Have you ever wondered how Cocoa Puffs or Captain Crunch can be a part of a "balanced" diet? I thought that it might have something to do with the fact that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn't have any recommended daily allowance for sugar. So if you eat 7 cups of sugar for lunch, the FDA thinks it is ok.
This started when I was comparing the nutrition information of Raisin Bran and Cocoa Crunchies. The Cocoa Crunchies were a much better value, but I thought that they would be unhealthy. Turns out there are more calories and more sugar in the Raisin Bran. I am not worried about calories given my hobbies and even the sugar doesn't bother me too much, but I was surprised to find 24 grams of sugar in the RB and only 14 grams in the delicious CC.
Now according to our government who is should always be looking out for our best interest, I should be having 6-11 serving of bread, cereal, rice and pasta. If I eat 9 servings of Raisin Bran, that is more than on e cup of sugar. Of course it is ridiculous to eat that much cereal, but then I realized that one serving is only one cup. I probably have 3 servings at one time. So what if we switch to pasta? Well my Ragu Chunky Garden pasta sauce also has 13 grams of sugar per serving.
I am starting to worry about what I am eating. But of course this is all according the FDA. They are run by agribusiness executives. They want Americans to eat more meat. 2-3 servings of meat and 2-3 servings of dairy a day. That is a lot for me. But if I ran farms and was in charge of the FDA I would recommend the same thing to the 300 million + of us.
4 comments:
Awesome post. I think you have been hanging out with me for too long.
How about an even split. Pick something with a little more fiber, a bit of sugar, and you'll have happy tastebuds--and a healthy GUT! ;)
Try some Kashi GoLean..YUM!
raisin bran might have more sugar but it it healthier for you and has many more vitamins than cocoa crispies.
you should not have to get vitamins from processed food that has had vitamins added unnaturally to it. You should eat whole foods that still contain their natural vitamins. Cereal is unnatural and heavily processed and does not even fill you up nicely. Also if raisin bran has more sugar how is it healthier? because it has more vitamins, that have been added. If you added the same amount of vitamins to cocoa crispies would that be healthier? I think they are both poor choices?
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