"Eat Food"

Michael Pollan, in his book, “In Defense of Food” says there are three simple rules for eating for health:

1.       Eat food.

2.       Mostly plants

3.       Not too much

Let’s look at that first rule of Pollan’s:   “Eat food.”  This ‘food’ is in contrast to processed foods that might more accurately be labeled “food-like”. Yesterday I stopped at a Panera’s Bakery for a bagel and coffee breakfast on the way home from a very long trip to and from Texas.  I noticed a poster entitled “The No No List”. It is a long, long list of chemicals and additives that Panera has already eliminated or will eliminate from all its products within the next six months. I'm going to try to post that list on this blog.

When I arrived home, a neighbor had dropped off two boxes of food:  Archway Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (a Target product I believe) and Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes

These are the ingredients listed for the cookies.  Ingredients are always listed in descending order of predominance by weight.  Those ingredients in bold font are ingredients found in a typical oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.

Bleached and unbleached wheat flour

Niacin

Reduced Iron

Thiamine Mononitrate

Riboflavin

Folic Acid

Raisins

Sugar

One or more of the following:

Canola oil, corn oil, palm oil, soybean oil

Rolled oats

High fructose corn syrup

Glycerin

Corn syrup

Modified corn starch

Baking soda

Nonfat dry milk

Whole eggs

Cinnamon

Salt

Potassium Sorbate (preservative)

Natural and artificial flavor

Soy

Lecithin

Which cookie do you think is less costly to prepare? An oatmeal raisin cookie from a box or one from the oven?

Which one tastes better?  Which one is a healthier choice?

We'll tackle the ingredients in  the box of scalloped potatoes later.