Food labels serve up heaping plates of guilt
By Beth Teitell
Boston Herald Columnist
Tuesday, July 4, 2006
I was wolfing down a bag of M & M’s - which I knew had 240 calories because I’d carefully checked the calorie count and portion size - when I heard about a new study reporting that while nearly 80 percent of Americans read nutrition labels, 44 percent ignore negative information about fat and carbs and buy the junk anyway.
So what’s the big deal? I wondered, downing some more candy. I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do. Now they’re telling me the act of checking isn’t healthy in of itself? No wonder two-thirds of Americans are obese.
What will they report on next? That buying a book and displaying it on your nightstand for months doesn’t count as reading? That joining a gym doesn’t equal exercising?
I’m sure public health types will seize on the AP-Ipsos study as proof that we need even more education about reading labels, but I see a different message: Why not do away with them?
If they aren’t helping us eat less, but only making us feel guilty about what we eat, what’s the benefit? Isn’t stress as bad for your heart as a little extra sodium and trans fat?
I’m no dietitian, but even I know that scarfing down five samples of chocolate cake from Trader Joe’s is infinitely “healthier” than buying the very same cake, reading the darn box and slicing myself a piece that will blow my calorie budget for the day. How about on this most American of holidays, we start a movement to bring back label-free packaging? I don’t know about you, but I’d sure pay extra for it.
“That’s why I prefer eating at friends’ houses,” one woman told me. “What I don’t know can’t hurt me. Well, it can, but I don’t think it will.
“I used to be able to ignore labels, but I can’t anymore,” she said, nostalgic for the good old days. “It’s like lying to yourself about finances or a guy you’re dating. You see the writing on the wall. You know it’s bad for you, but you tell yourself it will be different this time: I’ll only eat two Oreos, not the whole bag, or I’ll burn them off faster.”
Yeah, right. And I’ll charge things I can actually afford, too - especially nice dinners out, away from the label police.
