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Posted 10/12/2010 12:07 AM (GMT 0)
For most of us every day is about choices... every meal, every snack. For myself I'm finding that the more eye appeal a food has in it's original package the worse choice it is for my BG. Anything that comes in a shiny, crinkly, multi-colored package must be eaten very sparingly or once in a while, and slowly savored for it's low food value. Apparently there is a packaging axiom that causes low food value/high carb count food to require spectacular packaging.

Then there is the packaging on oh, say, butternut squash. Excellent food value, low cost, high in vitamins, minerals and probably flavinoids or whatever new nutrition thing has been discovered this week. Original packaging... BORING! Broccoli is kind of cool looking but it can't really hold a candle to a shiny bag of Cheetos or the attention getting red KitKat bar packaging.

So for me I'm gonna be on the lookout for boring looking foods. They appear to be the best for me. turn
Posted 10/12/2010 2:55 PM (GMT 0)
Jeannie, that's what Madison Avenue is all about.  How can products be packaged to get customers to buy them?   Very big business and lots of money involved.  We rarely see commercials for ordinary vegetables or fruit, so it would be the supermarkets' job to display them in an attractive way so they sell.  We have to be smarter than to fall for attractive packaging, even in people.  tongue
Posted 10/12/2010 3:31 PM (GMT 0)
I don't enter the cookie aisle or the candy aisle in the grocery store most weeks. Why waste my time looking at things I'm not going to buy - as long as I don't see them!
Posted 10/12/2010 3:51 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, Jeannie, that is all planned that way.  Then the stores are kind enough to put displays of cookies, candies, pasta, and snacks on the ends of aisles or create a whole section that runs along the "main route" promoting these foods so you see them without going down the aisle.  It is hard.  For me?  Passing the potato chip aisle.  I wish they were never created!  shakehead

 

Sherrine

Posted 10/12/2010 4:37 PM (GMT 0)
I must have been making choices for too long, over 20 years, and I'm used to low sugar foods. These days candy tastes too sweet and I prefer fruit over candy bars. I don't even like cookies much and high sugar content actually burns my mouth. However, I do have my weaknesses and I fall for potate chips few times a year.. chili potato chips, so at least I can't eat too much of them. :) And this stuff called "salmiakki", salted liquorice - Don't ever offer me one...
Posted 10/14/2010 5:39 AM (GMT 0)
Yup, the potato chips are a problem... and at $3 to $4 bucks a bag... Non-nutritional AND expensive... Yet they still sell!!! I can hear their siren call even through the bag... and don't even get me started on KETTLE CHIPS! I propose that we lobby to have all packaged foods print their carb count per PACKAGE on the front in huge black letters! Yeah! That would help! (giggle)

I'm just so tired of tripping over Tailgating displays that are full of expensive greasy fluffy foodstuffs! nono
Posted 10/14/2010 4:37 PM (GMT 0)
Of course it's important to judge food by it's nutritional content...everybody knows that.  But sometimes I can't pronounce the so-called "nutritional" contents!  wink    I'm an avid label reader but I also can suffer from temptation so those crinkly packaging and end-of-the-aisle displays draw my attention and that's where I can fall off the wagon.  I have to be on my guard.  And, no, I'm not a weak person.  I've managed to keep tight control of my blood sugar for 18 years so far. 

 

So, we are really just having a little fun here.  It's good to have fun and light-hearted discussions....I think almost as healthy as some of the foods we eat.

 

Sherrine

Posted 10/17/2010 5:15 PM (GMT 0)
Really conciencious food markets would install waist-high mirrors or video thru-out the store.
Posted 10/17/2010 5:35 PM (GMT 0)
Ah, but their goal isn't to help us control our weight or diabetes. It's to sell food. We have to take responsibility to not be seduced by pretty packaging and double-talk commercials. The best way is by turning that pretty package over and reading it.

I've learned not to browse in the grocery store, but to look for what I need. That way, I avoid making eye contact with the Oreo Double Stuff, the chili-cheese Fritos, etc.
Posted 10/18/2010 12:44 AM (GMT 0)
And ........ not to shop when you're hungry!  Make a list and stick to it.  When I make my grocery list, I do it by the aisle in the supermarket so I head to exactly what I need.  This cuts down browsing.  When our kids were little, it took forever to shop but they're out of the house now (more or less).  Prepackaged food normally has too much salt, lots of fillers and additives for enhancement and shelf-life - things I don't want to eat. 
Posted 10/20/2010 5:15 AM (GMT 0)
Echowit! I like the way you think!
Posted 11/17/2010 3:40 PM (GMT 0)

Food, you gotta eat it, but you need to be careful

Somedays its seems whatever looks good to eat or taste good is bad for you in some way. There are days that a nice big piece of chocolate cake with heaps of frosting would sure taste good, or a bag of chips.   A few years back most of us would have eaten this.  Now I need to settle for maybe a couple bites of cake once in a great while or on a more regular basis maybe a small apple or some carrot sticks, the later I get very tired of.  We all know what we should eat and not eat.  Somedays are just very hard.

Wheelchair Bound

Posted 11/17/2010 11:06 PM (GMT 0)
Linda, you're absolutely right.  Some days are really hard.  I think that we need to recognize the ups and downs in our moods and not let a slip become an avalanche. 
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