The Case FOR Clean Eating

We did the Clean Eating challenge last summer (two weeks of nothing but "whole, " unprocessed foods), I read (and reviewed) Clean Eating magazine and heck, we even have a Clean Eats label on our blog; so the concept of clean eating isn't a new or crazy idea to me.

Google gives a great definition of the recent movement.

And that's a wonderful idea! To put thought into what you're putting into your mouth. Eating things from the ground and from nature, not from factories and research & development labs. In the two weeks we were exclusively clean eating, I didn't notice a major change in health - but we did lose weight, were satisfied with the food, and stayed full and energetic; but regardless of results I really appreciated the concept of maintaining (if not improving my body) by choosing better, more pure items to ingest.

But, I'll be honest, the ideology didn't mean a lot to me - I don't have major food allergies, so reading ingredient lists has never been a real priority for me; I thought I made wise-ish choices at the market; I felt at least somewhat educated about the technicalities of words like "organic" and "whole grain;" and I was under the impression that I was an educated consumer choosing "wholesome" brands that suit my lifestyle and food expectations.

That is, until this week. This week I was utterly taken off guard and completely disgusted by a discovery on a package label - while I was eating the contents of said package, of course.

I was eating a Muller FrutUp peach and passion fruit yogurt cup. These cups feature a layer of lowfat yogurt topped with a fruit mousse. They are beyond delicious. Seriously, I could eat one of these every day. Muller (a Quaker Oats Company product) makes a variety of yogurt products including those awesome "corner" Greek yogurt cups with fruit or nut "mix ins."

Maybe it was the umlauts in the name (European products have that shishi appeal), the fact that they're a Quaker product, the inflated price tag (usually $1+/cup, I got these at GO for $0.33/each!) or that they're fucking delicious (no really, they're good enough for the f-bomb), but I felt comfortable with this product. I felt safe. I felt like this was a quality cup o' yogurt that wasn't half bad for me.

I mean, look at their online marketing.

Sweet deal. But oh, did I mention the allergy notification on the label, buried between the nutrition facts and the active cultures statement?

"CONTAINS: MILK, TILAPIA (FISH)"

Surprise! You're halfway through a cup of yogurt, yo-apia, tila-gurt, hell, whatever you want to call it,..

So of course, being an outspoken internet troll wannabe, I immediately contacted Muller via facebook. And here's their response to my plea of "Please God tell me why there's fish in my yogurt."

Really, that's fascinating and I appreciate that they make a kosher product. But it took me by surprise and kinda upset me. I understand that gelatin (used to make mousse, here, and listed as "kosher gelatin" on the label) is a problematic ingredient with a lot of animal byproducts used and can be a tricky thing to avoid for vegetarians or kosher eaters, who I assume must monitor their labels very closely.

But I don't do that. I don't have any allergies or dietary restrictions and I try to make the best choices for my body and my family. And I realized that I've failed. I've been oblivious to the fine print, so blind that I've been unwittingly eating yogurt made of fish (I still have no idea which parts of the fish are used).

I politely responded to the company that I appreciated their honest answer, but I'm disappointed that the notice was so non-descript and casual, like fish dairy products are a normal thing. I also informed them that I wouldn't be buying this product anymore, despite loving it. They held a mirror up to my fridge and my bad choices were easy to see.

So the moral of this story is, you don't have to jump on a clean eating bandwagon or become the next kale-freak, but take the time to be mindful of what you're eating. If you want to eat something funky, go right ahead, but be aware of what you're putting into your body. With the amount of processing and experimenting going on in our agriculture and food production, you could be eating your allergens, dietary restricted items or something that's just downright weird.