Evil Candy?

[reinhard]

Interesting article in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/dinin ... .html?_r=1

Some highlights:

“At least candy is honest about what it is,†[Dr. Kawash] said. “It has always been a processed food, eaten for pleasure, with no particular nutritional benefit.†Today, she said, every aisle in the supermarket contains highly manipulated products that have those qualities.

many people who avoid candy will cheerfully eat sugar-packed chocolate-chip energy bars and drink Gatorade for health reasons, although a serving of Gatorade contains about the same amount of sugar as a dozen pieces of candy corn.

Dr. Johnson said that candy is considered bad because it lacks the “health halo†that hovers over sweet food like granola bars and fruit juice.

Dr. Johnson also noted that candy provides only 6 percent of the added sugar in the American diet, while sweet drinks and juice supply 46 percent. “There’s reason to believe that sugar in liquid form is actually worse than candy, because it fills you up and displaces healthier food choices,†she said.

I'm a little curious as to what goes into the definition of candy used to calculate the 6%; do chocolate bars count? In any case, the main point stands, and it's something I mention a lot in the book: self-deception and the eating patterns that facilitate it are the main culprits in overeating. Make excess obvious (like candy) and the problem almost takes care of itself.

[gratefuldeb67]

Hi Reinhard, thanks for posting that
Very good article and good points, especially the issue of how people elevate these crappy energy bars and drinks as something "healthy", just because the packaging says they are sports drinks, or health drinks, when they are just pure chemicals and high fructose corn syrup usually.
We've been pretty picky about candy at this point anyway, because if it's not really good quality, and made without fake stuff, we don't buy it, and when we do, we have it only on S days.
Debs

[Nicest of the Damned]

Interesting article in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/dinin ... .html?_r=1

Some highlights:

“At least candy is honest about what it is,†[Dr. Kawash] said. “It has always been a processed food, eaten for pleasure, with no particular nutritional benefit.†Today, she said, every aisle in the supermarket contains highly manipulated products that have those qualities.

many people who avoid candy will cheerfully eat sugar-packed chocolate-chip energy bars and drink Gatorade for health reasons, although a serving of Gatorade contains about the same amount of sugar as a dozen pieces of candy corn.

Dr. Johnson said that candy is considered bad because it lacks the “health halo†that hovers over sweet food like granola bars and fruit juice.

One lesson here is, "beware of health halos". If you think a restaurant or food is "healthy", you tend to underestimate the calories in food. You might even "reward" yourself for eating "healthy" by ordering extras, like chips, fries, or a cookie:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/200 ... bway_N.htm

http://nutritionunplugged.com/2010/04/t ... alth-halo/

One strategy to avoid the health halo effect is to try to think of two reasons why this food isn't particularly healthy.

Another is to realize that the world of food is not divided into good foods, that you can eat in any quantity, and evil foods that you should never eat any of. You can eat only healthy food and still gain weight, if you eat too much of it. Sumo wrestlers in Japan eat a stew called chankonabe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chankonabe

The stew isn't particularly unhealthy or high in calories. The sumo wrestlers just eat vast quantities of it.

[oolala53]

I think anyone who has a sugar issue needs to be especially honest. All I know is when I would buy those bars, I would end up eating three or four in a row. If that isn't proof that they might as well be candy, I don't know what is. I pretty much swore off them as any real alternative to a meal long ago. For one thing, I like to chew too much to be happy with those few bites. And sweet doesn't taste like a meal to me!

[ZippaDee]

Very interesting article! My daughter runs high school cross country and this year her coach banned all sugar drinks for the duration of the season for the reasons listed above!

I'll have to tell you though when I read the title of this post I thought it was going to be Halloween related. My kids brought home the "real" evil candy today in the form of Frankenstien shaped chocolates. Of course I did not indulge because it is not an S day!