Part 1 – Recession Trends: Fresh Food on the Chopping Block
The economy’s downward spiral has already claimed many jobs, houses and secure futures. Are our waistlines the next thing to suffer? As the world becomes accustomed to living under a gloomy economic cloud, more people are looking for ways to save – and unfortunately, fresh food seems to be the first thing ousted from America’s collective shopping basket.
Recent data show some expected consumer trends. Americans are eating out less and less, saving expensive meals for special occasions (Countries & Consumers, 2009; Lee 2009; Shea 2008). This has led to an increase in at-home dining and grocery sales – one of the few retail sectors currently expanding (3.1 per cent growth in 2009, compared with a 0.6 per cent decline across the retail market as a whole) (Talking retail, 2009). Major beneficiaries are lower-end stores who offer discounts and coupon deals, while more expensive stores are not enjoying the same boom. Consumers are more aggressively chasing deals, and are willing to go out of their way to find them. Statistics show that consumers are now more willing to “trade down” from value brands, and are opting for cheaper labels in staple items such as cheese, bread, milk and coffee. (Shea, 2008)
Unfortunately, the rise in home cooking has not led to healthier eating habits. Read more
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What’s a Goji Berry?
by Shereen Jegtvig
It seems like every couple of years a hot new exotic superfood makes its way into the United States. One of those recent superfoods is the goji berry – usually sold in juice or you can also find dried goji berries that kind of look like small raisins. Goji berries come from Asia where they have been used for thousands of years as an herbal medicine. They’re rich in vitamins A and C, iron, fiber and plant sterols, which are compounds found in plants that resemble our cholesterol, except that plant sterols actually lower cholesterol in the human body. In my opinion, Goji berries deserve to land on many superfoods lists.
What do you look for when buying goji berry products? You can buy 100% goji berry juice in some health food stores and online (wallet warning – it tends to be pretty expensive), however goji juice blends are popping on up the shelves of typical grocery stores. These juice blends are much less expensive than 100% goji juice, but more affordable, just be sure you’re not loading up on added sugars and you want the accompanying juices to be good for you too. You also need to know that these juice blends won’t have anywhere near as many of the plant sterols as 100% goji juice, but they will still be rich in vitamins and other phytonutrients. Read more
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Are Food Allergies On The Rise?
Twenty years ago, as a child with an allergy to cow’s milk and a vegetarian, gluten-intolerant mother, I saw some strange school lunches in my time. While other kids feasted on all the things I wasn’t allowed to eat (White bread! Soda! Weird, processed cheese that comes in a tube!), I cowered in the corner with my nutmeat sandwiches on rye bread with soy butter, cursing my over-excitable histamines.
Yes, I was THAT kid at school – that is, until Peanut Allergy Boy arrived and stole my thunder. At the time, we felt like the odd ones out. Now, it seems as though many more people have (or are aware of) food intolerance and allergies. Some countries are encouraging peanut-free school environments, and more and more restaurants are offering allergen-free options on their menus.
These days, do more people actually have food allergies, or does it just seem that way? If so, is this increase due to our environment, changes in diet and lifestyle or our genes? Although population data for allergy prevalence are difficult to collect, a recent scientific study (Branum & Lukacs, 2008) indicates that incidences of food allergy are most likely increasing, although an explanation for this trend has yet to emerge.
What are allergies? Who has them, and why don’t we know more? Read more
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Enrichment and Fortification of Processed Foods
by Shereen Jegtvig
Food manufacturers enrich their products when they replace nutrients lost during processing. For example, adding B vitamins to the white refined flour used to make bread. Enrichment doesn’t necessarily make the refined flour as healthy as whole grain flour because the fiber isn’t replaced, but adding the B vitamins back into the flour is certainly better than nothing.
Fortification is when food manufacturers add nutrients to foods that wouldn’t normally be present. This can range from the well accepted (vitamin-fortified breakfast cereals and vitamin D added to milk) to the just plain odd (Diet Coke with vitamins?). Some fortified foods are called functional foods, which mean they provide some health benefit beyond the usual nutrition profile for that food. Like margarine made with plant sterols that have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels with regular use. Read more
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