Dough Crisis

Last night I was watching my nieces, both 10 and 7, while my sister and her husband went out to celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary. Before they came over to stay the night, I had realized that I didn't have anything stocked in the kitchen for them to eat. After scooping them up, our first destination was the grocery store. As we scanned each of the aisles along the perimeter of the store, I bought my typical healthly stock of items like almond butter, plain yogurt,fruits and veggies. I then entered into the forbidden middle section of the store and allowed the kids to choose their own goodies, as they did not have to comply with the rigid demands of the Food Rules Challenge. Instead of carrots or whole wheat cereal, they opted for Frosted Flakes and Chips Ahoy Soft Batch Cookies; which they later kindly polished off most of the bag while in my presence, I was so envious.

We had quickly made our way through most of the store without delay until reaching the bread aisle. There, I had encountered a problem which I did not typically expect to find when choosing a whole grain bread which violated the two rules where you're supposed to select products which have five ingredients or less, and eat only those things which a small child can pronounce. It appeared that all of the breads, including the labels listed with extra fiber, no fructose corn syrup or other additives, stone ground, or reduced sugar or sodium, still contained a ton of ingredients which would defy the book's best advice. Eventually we did end up locating one bread on the very top shelf which seemed to adhere to its claim of being human and environmentally friendly. I was elated to make this bread discovery as the kids were squandering around, bored looking at the numerous package labels, but it reminded me of just how difficult the process is when visiting most large grocery chains to find healthy choices.

I think all stores should offer larger selections of organic food, not just specialty stores where individuals won't have to make special trips to get basic items such as bread. Are the stores discriminating against customers by assuming that the only people that consume healthy foods are those who live in large urban areas with money? Are working class people who are living in the suburbs with larger families shopping more cost conscious then health conscious? I guess this is what the numbers reflect, so it is unfortunately demand which drives these chains to stock minimal amounts of the healthy stuff for most stores. At least for now it looks as if food makers themselves are making somewhat of an effort to make products which are less processed and offer better quality ingredients.

Pollan's book seems so easy to read, I just wished the same applied to finding food items sufficient enough to meet the book's criteria.