Dr. Kracker

The New York Times recently reported on the effectiveness of posting “calories per servings” on restaurant menus in NY City; specifically, whether or not having the information impacted consumer choices (“Calorie Postings Don’t Change Habits, Study Finds”). Surprisingly (or not!), a full disclosure of calories appears to make little difference in what customers ordered. It’s important to note that the review of the data is very preliminary, and much of the consumers surveyed were at fast food restaurants. One consumer is quoted as saying, “It’s just cheap, so I buy it. I’m looking for the cheapest meal I can.” I wrote last month that the low cost and convenience of fast food lures willing customers into a nutritional dead end that undermines their health. Fast food consumers will be the most difficult to reach, and their behavior most difficult to change.

By contrast, my wife and I went to a Thai restaurant in Austin last week. As we read the menu, we noticed the table next to us was served two portions of multi-hued, whole grain rice in place of white rice. We ordered the same. And when the server brought the rice, I asked what percentage of customers ordered whole grain rice. She estimated 60% of customers now specified brown rice, despite the price being $1 more. It’s gratifying and encouraging that even though there’s nothing more traditional than a mound of snowy white rice served alongside a bowl of spicy Thai soup, the information about the health benefits of whole grains can indeed influence both patrons and restaurant owners. Shift happens most often when consumer awareness meets good and tasty alternatives.

One of my friends who successfully changed her life freely admits she had had an addiction to food since she was 12. Food obsessed her and she paid for it, ballooning to as much as 220 lbs over her present weight. This friend, Bunny Dimmel, (see bunnydiet.com) has helped me understand how difficult it is to escape from our culture of wrong food and excessive food. In one of her newsletters, Bunny writes about success and failure. She points out we generally eat three times per day, not including snacks. These are three opportunities to succeed or three opportunities to fail, at least 21 chances every week. A baseball player approaches greatness if he can hit the ball successfully 3 out of 10 attempts. Bunny aims higher when it comes to making good food choices. Because changing personal and cultural patterns is by no means easy, we face relentless pressure from the marketers and media. We are saying no to addictions to sugar, fats and salt, all of which weaken will power and undermine success.

Here’s an excerpt from Bunny:

Bunny talks about the societal pressure to “eat, drink and be merry,” which is never more present than the holiday season. Starting with Halloween, tag-teaming through the winter holiday celebrations up to and including New Year’s Eve, the opportunity to indulge in, if not binge on, sugary treats is almost everywhere.

Did you know the average American eats 14 tablespoons of sugar every day? That’s the equivalent of a 5-pound bag of sugar every two weeks. A single 20-ounce soft drink contains an astounding 8 tablespoons of sugar—imagine adding 8 spoonfuls of sugar to a glass of iced tea or coffee! Even more frightening is the fact that soft drinks and soda account for as much as 15% of the average adolescent’s daily calories. No wonder that the cost of treating diabetes has doubled in the past decade! This has an impact of nearly every system in the body—contributing not only to overweight, but diseases of the blood and bones as well.

There are some simple ways to cut back on weekly sugar consumption, starting with choosing unsweetened beverages, and then not adding sugar to them. You might guess I’m not advocating artificial sweeteners here—some studies show they actually can run havoc on our metabolic system and contribute to a continued addiction to sweet flavors. Better to reeducate the palate, and if not totally eliminate, then greatly reduce sweet foods and drinks from our diets. For example, as an alternative to heavily sweetened pastries or muffins to start your day, try whole grain breads or Dr. Kracker flatbreads in the morning. Learn to read labels carefully. The ingredients list must indicate the relative percentage of sugar or high fructose corn syrup in the product, and the nutritional panel declares the amount of sugar per serving. Verify that the serving size is credible; a 20-oz bottle of soda is not realistically 2.5 servings. Note that many prepared sauces and spreads have sugar as a principal ingredient. Since we are not going to go 10 for 10 and bat 1000, choose carefully which sugar you eat.

Above all, food should not be about deprivation or suffering. Aspiring to a healthier lifestyle should increase one’s appreciation for flavors and textures of foods, not stifle them. To Bunny’s point, creating a health careful lifestyle doesn’t mean having to swear off sweet, high-calorie foods for the rest of our lives. It means limiting them to a healthy percentage of the total of what we eat, so that, like a great baseball player, we’re successful at least three out of every ten times at bat.

Thank you, Bunny, for adding such valuable personal insight to the Doctor’s newsletter.

The Heroes of the Month for November are all the dieticians, journalists, bloggers and gadflies who exposed the so-called “Smart Choice” campaign as the marketing-based nutritional hooey it really was. The claim that Fruit Loops and other sugar-laden breakfast cereals were “Smart Choice” foods for kids was not only stupid, it was malicious. Thanks to our heroes, the hoax is dead. Good job, folks!