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Food Showdown: Grain-Free Cereals
The Food Showdown: “Healthy” Grain-Free Cereals, What is Brown Rice Syrup in food, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
Magic Spoon
Ingredient Score: Average
Flavor: Cinnamon Roll
Ingredients:
milk protein blend (casein, whey protein concentrate), sweetener blend (allulose, monk fruit extract), oil blend (high oleic sunflower oil, avocado oil), tapioca starch, natural flavor, inulin (from chicory root and/or agave). cinnamon, salt.
Three Wishes
Ingredient Score: Average
Flavor: Cinnamon
Ingredients:
Chickpea, Tapioca, Pea Protein, Organic Cane Sugar, Cinnamon, Natural Flavors, Salt, Monk Fruit
Healthier alternatives…
Lovebird
Ingredient Score: Good
Flavor: Cinnamon
Ingredients:
Organic Cassava Flour, Organic Coconut Flour, Organic Coconut Sugar, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Coconut Oil, Himalayan Salt
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Ingredient of the week: BROWN RICE SYRUP
What is it?
Brown rice syrup is a non-GMO sweetener derived from brown rice that is entirely made up of glucose and doesn’t contain any fructose. The commercial method of processing brown rice syrup involves combining bacterial or fungal enzyme isolates with the rice, which breaks down the larger carbohydrate molecules called starches into smaller sugars. Then, the liquid is strained out and boiled with the addition of more enzymes. The end product of commercial processing results in a syrup consisting of different forms of glucose. Brown rice syrup is used in many sweetened drinks, like rice milk, and many other baked and packaged goods.
Long story short, it’s just another name for added sugar.
Why is it bad?
Some studies have shown that Organic Brown Rice Syrup can contain arsenic, a highly toxic naturally occurring element, at higher levels than the E.P.A. safe drinking water limit.
Additionally, Brown rice syrup is very high in sugar and has few other nutrients, making its glycemic index higher than table sugar (65) at 98, which is almost the same as pure glucose (100). This means that consuming it can cause massive spikes in your blood sugar, which is associated with many adverse health risks.
Clean Consuming: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
A Natural History of Four Meals
Why we loved it: Michael Pollan is a terrific journalist, he goes really deep into the 4 ways that we eat in America and the implications of each one. It gave us a really good understanding of how our choices affect not only our health but our ecosystem at large. It’s an extremely objective look at the issues with our food system, and why it is the way it is. It shares on how the current food system was really created by the industrial military complex, misguided federal regulations, and big agricultural companies trying to maximize their profit by any means necessary.
About the book: What should we have for dinner? Ten years ago, Michael Pollan confronted us with this seemingly simple question and, with The Omnivore’s Dilemma, his brilliant and eye-opening exploration of our food choices, demonstrated that how we answer it today may determine not only our health but our survival as a species. In the years since, Pollan’s revolutionary examination has changed the way Americans think about food. Bringing wide attention to the little-known but vitally important dimensions of food and agriculture in America, Pollan launched a national conversation about what we eat and the profound consequences that even the simplest everyday food choices have on both ourselves and the natural world. Ten years later, The Omnivore’s Dilemma continues to transform the way Americans think about the politics, perils, and pleasures of eating.
Where to read: Available in hardcover, kindle or audible.
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Big love from Ally, Christian, and the IsItClean Team