Return to Simplicity

I've noticed a trend in the grocery stores lately: processed foods becoming less, well, processed. Or, at least, the perception of being less processed.

It started with Hagen-Daas, with their new "Five" ice cream. The ice cream only has five ingredients, giving a feeling of being pure and more natural. I bought into the hype and it is pretty good ice cream (although Breyers also has about five natural ingredients and is quite a bit less expensive. And can you really get any better than Breyers Vanilla? No, no you can't.)

And then today I see that Pillsbury is jumping on the bandwagon, with their premium ready-to-bake cookies. They also have about five ingredients, but beware - the five main ingredients are bolded in the ingredients section and each are followed by several ingredients in parentheses. Which brings their total ingredients up to about twelve. But they tout all natural ingredients, no high-fructose corn syrup and all natural flavors.

I've seen this same trend in Starbucks and, to a certain degree, at McDonalds. There seems to be a move away from all those ingredients you can't name and to something more natural.

I guess this is good- people know that all those added ingredients can't be good and aren't found in natural foods. People want to eat healthier. People want to get back to basics - not only with their finances but with their food, too.

Of course, nothing can beat the real thing you make in your kitchen. No preservatives, no MSG, no corn syrup. All ingredients found in nature.

Fat

Did you know that 2/3 of American's are overweight? That's 200 million people, with half of those people classifed as obese. That's absolutely crazy. So a couple of interesting tidbits that I randomly came across this past week:

First, it costs over $117 billion a year to treat obesity-related illnesses. No wonder our health care system is in shambles. Hopefully, part of that 1,000 page health care bill provides some kind of preventative education coverage where we can educate people on how to avoid putting on the pounds and, thus, reducing the total cost of our health care.

The next interesting thing was that I was talking to an OB/GYN and he said that cases of infertility have been rising over the years and they think here is actually a correlation with obesity. His overweight and obese patients have a much harder time getting pregnant than those that are skinnier and in shape. Now, perhaps that has something to do with obesity-related illnesses, but that brings us back to point number 1.

KFC just launched a new sandwich in two test markets this week (Nebraska and Rhode Island): the Double Down. It's bacon, two kinds of cheeses and sauce, all piled between two pieces of fried chicken. That's right - no bread, so you don't have to worry about all those carbs. That sounds disgusting, but I bet it's testing great in the markets.

And lastly - and the most disturbing thing I've seen in a while - is the CDC's data and trends on obesity in America over the past 20 years. Wow. You can watch the slideshow here.

I'm not trying to say all this to be mean. Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect and there are circumstances where no matter what people do, they are still going to develop obesity for whatever reason. But our culture and lifestyle is clearly fueling this epidemic and perhaps we need to be more open about this situation to educate those who don't know that their food and behaviors can lead to long-lasting health and cost consequences.

Our health is one of the most important things that we have. Without it, we can't be happy, we can't be successful, we can't live. We need to do more as a nation to be healthier and to value our health - it's all we got.