There’s no such thing as Whole Grain Cap’n Crunch. But there is Whole-Grain Lucky Charms, there are Whole Grain Pringles, and Vitamin enhanced water that makes you sexy and toned and brainy. And it seems like there’s Omega-3’s in EVERYTHING now. In places where it’s never, ever, meant to be. Like in cookies. Although there aren’t omega-3 Oreos out there…yet, there are a million different products that have omega-3 added to them now. Added to products where they don’t belong.
The explosion of Foodiness nutrition, taking the place of real nutrition, is dramatically changing the way we eat. The same way we now eat “strawberry” fruit bars instead of strawberries, we’re eating “Omega-3’s” in our cookies instead of getting real Omega 3 in the real foods that supply them naturally, like oily fish.
So why is there omega-3 added to yogurt? Or snack bars, cereal, drinks, bread, crackers, mayonnaise, pizza, orange juice, pasta, milk, eggs, popcorn, and infant formula?
Well, Omega-enriched foods and beverages have entered an explosive growth phase in the global retail market since 2004, after the FDA began allowing nutrition claims on packaging about their benefits. Once those floodgates were opened, the foodiness machine stormed their way in and started Omega3-ing everything.
The problem is that, with foodiness “nutrition” everywhere we turn, we are forgetting what actual nutrition is and where it comes from. And a whole generation of children are being led to believe that Omega 3s come from cookies, not from oily fish.
Which begs the question: why does my orange juice need omega 3? Does my fish need vitamin C? Does my yogurt really need added fiber or my cereal need added calcium? If you’re eating real food, it doesn’t.
How do you get out of this foodiness nutrition labyrinth? Eat real food when you want actual nutrition, and junk food when you don’t care. …and you never have to worry about whether your Oreos have Omega-3s or not.