Last weekend a friend of mine was visiting from out of town, and when
we spotted a frozen yogurt bar next to the restaurant where we had eaten we
decided to go there for dessert. I got
nutella and peanut butter twist frozen yogurt, topped with more nutella (MOAR
NUTELLA!) and some chocolate chips.
It was a sweet, decadent, delicious treat the likes of which I will
have around once every two to three months.
It was fantastic. I enjoyed every
bite. I regret nothing.
Here’s what I have a problem with:
What I ate last weekend should not under any circumstances be
classified as health food. Trying to
bill it as such is dishonest, annoying, and frankly dangerous. The intentional attempt to mislead consumers
into thinking that this gigantic wallop of sugar is a great way to boost your
immune system and build strong bones makes me want to beat somebody senseless with
a waffle cone.
The truth is that the product I ate contains 22 grams of sugar and 150
calories per half cup. Since my total
serving was probably closer to 1 & ½ cups, that’s 66 grams of sugar and 450
calories and that’s before I dumped more
nutella and chocolate chips on top.
It’s okay for a treat to be a treat.
It’s a treat exactly because we don’t and shouldn’t eat that way every
day. I don’t even eat treats like that
every week or every month, it’s about a quarterly indulgence and even that is
more frequently than is smart to hork down three days’ worth of sugar in a
single serving. It is never smart to eat that much sugar in
one go, but I love it and I do sometimes indulge because I’m trying to put food
in its proper place in my life rather than continuing to pathologically
abstain, obsess, and then binge.
I study food and nutrition so it’s easy for me to recognize that
billing a sugar-frosted yogurt bar as health food is a complete crock of horse
poo. However, not everyone has the time
or interest level for the kind of research that fascinates me. They very well might read the signs plastered
all over the building about all the
healthy calcium and protein and figure that this is not only tasty, but a
really wholesome snack. Let’s stop by
every week! Marketing occasional
indulgences with misleading buzzword lines like, “our frozen yogurt contains
live and active cultures that promote a healthy lifestyle” is intellectually
dishonest and potentially harmful an insane degree.
Processed foods like cereal and granola are hugely guilty of this kind
of marketing bait and switch as well, focusing all the words on their packaging
on the few vitamins and minerals that were squeezed into a product and relegating
the volumes of salt, sugar and fat to a teeny tiny font size on the back.
Refined sugar is delicious and I love desserts that feature it. I don’t buy into the food hysteria that classifies
it as an addictive like crack, cancer-causing, instant obesity inducing
substance. It takes time and repeated,
regular indulgence to become overweight – which means that having a froyo when
a friend visits or when you’re on vacation (or just because it’s been months
and you really want one) is totally
fine. I want delicious treats to be an
occasional part of my diet without obsessing over them or lying to myself and classifying them as health food so that I
can overindulge on a regular basis. You
can lie to your brain all you want, but your body isn’t going to buy it.
A decadent frozen yogurt bar is good for the soul. And that's all it has to be.
Delicious? Absolutely! Health food? Absolutely not. |