Well. My eavesdropping skills managed to prove their usefulness yet again.
When checking out of a community health food store yesterday afternoon, whom might I add is publically known for physiologically fit habits, i.e. local, organic and grass-fed items, I was busy anxiously digging for my wallet in my oversized, could fit a medium-sized animal purse, when the woman in line behind me asked the cashier a simple question.
“Where would I find the Atkins protein bars?”
As I looked up from my purse (still having not located my wallet), I noticed a woman in her middle age years who appeared fatigued, restless and agitated. Could her forgiving display of character attribute to the fact that she has two 20 something children in college still sleeping in her bed at night and one leftover running around in pull-ups? OR the fact that she’s consuming atkins protein bars?
I mean.. clearly it’s the bars.
“Ah, yes, you can find those in Aisle 6-‘Healthy Living’ right next to the skinny popcorn.”
What.
Incidentally, instead of nonchalantly giggling to myself, this time, I simply paid my dues and made a few quick mental notes, one of which of course included, “I’m totally getting an article out of this.”
Enter article.
Unfortunately, “protein” fad-diet bars of the like (and skinny popcorn) have very little relevance towards “Aisle 6-Healthy Living” and rather represent everything that remains currently and presently wrong with American culture. And here’s why.
Ingredients of an Atkins granola bar:
(Polydextrose, Palm Kernel Oil, Whey Protein Isolate, Cocoa Powder (Processed with Alkali), Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavor, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium), Peanut Butter Flavored Layer (Maltitol, Palm Kernel and Palm Oil, Peanut Butter, Partiallly Defatted Peanut Flour, Nonfat Dry Milk, Whey Powder, Peanuts, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Anhydrous Milk Fat, Cocoa Powder (Processed with Alkali), Glycerin, Protein Blend (Soy Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Isolate, Sodium Caseinate), Peanuts, Hydrolyzed Gelatin, Water, Polydextrose, Peanut Butter (Ground, Roasted Peanuts), Cellulose, Natural and Artificial Flavoris, Palm Kernel Oil, Olive Oil, Clarified Butter, Soy Lecithin, Guar Gum, Vitamin Mineral Mix (Tricalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Oxide, Vitamin A Palmitate, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Ascorbate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Niacinamide, Biotin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Zinc Oxide, Folic Acid, Chromium Chelate, Phytonadione, Sodium Selenite, Cyanocobalamin, Salt, Maltodextrin, Citric Acid, Sucralose, Mono and Diglycerides, Dipotassium Phosphate.
Please raise your hand if you can locate any nutritional value out of the above long list of chemical laced ingredients.
As if, put your damn hands down.
Our current society remains geared toward less input and more output for means of more growth and profit and less health and wellness. And intermittent in said society lies more cancer, heart disease, obesity, and overall Not Health than ever before. We are victims of media, misinformation and subtle unawareness. And the worst part about it? We continue to exceedingly complicate a very non-complicated topic.
Do I blame it on the health food store? No. Such entity simply looks to adhere to consumer navigational ease. Do I blame it on the woman in line behind me who was actually probably restless and agitated because I took a million years to find my wallet? No I do not, for she only knows what she reads. And she merely depicts a typical “I’m looking for health in all the wrong places but I don’t even know it” human being of our time.
So whom do we blame it on?
I’ll let you do the math.
Comments