Would you mind tasting this? It’s my second book, Starting from Scratch, and I want to get readers’ thoughts on flavor and texture before it goes in the oven. Starting From Scratch picks up where Finding Life’s Secret Sauce left off, with a focus on how to fit healthier eating and cooking into your crazy, busy schedule. We’ve all developed our own systems and solutions in the kitchen, and I would love to sprinkle readers’ real-life tips throughout my book. I will publish book excerpts on my blog weekly, encouraging you to dish out your advice in the comments section. I’ll include helpful comments in the book, crediting you and/or your blog, and send you free copies of the book. Also, I’m consulting an expert blogger(s) for each section of the book – for this excerpt, it’s Georgie Fear, a Registered Dietitian who writes at Ask Georgie.

Last year, my marketing company bid to carry out a branding project for the makers of  truwhip (and despite all our charm, humor and creativity, not to mention the truwhip pie we baked for the actual pitch, the company selected another vendor). Truwhip is the All Natural alternative to category bestseller, Cool Whip (also one of the most popular “green” salad ingredients during my childhood).

Before we could pitch anything, I had to research the actual meaning of All Natural. After all, there are important differences between natural and organic food claims which may help you decode product labels and make healthier choices.

Natural foods

The Food and Drug Administration defines a food or product as natural if a couple conditions exist. First, the product cannot contain any additives or substances that are man-made or manufactured. Second, the food or supplement cannot have color additives. Natural means the final product has been made solely from botanical resources without any use of additives or preservatives.

On the surface, this sounds like a valuable claim for a food product to make. But just because it’s All Natural doesn’t mean it’s better than home-made or a product without the label at all. After all, whole foods like apples and carrots don’t have any labels proclaiming they’re all natural.

But back to All Natural truwhip. Here’s what the ingredients list looks like:

INGREDIENTS: Water, organic tapioca syrup, expeller-pressed palm kernel oil, organic cane sugar, organic palm kernel oil, contains less than 2% of each of the following: organic soy protein concentrate, sodium caseinate (milk protein), natural flavors, organic soy lecithin, xanthan gum, guar gum. Contains milk and soy.

In contrast, organic whipped cream contains one ingredient: organic Grade A cream. I realize we don’t consume whipped topping with fervent regularity, but given the choice based on the ingredients list, which would you prefer?

And much like my point on serving sizes, just because a food is “all natural” isn’t a green light to eat it in excess. For example, one of my greatest weaknesses is “all natural” Kettle chips. Though I could easily put away an entire bag of the sea salt & vinegar flavor, I know it’s in my best interest to disperse the 81 grams of fat over an extended period of time.

Organic Foods

The USDA defines organic agriculture as an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony. Even within the organic realm, however, there are variations in food labels as follows:

• “100% organic” – single ingredient such as a fruit, vegetable, meat, milk and cheese (excludes water and salt).
• “Organic” – multiple ingredient foods which are 95 to 100% organic.
• “Made with organic ingredients” – at least 70% of the ingredients are organic. Can appear on the front of package, naming the specific ingredients.
• “Contains organic ingredients” – contains less than 70% organic ingredients.

So although “all-natural” and “organic” labels target the health-conscious shopper, a closer look demonstrates the merit in understanding the difference. Products bearing these labels are often more expensive, and you may want to know when there is a dividend for paying more.

And speaking of money, next week’s chapter of Starting from Scratch will help you decide when to splurge on organic foods and when to keep the change in the piggy bank.

About Georgie Fear

Georgie Fear is a Registered Dietitian and New Jersey native. She received her undergraduate degree in Nutritional Sciences from Rutgers University and completed her dietetic internship and clinical training at Cornell University. She currently works as Sports Nutritionist for Rutgers University Athletics, and teaches many fitness and nutrition classes at the university and other health and medical establishments around Central Jersey. A lifelong athlete, Georgie is a marathon runner, triathlete, and avid rock climber. Her educational style is science-based, informative, and full of practical tips that work in the real world. She specializes in nutrition for sports performance, weight management, chronic disease prevention, and healthy cooking.

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2. Lindsay

   
   06/3 2010

   My rule-of-thumb when deciding whether to spring for the organic option is to consider whether the item is on the “dirty dozen” list (items containing the highest level of pesticide residue). With berries, for example, I always-always buy organic. For dairy purchase decisions, local is more important to me than organic, though both local and organic is nice (Organic Valley provides this option with some SKUs). And for everything else, I weigh the price difference and my perception of how much better it will taste.