A report from MSNBC identifies seven food items commonly thought to be nutritious (or at least harmless) but actually either filled with nasty ingredients or stripped of healthy ones.
If I may be permitted, I'd like to summarize the author's findings. The seven deadly snack foods (and their sins of comission and omission) are these:
1. Granola bars - aw, c'mon - that ain't true...they are good for you...I refute it thus! [kicks display rack full of Three Musketeers] (sugar and chocolate, little protein/fiber/vitamins)
2. Bottled tea beverages - (full of sugar and spices, but little tea, thus little antioxidants)
3. Pretzels - have you ever not seen a line at Auntie Annes? (salt, with little else unless you buy one loaded with fatty extras)
4. Muffins - reminds me of Robert DeNiro in Casino: "...look how many blueberries your muffin has and how many mine has. Yours is falling apart. I have nothing." (loaded with fat)
5. Rice cakes - OhmyGawd, is nothing sacred? (empty of calories and nutrition)
6. Fruit snacks that come in little bags and remind us of gummy bears - (bereft of vitamins and antioxidants, full of unspeakably evil additives that make a double cheeseburger look like a prudent alternative)
7. Frozen yogurt - okay, you got us there. Who among the intelligentsia would be fooled into thinking that frozen yogurt was a vegetable substitute? For cryin' out loud - this is our reward for a hard afternoon at the gym! (no active cultures, full of fat)
Fortunately the story spared some of our favorite vices, such as dark chocolate, chili-lime tortilla chips, and peat-roasted barley turned into grist, then wort, then wash, then through the lyne arm into foreshots, new makes and feints. Yum, yum!
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I'm not sure that the average joe thinks those things are all healthy (well, a lot of people do think granola is healthy because they don't bother to read the labels) but I think people know that they are better off eating a handful of pretzels than eating a handful of greasy potato chips.
You mean celery with peanut butter, don't you? That's one of my faves.
Sad to hear about pretzels (Stuffs 3 small ones in her mouth while typing...) Would chocolate covered ones be better? You know, antioxidants and such...
DANG -- rice cakes?
Now if they could just make stringless celery, I'd be ok.
The unhappy generalization of this list is that if it tastes real good and comes in a nice package then it isn't as healthy as you'd think.
With winter coming on I am happy that those little easy to peel oranges from Spain are back. They are the one exception to above!
Isn't the whole point of rice cakes supposed to be that they provide a simulation of actual eating? Nutrition and calories are kinda beside the point.