What a scam!

Well, maybe not totally a scam, but you really need to read your labels if you're worried about food-related health issues! And I've felt it my new personal duty to share the real truth out there for people struggling to make good choices in this confusing world of food and health issues! So, listen up to what I've discovered recently...

As you know, I've been working really hard to make good food choices so that I can feel better and take charge of my health again. Yea, I'd love to lose about 100 pounds, but right now I'm more interested in getting through a day without a headache, getting my insulin levels under control and having more energy. I've been saying no to cookies and other desserts (Although the cookie withdraw may do me in faster than the health conditions! Man, I had no idea how much I liked cookies until now). I never have been a huge snacker, but I've even been avoiding the occasional indulgences and searching for other just-as-satisfying options. I'll share some of those in a minute... but first, I want to warn you of the "scam".

I was so proud of myself for this little find during my most recent grocery trip:

Boy, was I wrong to be so proud!
You see, I'm not much of a meat-eater, yet I've found that I need significant amounts of protein with each meal and snack in order to help my body digest & use food properly, to avoid headaches, to feel full, and to feel better overall. So, in my search for alternative protein sources, I was thrilled to find a whole-grain waffle with flaxseed! Yea, protein! It says it right there on the front of the box, 4g of protein! Add a glass of milk and I'll have enough protein to get me through the next 4 hours!

Here's the scam: where most of the time we're disappointed to see the serving size ("only 10 grams of carbs in these chips... oh, did we forget to tell you our serving size is one potato chip?"), in this case a serving size is THREE waffles! Well, crap, that means there's only about 1.3 grams of protein in a waffle! That's less than a regular Eggo waffle! So much for my big protein find! Liars! (they're not really liars, just hid the truth well enough I didn't see it until later)

Oh, there's more, only this one I caught on to the scam before I made the purchase... of course syrup would ruin my healthy waffle snack, so I bought raspberries, blackberries and strawberries to top off my whole-wheat flaxseed waffle... and of course what is a fruit-topped waffle without whipped cream?

Yes, Cool Whip comes in all kinds of styles... there's Cool Whip Free. And Cool Whip Lite. And Cool Whip Sugar Free. Let's compare... Sugar Free & Lite only have 20 calories and 1 gram of fat each. Cool Whip Free only has 15 calories and no fat. That's good, I guess. But, fat isn't really the issue for me, it's carbs and calories. Regular Cool Whip does have 25 calories... BUT, it is the lowest in carbs! Yea, even the "sugar free" variety has 3 grams of carbs while regular has 2! What is the point of being sugar free if the carbs are still doing to do the same damage? I guess just speed up the cancer, I don't know. (I'm afraid of artificial sweeteners). So, I'll gladly take the extra 5 calories in exchange for one less carb and 100% more taste! I'm beginning to think it's all psychological! I mean, aren't people going to have a tendency to eat more "Free" Cool Whip if they think it's healthier than the regular stuff? I'm telling ya, it's a scam!

So, back to my waffles. While it's true that De Wafelbakkers may be organic (boy, that's become another buzz word and another scam itself, hasn't it!) and may have other health benefits, I'm really focused right now on getting the most protein and fiber to balance as few carbs as I can get on a small calorie budget. So, I can have Eggo Wheat waffles and save about 40 calories and still get the 4 g of protein, for reals (I don't have to eat the whole box and the carton to get the proclaimed amount of protein!).


Now I want to share with you some of my new friends.

Cheese is good. Protein with a satiating quality, no carbs, so perfect snack. But, unless it's string cheese, I don't really want it without a cracker. What to do? Meet my friend Keebler:

These multi grain crackers are absolutely delicious!! For only 70 calories of my budget and 3 grams of fat and only 9 grams of carbs (8 net carbs because there's even a gram of fiber), I can have 4 crackers with my cheese and get a bonus gram of protein! It's too good to be true! I'm full and it was delicious! Yea me! I love these little victories. I can only eat so many nuts, you know. Gotta have some variety.

Arnold is another new friend I'm very fond of. Sissel introduced us.

These whole wheat sandwich thins are SO yummy! They make the BEST sandwiches! Cold cuts; grilled cheese, bacon & sauteed onion; grilled chicken; ham, egg & cheese... anything tastes good on these babies! They'll only cost ya 100 calories, just a single gram of fat, only 17 net grams of carbs (unbelievable for bread! 22 carb-5 fiber=17 net carbs), and a bonus of 4 grams of protein!! Yea!!! It makes me happy! Food can be fun again!

I'm also a new fan of protein shakes (maybe I'll post some recipes later) and Stevia.

Stevia comes from an herb in the Chrysanthemum family (I'm pretty sure this is the same family as our fall Mums) that grows wild in Paraguay and Brazil. It's an extremely concentrated sweetener, so you only need a few drops to taste the effect, which is why it has NO calories, NO carbs, nothin'! AMAZING! Why haven't you heard more about it? Because NutraSweet and Splenda have paid big bucks to lobby the FDA and make sure you don't know about this much healthier option. The compromise the FDA came up with is that Stevia can be called a dietary supplement as opposed to a sugar substitute.
It's not new. It's been used in countries overseas for many, many years. How good is it? Well, let's face it, nothing can taste exactly like sugar any more than salt substitutes can taste like salt. However, my first protein shake with natural yogurt (GAG!!) needed 3 tablespoons of sugar before I could choke it down, whereas my second shake with about 5 drops of Stevia was quite good with only one teaspoon of sugar. And no cancer or man-made chemicals. Pretty dang cool.

I have a friend who is a food scientist and we talked at length about food. Let me just give you the short version and tell you that the FDA is not primarily interested in keeping you healthy. It's easily swayed by money and is just as political as any American government operation. So, be careful for buzz words and food fads. Read your labels. Educate yourself. Do your own research and go with your gut feeling... and what makes the hunger, insatiable cravings, and headaches go away while bringing those insulin levels back down.

Don't get sucked into the scams. They're not interested in helping you with your health issues. They just want to sell their product and make money. The only person who is interested in your health is you, so take charge--measure and weigh your serving sizes and read those food labels!