Nutrition Info For Soccer Players: Oreo is Milk’s Favorite Cookie ™ But Should it be Yours?
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Wouldn’t it be great to go back to the days when we were young and innocent and dipping Oreos in milk until they were almost soggy or untwisting them and licking the “creme” out of the center came without a guilty conscience? Ignorance can sometimes be bliss.
However, the truth about processed foods cannot and should not be denied.
We are referring to Oreo’s in particular because they seem to be “milks’ favorite cookie” and apparently often find themselves on vegan’s menus since the “creme” doesn’t actually come from dairy. Hmmm, where does it come from then? That should be the first question that pops into your head.
There’s a debate that the creme in an Oreo is so white because of a chemical additive called titanium dioxide, a dangerous substance that’s known to cause liver and tissue damage in mice.
Supposedly, the FDA would not allow the word cream to be used on packaging since the sweet center is not derived from milk or cream at all, but rather a test tube.
Oreo’s popularity could be due to the fact that they are just as addictive as cocaine or morphine, activating more neurons in rats brain pleasure centers than exposure to illicit drugs, according to one study.
This is precisely the reaction they intended for the Oreo’s to create as with all processed foods.
When you add artificial ingredients, preservatives, salt, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats (and the list continues), it’s not the lack of self-control in the person eating the food, it’s the highly addictive, highly palatable food-like substances the food companies created. This has not only ruined our tastes for real whole foods, but these high sugar foods also pose a danger because of their affordability, accessibility, and contribution to the obesity epidemic.
If you take a look at the actual ingredients in Oreo’s, it’s standard fare for that kind that they contain …
- Unbleached, Enriched Flour
- Sugar
- Palm and/or Canola Oil
- Cocoa (Pressed w/ Alkali)
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Leavening (Baking Soda and/or Calcium Phosphate)
- Salt
- Soy Lecithin
- Chocolate
- Artificial Flavor
Honestly, it’s not as horrifying as I thought it would be, although anything with more than five ingredients is usually suspect for me.
Oreos do contain inflammatory fats (palm/canola oil), sugar AND high fructose corn syrup (pay attention as sugar can show up in your food in multiple ways and high fructose corn syrup has been linked to diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s, etc.), soy lecithin (a food additive most likely from genetically modified soybeans), and artificial flavor (if it’s artificial, the body has a hard time knowing what it is and what to do with it).
My questions for you are …
- Do you know how to pronounce the ingredients in your foods and on the label?
- Do you keep these ingredients in your pantry to cook with at home? Most likely you aren’t cooking with soy lecithin or high fructose corn syrup!
- Did your grandmother eat these ingredients?
- How long would it take this product to break down? Is it so shelf stable that it would take years before it actually decomposed?
Typically, we skip looking at the label altogether, and when we do take a gander, we have no clue how to say the words nor what they are.
Real foods don’t have a label and real foods are just that … something that was alive at one point in time and provides you with actual nutrients from whole vitamins and minerals.
Foods created in a lab are not what our bodies were made to ingest and do not provide the body with proper fuel for daily activities, performance, and especially recovery.
With all that said, I do believe that mental health is just as important as physical health.
If that means eating an Oreo or two (portions matter) on a special occasion makes you “wonderfilled”, then let that be your vice.
Remember the 80/20 rule.
If you’re doing the right thing by eating healthy foods, getting proper sleep, being physically active 80 percent of the time, then if the 20 percent is spent with the occasional Oreo cookie, there could be worse things … like Double Stuffed Oreo cookies!!
Related Article: Researchers say Oreos are as addictive as cocaine
