Shopping for fresh, healthy food in a grocery store can be challenging. I am disgusted by all the advertisement tricks companies use, and probably more upset by the fact that people fall for them. For example, "free-range" could easily mean that the chickens are allowed a short exposure to sun everyday, or that there is a small window in the coop hardly allowing any sunshine. "Omega-3" could just mean that there is a trace amount naturally occurring or added, but it might not be the proven beneficial types, DHA and EPA. "USDA Organic" is almost meaningless to me, too. It seems that, to be organic, certain pesticides are forbidden (among other criteria), but the producer can use other pesticides that aren't on the forbidden list. What makes matters worse is that these pesticides may be in even higher concentrations than the forbidden ones because they are less effective, and less is known about their toxicity and health effects. One of my favorite tricks is when companies write on a package "30% Less Fat!" Consumers think that this means they have re-vamped the formula to have less fat, when sometimes they are just comparing their product to a competitor's. This is true with York Peppermint Patties. They have "70% Less Fat" than your average candy bar. Sometimes, it is true that the product was reformulated to have less fat, but this is often at the expense of added sugar, which could be way worse.
Anyway, I came across this label at Tops the other day, and I had to snap an image:
It may be difficult to read, but the label is trying to convince you that grape seed oil (high polyunsaturated fat, bad oil) is healthier than olive oil (high monounsaturated fat, good oil). They show that grape seed oil has way more polyunsaturated fats (the purple bar), way more Omega 6 fatty acids (the yellow bar), and even way more vitamin E (the green bar). Ick!! If you were an uninformed consumer, this would probably convince you, and you should refer to my previous post on seed oils. But I will give a re-cap here of why seed oils, such as this grape seed one, are one of your worst enemies. Polyunsaturated fats are absolutely terrible for you to cook with. The heat oxidizes the polyunsaturated fats with ease, creating free radicals that then in turn create more free radicals that damage any tissue it comes into contact with, especially including your arteries. Omega 6 fatty acids are superfluous in seed oils, as this label shows, but that is a huge problem in the US today. The average American omega 6 to omega 3 ratio has increased dramatically in the past 100 years due to these seed oils, and the consequences aren't good. High omega-6 increases inflammation, which can start entire cascades of inflammation. The last thing the label claims is higher vitamin E, which I can't say here is a bad thing, and so at least you have that. Your arteries may become inflamed and damaged by disrupting the endothelial layer, which in turn will trigger factors to clot the damage. Then, down the line, a clot may fall off and be released into your circulation and stop blood flow to an area of your brain or heart... but at least you will have higher vitamin E.
Become an informed shopper!
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