Sometimes I latch onto some nutritional concept like it's the One Truth. Today, as I was eyeing my beautiful, one-dollar Fuji apple, I couldn't help thinking of the advice a friend got from an expensive nutritionist: always eat a protein with a carb. Even when the carb is nice fresh fruit, if you eat it without some peanut butter or cheese, you might as well just eat a fistful of white sugar as far your body is concerned.
Is this true? I have no idea. Did it stop me from eating a sugar cookie with a thick layer of green tea cream sandwiched into the middle of it before I even got my jacket off at the office? No, sir. But when it came to the apple, I just couldn't shake the idea. I don't think there's a jar of real peanut butter within a mile of my office, so I went to the convenience store downstairs for some processed cheese. I found a box (with sliding tray!) of "Smart Cheese" that says Tokachi on it. Tokachi is in Hokkaido and everyone knows that Hokkaido equals delicious dairy. The back says that the product contains at least 60% natural cheese from Tokachi. What is the other forty percent? Let's take a look at the ingredients, shall we?
There are only two. "Natural cheese, emulsifiers." So. The cheese is made of... cheese. Is this acceptable labeling? And is this really the road to improved nutrition?
4 comments:
I think that it's a pretty simplistic notion that eating fruit, which also has fiber and is digested slowly, is the same as eating a handful of white sugar.
It is true though that it is better to ingest carbohydrates with protein in order to mitigate the effect on blood sugar and insulin. Still, I think that man has been eating fruit without added protein for a long time and somehow our bodies have managed not to suffer too much for having done so. ;-)
hm, i think emulsifiers are usually oil or lard--if that sucker was 40% palm oil, you're definitely in shudder-inducing "cheese food" territory...did it taste like velveeta? :)
Cheese with something extra. Why can`t they just make pure cheese and sell it honestly?
TheGhost: They do sell "Natural Cheese" that would fall into the category of pure cheese, as you call it. It is written with katakana on the package.
About "other" ingredients in the "Processed Cheese" they are usually included to make it soft and more spreadable - and cheaper.
Word verification: tereolop (sounds almost like a cool food ingredient!)
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