Photo by mateoutah

I’m all for sweet treats on special occasions, but halloween candy is a different beast.

Michael Pollan warns that we should avoid anything that our great grandmothers wouldn’t recognize as food. How would she feel about these scary ingredients?

5 Scariest Halloween Candy Ingredients You Should Avoid

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

They call it “corn sugar,” I call it bad for you. There is still debate over whether HFCS is worse for you than regular sugar, but let’s not forget that regular sugar is really bad for you too, so it doesn’t really matter. HFCS is in virtually every candy and very hard to avoid.

2. Artificial colors

Food coloring (especially Blues 1 and 2, Red 3, Green 3, and Yellow 5) are associated with a handful of cancers and a bunch of other scary reactions. Many of them have been banned in various countries around the world, but they are still commonly used. A certain percentage of the population is so sensitive to Yellow no. 5 they break out in hives and have asthma attacks. Tasty huh?

3. Trans fat

Trans fat may have been banned in restaurants, but it is still in most candy bars like Snickers and Three Musketeers. There is no safe amount of trans fat in your diet and you should avoid it like the plague.

4. Sodium

To balance the nauseating sweetness of HFCS-supercharged candies, most are balanced with a hefty dose of salt. Though you can safely add salt to natural foods, the staggering amounts in processed foods are dangerous and often result in high blood pressure and stroke.

5. Carnauba wax

Though carnauba wax has not been shown to be toxic to humans it is a common ingredient in car waxes, shoe polish, cosmetics, floor polish, surfboard wax and, of course, halloween candy. Do you really want to be eating food that requires shining?

What halloween candies do you avoid?

Tags: artificial colors, candy, carnauba wax, halloween, high fructose corn syrup, sodium, trans fat

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Many thoughtful stories on the internets this week. I love JC’s piece on clean eating and food dogma. And if you’re curious about genetically modified salmon or other foods, I’ve included some very informative links. Enjoy

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete reading list join me on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• In Worries About Sweeteners, Think of All Sugars <<You call it corn syrup, I call it corn sugar, but the reality is it’s all the same unhealthy junk. This is a great explanation of the similarities and differences between sugar types. (New York Times)
• Clean Eating: Why I Still Call it a Scam <<Very thought provoking piece on food dogma. If you’re low-carb, paleo, Atkins, vegan or locavore, you should probably read this. (JCD Fitness)
• FDA to consider OK of genetically engineered salmon <<BS of the week. You know how it’s bad to have milk from cows that have been given growth hormones? Well these fish have extra growth hormones (from other animals) added directly to their DNA! You shouldn’t need a PhD in molecular biology to understand what you’re eating. (CNN)
• Genetically modified foods in supermarkets: how many? <<Great article explaining the extent of GM foods in supermarkets. (Food Politics)
• Making healthy food is easy. Making people eat it is not. <<The first part of this statement is true, but not in the way they mean. Fake, processed, “healthy” food tastes like cardboard. But in my experience getting people to eat real, seasonal foods is remarkably easy (because they are delicious). And they’re actually healthy. (Economist)
• Gluten-free has gone big time, but why so popular? <<An interesting examination of the gluten-free trend. (Associated Press)
• Last Call for Peaches <<Important safety tip, thanks Sean. (SFWeekly)
• Doctor’s Orders: Eat Well to Be Well <<Excellent article about educating doctors and medical students on the value of nutrition. (New York Times)
• Estimating calories may be more difficult than you think <<The health halo strikes again. (Los Angeles Times)
• Stuffed Indian Eggplant <<This recipe makes me want to eat my computer. Maybe I will. (Mark Bittman)

What inspired you this week?

Tags: B.S. of the week, gluten free, GM foods, health halo, high fructose corn syrup

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

New evidence that the Atkins diet may be depriving people of nutrients? You bet! There were also a few interesting articles this week about food ideology and the antagonistic tone that frequently comes up in discussions about health, food safety and politics. And Francis Lam’s greatest tomato pasta on earth article totally blew my mind (in a good way).

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete reading list join me on the new Digg or StumbleUpon. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

Tags: Atkins, B.S. of the week, blood pressure, chili peppers, diets, high fructose corn syrup, Michael Pollan, MSG, peanut butter, recipe, summer tomatoes

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

I was so focused on finding new material to share with you that I nearly forgot that yesterday was the 1 year birthday of Summer Tomato! Thanks to all of you who have supported me and this blog over the past 12 months. I can’t tell you how much your kind and thoughtful emails and comments mean to me. I feel blessed everyday to have such an amazing community of people who love life, food and health as much as I do, and I look forward to much more to come. Cheers!

I also want to remind you that Summer Tomato readers can still get 20% off all online purchases at Samovar Tea Lounge until March 31. Samovar has amazing teas and tea accessories. I definitely recommend browsing their shop if you’re a tea fan.

Use the code: summertea at checkout to apply the discount.

There was some interesting news this week (and some BS called) on both saturated fat and high-fructose corn syrup, the foods Americans love to hate. The science is complicated, so be sure to read the stories carefully. Also don’t miss the video of Kevin Rose and Tim Ferriss causing trouble down at my beloved San Francisco Ferry Building.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For complete reading lists join me on the social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you there. (Note: If you want a follow back on Twitter introduce yourself with an @ message).

Links of the week

• Is saturated fat back on the hook? <<Saturated fat is a complicated issue, and in my opinion we do not have all the answers yet. It certainly doesn’t seem as bad as we were led to believe, but it doesn’t seem exactly harmless either. I’ve read a few different analyses, but this one is my favorite. (Nutrition Data)
• 12 things you should never put in your mouth [slideshow] <<I can think of more than 12 things for sure, but this is a fun slideshow. (Grist)
• Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain <<BS of the week. This study made a lot of splash, but the evidence isn’t actually very strong. Sugar isn’t healthy, neither is HFCS. I don’t see how this study changes anything. (News at Princeton; Food Politics)
• McDonald’s Happy Meals Evidently Invincible <<Food that doesn’t rot? Are you kidding me? If bacteria and fungus won’t eat it, maybe the rest of us should reconsider as well. (TreeHugger)
• The Claim: Eat Six Small Meals a Day Instead of Three Big Ones <<I’ve never been a fan of the mini-meals, they take the ceremony (and some of the joy) out of sitting down with friends and loved ones to break bread. Turns out there isn’t much science behind the idea of spacing out eating anyway. (New York Times)
• A ‘dude’ explains why salad is ‘man food’ <<Salads may get a bad wrap from some of the guys but let’s be honest, being in great shape is pretty manly. All girls know that the hottest guys eat salads. (CNN)
• Dear Blogger: Do You Hate Your Customer? <<I was touched by this post about fitness bloggers over at Problogger. The author talks about how fitness blogs are often too condescending and cruel to their readers. I try to build a community here around ending deprivation and raising quality of life; I think food should be about happiness and fulfillment. But I’d love to know your thoughts on the subject and how you feel about the vibe here at Summer Tomato. Birthdays are a good time to reflect
• Last Supper helpings have grown <<Turns out artists have been trying to feed Jesus and his disciples more and more food for the past 1,000 years. Share the love I guess. WTF? (Chicago Tribune)
• Spinach and Chickpeas <<I tried a version of this recipe (minus the bread), and it was delicious. This is a great place to use some of your leftover smoked paprika! (Smitten Kitchen)
• The Random Show – Episode 9/10 <<Summer Tomato got some love this week from Kevin Rose (Digg) and Tim Ferriss (Four Hour Work Week) in their 9th or 10th (who’s counting?) episode of The Random Show. Though most of the video is about tech, books and travel, this time there was talk of food as well (waaay at the end ~23:00). The video was shot at my favorite place on earth, the San Francisco Ferry Building, and our Farmers Market Updates got a shout out. Thanks guys

What made your meals happy this week?

Tags: B.S. of the week, high fructose corn syrup, Kevin Rose, McDonald's, salad, Samovar Tea Lounge, saturated fat, Tim Ferriss

Photo by Uwe Hermann

Refined sugars and high-fructose corn syrup are considered by many experts to be the biggest contributors to obesity and poor health in Western civilization.

In her book What To Eat, Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at NYU and blogger at Food Politics suggests that any food that contains more than 15 grams of sugar per serving is closer to dessert than anything else. Though this number is arbitrary, it is a good benchmark for evaluating food products.

Obviously sugar content is not the only factor in a food’s nutritional value (and not all of these have added sugar), but it can be illuminating to see the relative amounts in the foods we consume.

Just for fun I looked up the sugar content of a few common foods and menu items. I hope you’re as horrified as I am.

Listed values are as close to a normal serving as I could approximate. Units are listed as grams of sugar.

Sugar Content of Common Food Products

1. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut …………………………………………………10 g

2. Luna Bar berry almond ……………………………………………………………………………11 g

3. Froot Loops breakfast cereal 3/4 cup ……………………………………………………12 g

4. Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream ………………………………………………………………..16 g

5. Starbucks caffè latte grande 16 oz ………………………………………………………..17 g

6. Godiva 2 truffles ……………………………………………………………………………………….17 g

7. Subway 6″ sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich ……………………………….17 g

8. Ms. Field’s chocolate chip cookie …………………………………………………………….19 g

9. Tropicana 100% orange juice 8 oz …………………………………………………………25 g

10. Yoplait original yogurt ……………………………………………………………………………27 g

11. Craisins dried cranberries 1/3 cup ……………………………………………………….29 g

12. Vitamin Water 20 oz bottle ………………………………………………………………….33 g

13. Oscar Mayer Lunchables crackers, turkey & American cheese ………….36 g

14. Coca-Cola Classic 12 oz can …………………………………………………………………39 g

15. Sprinkles Cupcake red velvet ……………………………………………………………….45 g

16. California Pizza Kitchen Thai chicken salad ………………………………………….45 g

17. Jamba Juice blackberry bliss 16 oz ……………………………………………………….49 g

18. Odwalla SuperFood 450 ml bottle ………………………………………………………..50 g

19. Starbucks caffe vanilla frappuccino grande 16 oz ………………………………58 g

Take home messages:

• Foods we recognize as dessert (e.g. doughnuts, ice cream, cookies) often have far less sugar than things we consider “healthy” (e.g. juice, yogurt, dried fruit).
• Froot Loops aren’t necessarily better than doughnuts.
• Energy bars are glorified candy.
• Dessert is sometimes hidden in things like sandwiches.
• Some foods marketed to children aren’t much better than soda.
• A salad can have as much sugar as one of the biggest cupcakes I’ve ever seen.
• “Natural” foods can have lots of sugar.
• The worst offenders are drinkable.
• Starbucks is why you’re fat.

How much sugar is in your favorite foods?

If you like this story follow me on the new Digg!

Tags: high fructose corn syrup, Marion Nestle, processed foods, sugar