{"id":3548,"date":"2010-06-08T01:48:34","date_gmt":"2010-06-07T23:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=3548"},"modified":"2015-02-15T09:26:23","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T14:26:23","slug":"ignorance-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/ignorance-wisdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignorance Isn’t Wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

I work in the health\/fitness community, so – naturally – I see the advice that various gurus\/wannabe gurus give out.\u00a0 While a lot of it is pretty basic and uncontroversial, one particular\u00a0bit of diet-related\u00a0“wisdom”\u00a0really raises my blood pressure:<\/p>\n

“If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, I know it’s designed to put people off highly processed, faux\/snack\/junk foods, and as such, is well-intentioned.\u00a0 But it really, really irritates me, nonetheless.\u00a0 Here’s why:<\/p>\n

1. It’s inaccurate. There are plenty of food products with perfectly pronounceable ingredients (like salt or sugar, for example)\u00a0that need to be limited\/avoided for good health (not to mention fat loss). Likewise, there are\u00a0food products\u00a0with unpronounceable ingredients that may – in fact – have their uses.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 It’s based on a false premise: “unpronounceable” food additives aren’t “natural” and are therefore potentially toxic.\u00a0\u00a0Nuh-uh.\u00a0 I realize this will make some people’s heads explode, but the\u00a0vast majority of unpronounceable “chemical” food additives are\u00a0pretty innocuous, from a basic health and safety standpoint. Hell, some – like butylated hydroxytoluene<\/a> and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid<\/a> –\u00a0may even be found\u00a0as supplements!<\/p>\n

3. It’s lazy as hell\u00a0– “gurus” who use this phrase often know very little about food ingredients\u00a0themselves. So rather than learning more about them so they can discuss the subject rationally, they find it easier to dismiss the subject entirely. It’s on a par with “just say no” (and it works just about as well).<\/p>\n

4. It’s (unintentionally) insulting – the underlying message is that people are incapable of understanding or learning about what’s in their\u00a0food.\u00a0 But mindlessly rejecting foods is just the mirror image of mindlessly buying\/eating foods… it’s still mindless. If the goal is\u00a0help people\u00a0think about their choices, then this is bass ackwards.<\/p>\n

5. It’s illogical – what if some people actually CAN pronounce them?\u00a0\u00a0 Does that automatically make the products they’re in\u00a0good to eat?<\/p>\n

See what I mean?\u00a0 It sounds good, but only if you don’t think about it very hard.\u00a0 And apparently many fitness-types don’t, since they keep repeating it (or some version of it)\u00a0as if it was\u00a0received wisdom.<\/p>\n

For example, what set me to write this was a thread on Facebook, where\u00a0some guy started a\u00a0discussion about a meal he made using\u00a0Hamburger Helper. And sure enough, a trainer\/fitness consultant weighed in with this comment:<\/p>\n

Have you looked at the “ingredients” on the box of Hamburger Helper? Chances are you can’t pronounce any of them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hmmm…\u00a0Here’s what’s in a box of “Hamburger\u00a0Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni<\/a>“:<\/p>\n

Enriched Macaroni, Corn Starch, Salt, Enriched Flour, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Ricotta Cheese, Tomato, Monosodium Glutamate, Citric Acid, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified\u00a0Corn Starch, Natural Flavor, Paprika, Spice, Colors, Monoglycerides, Whey, Gum Arabic, Yeast Extract, Disodium Guanylate, Disodium Inosinate, Soy Flour, Egg<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a good thing the recipient of this “nudge”\u00a0passed up on\u00a0an obvious opportunity to make – and win – a bet!\u00a0\u00a0While there are a few unpronounceables in this list, \u00a0the primary ingredients are quite<\/strong> recognizable and simple to pronounce. Can you say “macaroni?” Mr. Rogers can! Ditto, “corn starch,” “salt,” “flour” and\u00a0“sugar.”\u00a0 A portion of the lesser ingredients are quite familar too: “ricotta cheese,” “tomato,” “soybean oil,” “paprika,” “whey,” “soy flour” and “egg.”<\/p>\n

So does that mean Hamburger Helper’s not so bad?<\/p>\n

Well, let’s put it this way: I wouldn’t buy or eat the stuff.\u00a0 But it’s not because of the\u00a0ingredients that\u00a0I [allegedly] can’t pronounce… it’s because of the\u00a0ones I CAN. It’s\u00a0those recognizable ingredients that are the “problem children” in this product, not the disodium guanylate or monoglycerides. A small serving of Hamburger Helper delivers up 23 g of starchy carbs – with barely a trace of dietary fiber, nor any significant vites and minerals\u00a0beyond\u00a0a few sprinkles of\u00a0vita-dust\u00a0\u00a0used to “enrich” the flour and pasta.\u00a0 Even worse, it contains a whopping 810mg sodium per serving.\u00a0 And beyond that – products like “Hamburger Helper” are often used to extend ground beef… and likely not premium, extra lean ground beef, either.\u00a0 So\u00a0a “Hamburger Helper” meal\u00a0= a\u00a0not-all-that-nutritious meal that’s relatively high in sodium and saturated fat (from the beef).<\/p>\n

The irony is that this same trainer was lauding a meal replacement product, iSatori’s Eat Smart, a few weeks earlier.\u00a0Talk about unpronounceable ingredients!\u00a0Eat Smart is loaded with ’em.\u00a0Take a look at the label:<\/p>\n

Whey Protein Isolate<\/span>, Whey Protein Concentrate<\/span>, Calcium Caseinate<\/span>, Nutrim\u2122 (Oat Bran)<\/span>, Cocoa Powder (Dutch Process)<\/span>, Fibersol\u00ae (Fiber)<\/span>, Chocolate Chips (Sugar<\/span>, Chocolate Liquor<\/span>, Cocoa Butter<\/span>, Soya Lecithin (Added As An Emulsifier)<\/span>, Vanilla Extract)<\/span>, High Oleic Sunflower Oil<\/span>, Buttermilk<\/span>, Natural And Artificial Flavors<\/span>, Cellulose Gum<\/span>, Sodium Chloride<\/span>, Lecithin<\/span>, Fructooligosaccharides<\/span>, L-Glutamine<\/span>, Carrageenan<\/span>, Potassium Chloride<\/span>, Sucralose<\/span>, Disodium Phosphate<\/span>, Vitamin\/mineral Blend (Ascorbic Acid<\/span>, DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate<\/span>, Ferrous Phosphate<\/span>, Niacinamide<\/span>, Zinc Oxide<\/span>, D-Calcium Pantothenate<\/span>, Thiamin Hydrochloride<\/span>, Riboflavin<\/span>, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride<\/span>, Copper Sulfate<\/span>, Manganese Sulfate<\/span>, Vitamin A Palmitate<\/span>, Folic Acid<\/span>, Biotin<\/span>, Potassium Iodide<\/span>, Chromium Polynicotinate<\/span>, Phytonadione<\/span>, Sodium Molybdate<\/span>, Sodium Selenite<\/span>, Cholecalciferol<\/span>, Cyanocobalamin)<\/span>, Dipotassium Phosphate<\/span>, Magnesium Oxide<\/span>, Silicon Dioxide<\/span>, Flaxseed Powder<\/span>, Lactobacillus Acidophilus<\/span>, Bifidobacterium Bifidum<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, I ain’t knocking Eat Smart – in fact, it’s a product I think pretty well of<\/a>.\u00a0 As\u00a0it turns out,\u00a0 tongue-twisters like “cholecalciferol”\u00a0and “Bifidobacterium bifidum” are actually quite healthy! But if we were\u00a0applying\u00a0the “if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it” rule, this perfectly fine meal replacement would be dumped into the compost heap. And we’d be buying products like this one, instead:<\/p>\n

\n

SKIM MILK, CREAM, SUGAR, EGG YOLKS, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So simple.\u00a0 So “pronounceable.” And so fattening. It’s certainly not better for your body, and perhaps even worse in some ways, than the Hamburger Helper.<\/p>\n

Now I don’t mean to pick specifically on this one\u00a0trainer –\u00a0she just\u00a0provided me with\u00a0a current example…\u00a0this has been a “pet peeve” of mine for years.\u00a0I DO understand where\u00a0folks like her\u00a0are coming from; nonetheless,\u00a0it’s past\u00a0time to put\u00a0this particular bit of “advice”\u00a0on the blocks. \u00a0As a guide to eating, it’s flawed.\u00a0 It’s the ordinary, refined flour (and other refined starches), fats\/oils, sugar (and other\u00a0sweeteners)\u00a0and salt in food products that we should be the most concerned about; not the\u00a0modified food starches, emulsifiers or preservatives.\u00a0 We need to understand what we’re putting in our mouths, and not substitute\u00a0a knee-jerk, reflexive gesture for thinking.\u00a0\u00a0Advocating ignorance is not wisdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I work in the health\/fitness community, so – naturally – I see the advice that various gurus\/wannabe gurus give out.\u00a0 While a lot of it is pretty basic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,13,28],"tags":[673],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3548"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9085,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548\/revisions\/9085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}