Photo by {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester}

Long time readers know that I’m a huge fan of today’s guest blogger, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, and his pithy and entertaining blog Weighty Matters.

Today Yoni is educating us on the evil ways of “nutritionism” and teaches us how to protect ourselves from its clutches.

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, MD, founder and Medical Director of the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, dedicated to the (nonsurgical) treatment of overweight and obesity since 2004, is often called a “nutritional watchdog” for his advocacy efforts for improved public policies regarding nutrition and obesity. Dr. Freedhoff regularly speaks to the national media, before medical boards and even in front of the Canadian House of Commons. His daily blog Weighty Matters, was voted the top Canadian Get Healthy blog of 2011 by Reader’s Digest’s Best Health magazine.

You can follow Dr. Freedhoff on both Twitter and Facebook.

Nutritionism 101

by Yoni Freedhoff

“Nutritionism” is the enemy of healthy eating.

The term “nutritionism” refers to the notion that specific properties of foods are sufficient to make them healthy, and is what makes some people forget that zero-trans-fat Oreos are, and always will be, just cookies.

To put it bluntly, nutritionism sells. And it works by convincing you junk food is healthy.

The 4 most common ways nutritionism is used to sell food products are by means of added nutrient, formal ingredient, cooking style, and implied benefit.

Let’s start with some examples.

The Added Nutrient

Many products claim that the addition of a specific nutrient transforms it into something healthy. Common added nutrients are Vitamin D, plant sterols and omega-3 fatty acids.

For example, Sara Lee’s Soft and Smooth Plus DHA (Omega-3) fortified white bread advertises that it’ll help your children’s brains to develop. However, to consume the DHA equivalent of just 2.5oz of salmon (a small serving), your child would need to consume 13.5 loaves or 268 slices. That’s right, a single slice of this slippery bread has as much omega-3 as a piece of salmon 1/12 the size of a pea.

Implied Benefit Nutritionism

Implied benefit takes advantage of public perception and media hype. A product need not claim any actual benefit, but it will usually have a buzzword, and some foods have themselves adopted the air of health.

The cereal aisle provides an example that hits all the right sales notes: Kellogg’s Fiber Plus Antioxidants Berry Yogurt Crunch.

How could that not be healthy?

Fiber is good for you, and now we’ve got the added benefit of berries, yogurt and of course the magical antioxidants! The box does not actually come out and say that this cereal will protect you against cancer, and for Kellogg’s—the same company that recently settled a lawsuit brought on by their Cocoa Krispies packaging which promised to improve your child’s immunity—that’s a big deal.

Such a big deal in fact that their PR department went out of their way to point it out.

Sadly, no claim need be made (which normally requires approval by a regulating agency), as implied benefit nutritionism does the job for them.

So what’s going to fill your bowl if you are among those fooled by the implied benefits of fiber, antioxidants, berries or yogurt.

An astounding 82 ingredients make up a cup of Kellogg’s Fiber Plus Antioxidants Berry Yogurt Crunch, including 3 teaspoons of sugar (combined from 12 different sources) and 6 different artificial colors, including one that in the EU would require a warning label.

The Chip Aisle

A quick waltz down the chip aisle will bring you face to face with “whole-grain” chips. Almost every brand has a version nowadays. Pick up a bag of “Multigrain Tostitos” thinking they’re healthier and your chips will have the same amount of dietary fiber and 7% more calories per chip compared to regular Tostitos.

If you see “baked” chips, you have come across a cooking style claim. But while your Baked! Tostitos will give you marginally fewer calories, they make up for it with nearly 20% more sodium.

But so what? 7% more calories isn’t such a big deal for one small snack, and for most of us, the sodium won’t matter much either.

But what if you ate twice as many baked or whole-grain chips thinking they were healthier?

Enter the Health Halo.

Health Halos

Health halo is a term coined by Cornell’s Dr. Brian Wansink that refers to the phenomenon of eating more, liking more, or buying more of an item due to its perceived healthfulness.

He uses the term broadly in that it can apply to front of package labels, health claims, as well as common perceptions (like Subway being thought of as a healthier restaurant than McDonald’s).

Wansink has shown low-fat labelling leads people to underestimate the product’s calories, with one of his experiments demonstrating subjects dramatically underestimating calories in low-fat labeled M&M’s. In another experiment capitalizing on the public perception that Subway serves “healthier” fare than McDonald’s, he demonstrated Subway’s fast food patrons eat more calories than those of McDonald’s. Likewise more recent research has shown the term “organic” leads people not only to underestimate calories in organic foods, but also to say they have better flavor and are worth a higher price.

Bottom Line

Food manufacturers are all too happy to pander to nutritionism, since not only does it help to sell food, but you’ll even pay a higher price for it.

The good news is that protecting yourself is easy. Anytime you see a health claim: a highlighted ingredient, added nutrient, implied health benefit, or a special cooking style, take that as your grocery store cue to actually take a moment or two, and read the label.

First compare the “healthier” product to its regular counterpart. If there’s not much of a difference, I’d grab the fully-leaded version. If there is a difference, make sure it’s a difference that matters to you and that you’re not simply trading off one minor nutritional shortcoming for another.

And if it has more ingredients than you think it deserves, or multiple words you can’t pronounce, just walk away.

Ultimately if a food needs to convince you that it’s healthy, it’s probably not.

Of course if you don’t want to bother with labels there’s an even easier way and it fits wonderfully with Summer Tomato’s message: Eat “F”ood. That’s capital “F” food. Real food. Whole ingredient food. Food you have to cook yourself, where cooking isn’t simply stirring ingredients together or reheating a box.

Think of it as you versus the processed food industry. Don’t let them win.

How has nutritionism fooled you?

Originally published May 11, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, I was in taking pictures in Union Square for my article on The Warriors filming locations, when I happened to pass by these six crumbling columns on the mezzanine level near the 4-5-6 train.

Now, I’ve walked by these things a zillion times in my travels across New York City, but it suddenly occurred to me that I’d never actually stopped to look at them.

I’ve always just assumed them to be remnants from the old Union Square station, one of New York City’s original 28 subway stations, and it turns out that this is correct.

Dating to the Union Square of 1904, the station’s walls were once adorned with these fantastic terracotta eagles, along with some beautiful mosaic work:

The walls were uncovered and saved during one of Union Square’s many renovations, and installed as an art installation by Mary Miss in 1998. I love how the innards of the walls have been included in the display…

…showing a sort of geological strata of a New York City subway station wall:

The wall portions are arranged so that they steadily deterioriate…

…perhaps signifying the death of the old Union Square?

Now, here’s the thing – I’ve always known about these wall portions.

What I didn’t know about are the red frames.

See, as it turns out, the wall portions are just a small part of Miss’s installation. In fact, there are dozens of relics from the old Union Square strewn all over the station, all of which can be found enclosed by a red frame. And once you start looking for them, you’ll suddenly see them everywhere.

For example, I never thought twice about this Broadway Line directional arrow – but looking at it again, I now realize how incongruous its design is to the rest of the station. In addition to the mosaic Broadway text, note how the surrounding white tiling is in the old square style, while an additional mosaic strip runs along the top – all stopping abruptly at the red border.

Ditto this great old “Exit To Street sign.” Again, I’ve noticed it countless times before, but never stopped to consider how out of place what’s within the red frame is to what’s outside. In a way, each is literally like a window into the past:

Wandering around Union Square, I started finding red frames in more places than just the walls. Here’s a column you’d never think twice above – but wait! There are those red frames, and between them, we find a white-tiled column topped by a tiled stripe, an all but extinct creature in modern Union Square:

Here’s another red frame, one of my favorites, again highlighting not only the mosaic stripe along the top, but the difference in the old white wall tiling vs. new (and is that authentic old-fashioned New York City grime?):

Along one of the connecting passages…

…a very long mosaic stretches the entire run:

It gets even crazier, as the red frames turn up in the most unexpected of places. Here’s one looking down from the mezzanine above the 4-5-6 train…

…and if you look in at the right angle, you’ll see it’s highlighting “steel-bulb angle columns.”

In the corridor running north toward the 17th Street entrance, there are a bunch of slits cut into the wall…

…which offer a slightly more abstract window into Union Square:

For example, a tangle of telephone wiring:

I’m sure this is old news to a lot of you. But for anyone else like myself who’s been to Union Square a million times and never stopped to look, learning about the red frames is an eye-opening experience, as you suddenly realize you’re basically surrounded by a museum exhibit for the Union Square of old.

Ha, and all this time, I just assumed there was a fire extinguisher on the other side of that red frame.

-SCOUT

Energy companies that were ordered four years ago to reduce the amount of waste material their Alberta oilsands operations produce have failed to meet the targets regulators set, and the industry as a whole is finding that cleaning up oilsands tailings is much harder than it thought it would be.

Photo by me and the sysop

For myself and people of my generation, cooking represents the worst kind of irony. Feeding ourselves is our most basic human need, but for some reason no one bothered to tell us how to do it (or even that it was important to learn).

So we grew up, left the house and became dependent on restaurants and instant meals, only to find out 10 years later that this “food” has been killing us slowly.

Now what are we supposed to do?

Learning to cook is important, but can be intimidating if you’ve never done more than boil water, open cans and zap frozen entrees. Navigating the kitchen is much easier if you know a few simple tricks that seasoned chefs take for granted.

10 Simple Kitchen Tips You Wish Someone Told You Earlier

1.Use tongs to cooking pretty much everything

Spatulas are awesome for anything that needs to be flipped or scraped, like eggs and pancakes. For everything else, tongs are the way to go. They’re much more nimble and less awkward to use, and you’ll find far fewer things jumping from your pan onto the floor. If you have non-stick cookware, be sure to use tongs with nylon tips. And always go for the 12-inchers.

2. Store everything in tupperware

As much as I’d like to be the kind of person who trims their herbs, puts them in an vase then wraps them in a damp paper towel so they last a week, I’m way too lazy for that. The good news though is that tupperware keeps almost everything fresh for much longer than your crisper, including berries, salad greens and produce that has already been cut. Because it is reusable, it is also more ecofriendly.

3. If you own a knife, don’t use a garlic press

Peeling and pressing garlic is a huge waste of time. To use a clove of garlic, set it on a cutting board and smash it with the flat side of a big knife (any chef’s knife will do). The papery skin will come right off, and you can mince it real quick right there in about 10 seconds. Done.

4. Keep a separate cutting board for things you don’t want flavored with garlic and onion

Assuming you follow any recipe ever, you’ll probably be using your cutting board for cutting onions or garlic. If so, I recommend getting a separate board you keep aside for cutting fruit, cheeses and other things that you’d prefer didn’t absorb the odors of previous meals.

5. Herbs that are supposed to be green should be purchased fresh, not dry

With the possible exception of dried oregano (great in Mexican, Greek and Italian foods), herbs are always better fresh. They’re also cheap and available almost anywhere. In particular, always buy fresh parsley, basil, cilantro, thyme, tarragon or chives if you can help it (a few should be in your fridge at all times). The dried versions are OK if not too old, but they’re very delicate and the jar will probably go bad before you use it twice.

6. Don’t bother with pre-filled spice racks

If you want spices to serve their purpose (making food taste better), you shouldn’t own a pre-filled spice rack. Spices go off quickly, and when their color starts to dull they’ve lost a lot of their flavor. There are several dried spices that are invaluable in my kitchen (cinnamon, cloves, curry powder, cumin, coriander, chili pepper, etc.), but you should purchase them as you need them, and in small quantities unless you use them frequently.

7. Overcooking is probably your biggest kitchen mistake

Overcooked vegetables are mushy and flavorless, overcooked meat is tough and chalky, overcooked grains are soggy and fall apart. In other words, overcooked food is bad food. Learn the art of taking food off the heat just before it is done, and let it finish cooking with its internal temperature. You can always cook it more, but you can never cook it less.

8. If it tastes OK but not great, it probably needs salt—and maybe some vinegar or olive oil

The media loves to bash salt, but I’m not convinced that sodium (rather than processed food) is the real problem. Also, the small amount you use when cooking at home won’t compare to what you’d get at a restaurant or in a packaged meal. Though over-salted food certainly tastes bad, under-salted food is bland and boring and a little dash can often save a dish.

If you think you’ve added enough salt but something is still off, try a small splash of vinegar or lemon (any acid) to brighten the flavor. If the food is dry or sticky, try adding a touch of olive oil. These three things can fix almost any lackluster meal.

9. Don’t buy regular big onions, use shallots or leeks

For most everyday cooking, milder onions will enhance your dish and give it more nuance. Big, strong onions certainly have their place in cooking (soups, roasts, etc.), but most kitchen experiments will be improved by more subtle onion flavor.

10. Fruit (other than berries) shouldn’t be stored in the fridge

Refrigerators dull the taste of most produce, so if you bought something that doesn’t need to go in there leave it out. Most fruits including apples, oranges, pears and bananas don’t belong in the refrigerator unless you’re not planning on eating them soon. I don’t refrigerate tomatoes, avocados or peppers either. Very hot climates are an exception, however.

What are your favorite simple kitchen tips?

Originally published June 1, 2011.

Over 30 years after The Warriors took America on a dangerous midnight tour of New York, the city seems like a different world. Graffiti has been sanded, neighborhoods have gentrified, and citizens no longer fear attacks by roving mimes. But the traces of 1970s New York live on beneath repainted facades, and Scouting New York brings us along in a fascinating three-part attempt to find and photograph every location where The Warriors was filmed. In Part 1, it's revealed that the Warriors' long journey from the Bronx to Coney Island actually started in Manhattan. In Part 2, we meet the abandoned subway station that has appeared in everything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to a Michael Jackson video. And in Part 3, Scouting New York sums...

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