are being touted as ‘good for you’. Yes they may be free of gluten , but many of them are essentially junk food. We may be thinking that we are doing ourselves some good, when in actuality we are just making ourselves fat.
Most of us are not nutritionists; however we should all develop a basic knowledge of what foods are good for us to eat and what foods we only eat rarely as a special treat. I believe a good rule of thumb is that any processed, sweet snack should be considered candy. Yes, even the ones that are labeled “Healthy Snack Bar”. Snacks do not have to be sweetened with dates and cane juice. Snacks do not need to be sweet at all. Furthermore those gluten free crackers– or any crackers for that matter– should be consumed only in appropriate amounts, if at all. Don’t be a gluten-free glutton!
So read the ingredient list on your packages, insist that the government start labeling food with GMO content and use that big brain of yours to make excellent food choices.
By David Martin L.Ac. 10/17/11