"Sensible Solutions"

Alrighty...so by now I'm sure you can see I don't really trust any advertisements for food, or what I really believe are things that pretend to be food. A marketing phenomenon I would like to talk about is the Sensible Solutions line by Kraft.

Sensible Solutions is a program (aka: sales technique) that Kraft has created to "help" consumers find what they refer to as the "better-for- you" products they sell. They make it nice and easy for you. They simply place a friendly, happy sunshine logo on the boxes, so that way the mindless consumer doesn't have to work hard at finding things that are good for them. The green and yellow label with the sunshine makes it all better and your life is a healthy breeze if you're buying these easy to spot products. Thank goodness!! If it weren't for sunshine and lollipops on my food, I wouldn't know what to do. And bunnies! Oh, I love bunnies...


This type of marketing really pisses me off, because it actually contributes to all the confusion out there people face every day while they are trying to find what is healthy for them. People actually believe that they are doing themselves a favor by purchasing these products, because they believe they are better choices. As someone who trains people to get in shape & get healthy, it just breaks my heart to see how confused and misinformed people really are when it comes to what they're eating. Marketing like this encourages us to be obsessed with things like calorie free food (WTF?!! Since when is food not supposed to have calories?!) low fat no fat nonsense (which by the way,typically means more sugar, hence - hello, making us fat - don't even get me started!!) and believing that this is what will make us all thin and healthy. Sadly, the Sensible Solution line is not the only problem, in fact, most of the companies that sell "food" have some sort of "healthy" line.

Most Canadians are looking for healthier choices, and we're aware that eating healthy and exercising prevents several diseases, and improves the quality and length of our lives. These businesses are clearly taking advantage of that and are trying to capitalize on this.

Here are some of those "better-for-you" choices they promote:

• Crystal Lite Low Calorie Drink Mixes (this product contains aspartame, which is extremely dangerous for you, and I will blog about separately...please don't ever eat it!)
• Kraft Dinner (I shit you not, it's there -the white flour macaroni with cheese made from powder and chemicals)
• Certain Processed Cheese products (yes, they're PROCESSED)
• Cookies (really? COME ON!!)
• Cream Cheese spreads and dips (with loads of chemicals)
• Tang Singles (remember that crap from when you were a kid, and it stained your teeth and tongue orange after you drank it?)

The list just goes on.

Here's what I figure. Instead of a sunshine on their boxes, there should be a skull and crossbones there, so you know it contains toxins, poisons, and is not healthy for you. Perhaps a warning label on these types of foods should be mandatory, like with cigarettes. Things like "This product contains tartrazine, and extensive consumption of this chemical over time causes anxiety, migraines, clinical depression, blurred vision, general weakness, sleep disturbance and feelings of suffocation". Obviously, absolutely none of these products are a healthy choice. The list of chemicals and garbage in each one of them is so long it would take weeks to go through them all. If you need proof, just do a little research on one or two of the ingredients in some of them. Google one of them you've never heard of before.

The bottom line is, if it is not a real, whole food, it probably is not good for you. If it has been processed, boxed, preserved and is being marketed to you on television or as some "healthy line", it is likely garbage and is just a giant business targeting you as a consumer to buy their product.

You'd never actually see a local farmer paying for expensive advertising to get you to come buy his produce, or big billboards for the Farmer's Market. Ever see clever commercials for random fresh vegetables or fruit just encouraging you to eat more of them? "Hey, I'm asparagus! I am low in calories, and loaded with folic acid, vitamins A, B & C, contain fibre AND I even have detoxifying and diuretic effects! Eat more of me!!" Nope. The reality is that these farmers don't have the money to spend on advertising. Instead, they spend their money on growing their produce, and raising their animals in humane conditions. They spend their money on harvesting their crops and livestock so that they're ready for the market, and are as tasty and healthy as possible for you. And I tell you what - those people who are devoting their lives to growing real food for me to nourish my body with are the businesses I want to support ANY day of the week.

What is High Fructose Corn Syrup?

I first learned about this substance a couple of years ago when I read the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (awesome read - I highly recommend it!) While I certainly don't profess to be a nutritionist or a scientist, I do admit I am very curious about what is in our food. If I hear about an ingredient or read something on a label I don't know about, I research it to find out what it is and what kinds of studies have been done on it. Yes, I am a little bit of a geek in the food/wellness department, but I tell you what - it's shocking what you learn when you're actually paying attention.

High Fructose Corn Syrup sounds harmless enough, right? I mean, corn syrup on its own is a natural product so how bad can it be? Well, regular corn syrup and High Fructose Corn Syrup are very different beasts. And I say beast, because I mean it. High Fructose Corn Syrup is a genetically modified "food" that is poisonous to the human body.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) , often called "glucose-fructose" or "natural flavor" on labels in products in Canada is made by changing the sugar in corn syrup to fructose with a genetically modified enzyme. The end product is a combination of glucose and fructose. Glucose, which every cell in the human body will utilize in its natural form suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates leptin, which suppresses human appetite. Fructose, like that found in High Fructose Corn Syrup (not the natural form that occurs in fruit) has no effect on ghrelin and interferes with the human brain's communication with leptin, resulting in overeating. In fact, in a recent study, a Princeton University research team demonstrated that rats fed HFCS gained significantly more weight than those fed sugar, even though their overall caloric intake was the same. Read the full story here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322121115.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

In addition, this genetically modified product actually encourages overeating by bypassing the human body's natural instinct to stop eating. For reals! It tricks your brain!! HOW is this a good thing for anyone? We all know that Canada and the USA have some of the highest rates of obesity in the world, and while we certainly can't blame this one substance alone for being the cause of everyone's health problems, it does shed some light on a few things. It also sheds some light on the number of obese children we see in this country, and sadly now, even in babies! (Parents, please read the ingredients in your baby's formula, food, etc if you're not breastfeeding or making everything on your own).

So how much of this stuff are we eating on a regular basis? Surely, if it's in moderation we should be fine, right? Well...have a look at the ingredients in your foods at home. You might be surprised to find out that HFCS is a very common ingredient in most household foods (it is slightly less expensive for industries to make, is more addicting, and has a longer shelf life). Have a read of your yogurt container, or that "healthy" whole wheat bread label. See the ingredient "glucose-fructose"? That's High Fructose Corn Syrup. It's commonly found in yogurt, cereals, whole wheat bread, lunch meats, breakfast bars, juices, and salad dressings just to name a few, and these are things that most of us eat on a regular basis. What's worse is that these things are actually marketed to consumers as "healthy" and "good for us"

If this doesn't turn you off HFCS, or as it's known by its more vile temptress of a name "glucose-fructose", there are also studies that show that this ingredient contains mercury. Yes, that's right - the shit we've been scared of for years because of all the health problems it causes like neurological damage, hair and teeth loss, muscle weakness, loss of kidney function and memory impairment. Here's a link to a story from the Washington Post about it. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html

So...what can you do?

Well, don't eat it for one! Know that when you're shopping to read the labels of the foods you buy to look for things called "HFCS", "Glucose-Fructose" which ARE high fructose corn syrup and "Natural Flavor" which this product is allowed to be called on your labels. AVOID those products. Make things on your own at home, using other sweeteners if you must, like honey or stevia or rice syrup. Sweeteners are still sweeteners and should only be consumed in moderation, but stick with something you know isn't actually poison. Note: Splenda and Aspartame are also shit, so please don't replace HFCS with these items. They're terrible for you!

My brother and I have started a petition in Canada to have high fructose corn syrup banned, and you're welcome to get involved, or just sign the petition. The more of us there are asking questions, not buying or eating things that are bad for us and asking for change, the easier it will be for governments to hear us and our concerns. Check out our site - the petition can be downloaded here:http://www.banhfcs.northsun.ca/doku.php?id=start

New "Wholesome" Pizza

Watching television with my mother was always painful (it still is, actually ;-)) mostly because she would criticize everything on the tube, and refute every marketing message from sponsors during commercials. Her favorite thing to say while waving a fist at the television during a commercial that was claiming to sell some sort of amazing product was, and still is "Bloody bullshit!!" Hilarious with her English accent, I have to say.

Aside from making me want to punch people who talk incessantly throughout a program or a movie, watching her argue with the television actually DID teach me something very valuable that I'm incredibly thankful for. I learned from a very young age that what we see on television commercials is not always true, and, simply - is marketed to us as consumers to encourage us to buy products. It seems these businesses will stop at nothing to get us to buy their products, especially food.

My latest favorite brainwashing attempt comes from a company that makes frozen pizzas with "wholesome ingredients" because they care about your health. Frozen pizza that is actually good for me? Go on!! They even encourage you to check the ingredients yourself! Wow! They really must care about my health if they are using wholesome ingredients and encouraging me to read the label. This all sounds too good to be true...

I hopped online to read the ingredients of these so called "wholesome ingredient" ridden frozen pizzas after one of my girlfriends called & told me about the product. Here's a list of what's in the Pepperoni Pizza they rave about in their commercials.

Crust
Enriched wheat flour, water, durum semolina, soy oil, wheat gluten, sugar, yeast, baking powder, dehydrated rye sourdough, soy lecithin, salt.

Sauce:
Water, tomato paste, corn starch, sugar, salt, spice, onion powder, natural flavor.

Cheese:
mozzarella (milk, modified milk ingredients, bacterial culture, salt, calcium chloride, microbial enzymes)

Toppings:
Pepperoni (pork and/or beef, seasoning, spices, sugar, celery powder, garlic powder) water, salt bacterial culture, natural flavor.

Already, we have about 25+ ingredients in a product - many of which are not natural or found in your own pantry or kitchen. How can this be? In the commercial, they boast about how they use such wholesome ingredients like fresh tomatoes (where?!), and real cheese. In addition to the chemicals and vague "natural flavors", there are a few key things to point out here. Let's review just a of these ingredients, shall we?

Enriched wheat flour: Why is it we "enrich" everything we eat? If wheat is grown properly the way it is meant to be, then shouldn't it be rich enough on its own? Jeez.

Wheat gluten: Gluten is the protein that naturally occurs in wheat. If there is already wheat in the product (flour) this means there is already gluten in that wheat. Are they adding extra gluten into the pizza dough? Why? Perhaps these ridiculous modifications of our foods are what may be contributing to so many of us having intolerances and sensitivities to things like wheat.

Sugar: In the dough, the sauce AND the pepperoni. I don't know about you but I can't say I've ever put sugar in or on a pizza before. Not just because I think it would taste like crap, but because sugar is very unhealthy.

Pepperoni: You don't see everything that is in the pepperoni on this label - in fact - they can't even specify what type of meat is used. In addition to this, I would venture to guess that the animals used for the meat on this pizza were not raised by an ethical farmer, so who knows what you're eating there. You also do not see what is used in pepperoni to make it. Pepperoni is a cured meat - it is a processed food. This on its own means it is bad for you to eat. Curing meats is basically a food preservation and flavoring process, and in pepperoni, the chemical of choice for curing it is Sodium Nitrate. While some companies have chosen to use other ingredients to cure meat, there is no way for the consumer to know what exactly was used to cure the meat when buying this or any other frozen pizza. If there's any chance it is Sodium Nitrate in this pepperoni, it is important to note there are issues with consuming this chemical.

Sodium Nitrate is a chemical (NaNO2) that is used as a color fixative and preservative in meats. Sodium nitrate consumption has been linked to triggering migraine headaches, lung disease, and cancer. Any chemical that can be linked to causing any of these in humans is just not fit to eat. It's not fit!!! Periodic table of the elements, who invited you to my dinner?


These commercials are filled with half truths about things that are generally important to the public, things like our health, and eating well. We, as a nation believe them. Not because we're stupid (well...let's face it...some of us are), but because in general, we trust people. I like to think of this trust we place in others as part of our charm as Canadians, and while I never want us to give that up, I do want us to be smart and aware of what we're putting in our bodies. We don't have to become a bunch of conspiracists and never enjoy an occasional treat. We can still trust people but we can also take into consideration a couple of things when it comes to these commercials and the products they are selling.

These products are being marketed to us by a business. Their focus and priority is to get you, the consumer to buy what they are selling. Period. Makes sense from a business perspective, right? Our health is not their priority or responsibility, it is our own, and we cannot honestly believe that a frozen pizza is good for us just because it has been cleverly marketed to us this way. We're smarter than that, Canada. Come on!

We buy these products because we believe that these companies that state things like "It's All Good" are required by governments to tell us the truth when they advertise to us. Think again. If a can of ravioli can be sold to us as "secretly nutritious" even though it is some sort of meat in a can with a shelf life of 100 years, we have to be honest with ourselves about what "truth" in advertisement really is for these industries. Our governments that are busy trying to keep everyone happy (and doing a really shitty job at that, I gotta say!) will never say something like "Do not eat this brand of food. It is bad for you" or "Do not eat at this fast food restaurant" as it would put these people out of business. Governments are not in a position to point out specific industries and tell you not to eat their foods, so it is up to YOU the CONSUMER to do your research and find out for yourself. Ask questions and make decisions about what you will eat on your own on a regular basis. Your health is your responsibility - nobody else is going to make that a priority for you.

Personally, I don't buy anything pretending to be food that's advertised on television because I am quite sure whatever they're selling is not whole or real. I eat whole, real foods and if there is something I am about to buy with an ingredient I would never have in my kitchen, I put it back and walk away from it. Sometimes I run. I'm not suggesting that I never indulge in anything, because I do, but it is done in moderation. And if I was going to sit down and eat a pizza, I'd feel much better knowing for SURE what was in it, and I'd make it on my own. It would be a vegan pizza though, so likely pretty disgusting. ;-)

And by the way - as much as I love her, if my mom ever invites you to watch a movie or TV with her...umm...you might want to go with no. Unless you enjoy watching English ladies argue with people who can't hear her ;-)