Eating Green

With the popularity of the “go green" movement, many people are choosing to eat green as well. People may choose to eat green for different reasons: (1) environmentally friendly (2) animal friendly (3) food of a higher nutritional quality (4) many believe it will help them lose weight. Whatever the reason, eating green certainly is "sheik", and it appears to be a trend with a bit of staying power.

As we walk through supermarkets, we are bombarded with green food lingo like organic, natural, free range, etc. All of this green lingo can be awfully confusing, and, often times, misleading. It is important consumers understand common green food language in order to make informed decisions, not waste their money, and actually receive value from their green purchases.

Let’s analyze some of the green food labels:

1. Organic (the gold standard)

This is a USDA regulated label that says no pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, antibiotics, or growth hormones were used. Produce, meats and dairy products with a USDA Organic seal are 100% organic, while other types of foods may use the designation if 95% of their ingredients are organic

2. Natural or “All Natural”

This label is only regulated for meat and poultry and signals that no artificial ingredients have been added. However, don’t necessarily confuse this term as nutritious when, for example, reaching for the “all natural” cheese puffs.

3. No Hormones Administered

This is an unverified certification that a cow was never given hormones in its lifetime. However, this stamp on either pork or poultry is entirely irrelevant since, by federal law, chickens and pigs cannot be given hormone injections.

4. No Antibiotics Administered

Another unverified term that purports to tell you that meat or poultry has not been given any antibiotics…don’t count on it.

5. Cage Free

This egg carton label means absolutely nothing nutritionally and not much ethically either. Cage free hens can still be packed wing to wing in a windowless indoor space.

6. Free Range

This is USDA defined, yet unregulated, term. It means a bird has had outdoor access for more than half its life. However, many free range chickens live in crowded barns, with access only to a cramped yard.

7. Grass Fed

Indicates only that a cow ate grass at some point during its life. This is misleading, as even cows raised on big commercial farms will eat grass at some point. Look for the “100% grass fed” label instead.

One last thing...

I mentioned above some people eat green because they truly feel it will help them lose weight: THIS COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Once again, it's primarily about calories in vs. calories out. I'd rather see people eat non-organic and processed food in the correct amounts than green foods in the incorrect amounts. I can't tell you how many times I've had prospective clients tell me they eat free range this and natural that, but still can't seem to lose weight. When I then ask them if they've been quantifying all this "healthy" food, they look at me like I have grass fed cows climbing out of my eyes! People just don't get it: it's not about green food, high fructose corn syrup, eating after a certain hour in the evening, eating certain types of foods together, or avoiding entire groups of foods....IT'S ABOUT CALORIES!

Now, ideally, yes, it would be great if people a diet appropriate in calories AND ate green foods, avoided high fructose corn syrup and fast food, etc. But, 99 times out of 100, people fail to establish their calorie needs, do not quantify how many calories they take in each day, and instead worry about secondary nutrition matters like eating green foods and the like. If we are talking strictly about weight loss-and not about the nutritional quality of the diet-it doesn't matter one bit.

To sum up, I'm all for green eating. Just don't think eating green is the magic weight loss bullet you've been waiting for.