Think Twice Before You Reach For That Microwave Popcorn!
A few months ago, I watched a Dr. Oz episode on how artificial butter flavoring may be linked to Alzheimer's disease. A chemical called diacetyl is present in many foods with artificial butter flavorings including microwave popcorn, cake mixes and "zero calorie" butter sprays. EVEN SMART BALANCE BUTTERY SPREADS (the ones that are supposed to be heart healthy) have artificial flavors! This is scary.
Even scarier, after investigating ingredients with butter flavorings, I discovered that diacetyl isn't even listed on labels. Manufacturers are allowed to group additives into categories such as "natural flavors" and "artificial flavors" without listing what the ingredients actually are. Consumers are seriously being left in the dark with this stuff. We need to know what is in our food!
Your best bet for avoiding diacetyl? Avoid artificial butter flavors of any kind, and stick with real butter, natural/organic cake mixes, and make your own popcorn! And please throw out that Smart Balance! For natural alternatives, read my post about buttery spreads
Please view this video clip from the Dr. Oz Show to find out how diacetyl can affect the brain. This episode really inspired me to watch out for artificial butter flavors.
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/artificial-butter-linked-alzheimers
~The Healthy Food Detective :)
Please read more about diacetyl and Alzheimer's:
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/butter-flavoring-may-aggravate-alzheimer-s
http://www.aolnews.com/2009/12/10/just-when-you-thought-it-was-safe-to-make-popcorn/
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Food Myth #1: Low fat buttery spreads are better than butter
Ah, butter....it tastes so good yet it is so fattening! (100 calories, 11g fat, 7 g saturated fat per tablespoon). I always use real butter for baking, but try not to use it on a daily basis. So what do most people replace butter with? Artificial buttery spreads!
Many buttery spreads claim that they have less saturated fats, no cholesterol and no transfats. Some of these products include I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! and Country Crock Spread (which are made by the same company by the way!)
So how are these spreads supposedly "healthier" than butter? Well, they do have less fat and no cholesterol. This is because they are made mostly from vegetable oils. What are the 15 ingredients in these spreads? Well, on the company only the nutrition facts are listed....the ingredients are NOT listed!
After investigating on some websites, I was able to find an ingredients list for Country Crock:
Ingredients: vegetable oil blend (liquid soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean and hydrogenated cottonseed oils), water, whey (milk), salt, vegetable mono and diglycerides, soy lecithin, (potassium sorbate, calcium disodium edta) used to protect quality, citric acid, artificial flavor, vitamin a (palmitate), beta carotene (for color)
Do you really want to be spreading all that on your toast in the morning?
Better Swap:
Here are the ingredients: Sweet cream, olive oil, salt. That's it!
Even BETTER Swap:
Land O'Lakes Whipped Butter is even BETTER than Land O' Lakes buttery spreads for two reasons:
1. It only has TWO ingredients! (Pasturized sweet cream, salt)
2. It only has 50 calories, 6g fat and 3.5 g fat per tablespoon.
I got this swap from Dr. Oz!
Even though Land O' Lakes whipped butter and spreads still have fat, I would rather eat 2 or 3 natural ingredients than 15 not-so natural ones! Wouldn't you?
~The Healthy Food Detective :)
*Note: The LIGHT versions of Land O' Lake whipped butters and spreads DO have additives...avoid these!
http://www.landolakes.com/Products/Butter/
What is Bad About Mono-& Digylcerides?
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