I guess it's a good thing I bake my own bread

For the past few years I have tried to bake most of my bread instead of buying it.  I like this approach because it means that my bread is fresh, and because it is made with only the ingredients that I chose.  For the most part I choose to add things like molasses and whole grains while omitting things like salt.

While my primary motivation was the pleasure I get from baking, it seems that there was another fringe benefit that I didn't even know about until yesterday.

Apparently it is now being reported that Americans tend to get more sodium from bread products than any other food.  Even if each slice of bread isn't all that bad, when you eat five or six slices a day the total quantity of sodium is quite high.  Though I don't eat five or six slices of bread a day anymore, I am comforted by the fact that my bread is likely lower in sodium than the stuff that I might buy from the local grocery store.

And while sodium consumption is of concern to many people for many reasons, it has been something I have been trying to avoid for quite a while because of its contribution to kidney stone formation in my kidneys.  And I'm pretty sure I would like to avoid have any more kidney stones, at least for the next few years.

This also raises another issue: Why do people even add any salt to bread?  As one can make very satisfying bread without any added salt I don't quite understand why people add it.  It kind of reminds me of the good old days when people used to add lead to their water to enhance the flavour.

Cameron: 13
Neil: 0

Peanut butter scam

A few days ago while walking through a local grocery store I noticed a sale display that contained a number of varieties of peanut butter. While smooth and chunky took up most of the space in the display I happened to notice that a few non-standard varieties were also available. One such variety, the unsweetened-unsalted type, seemed particularly appealing (mostly because it sounded healthier).

Because I imagined this new version of peanut butter to be healthier I decided to give it a shot (even though it looked a little browner and a little less smooth). Almost immediately I started to feel good about myself and attention that I was paying to my body.

Of course this feeling of achievement evaporated almost as soon as I returned home with my purchase. Neil, upon hearing about the product, was kind enough to suggest that I compare the nutritional information of the new product to another variety of peanut butter made by the same manufacturer. Sadly, contrary to what the label might indicate, there wasn't much difference in nutritional content between the two products.



The main difference seems to be that the version that claims to be unsalted does, in fact, have less sodium, though only about 70 mg less (hardly anything in the prepared food realm).

Now, instead of feeling good about myself, I feel ripped off and tricked. Furthermore, I now have a product that is no healthier than the one I already had but that I don't particularly need.

I have once again been screwed by falling for an appeal to my conscience.

Not as bad as I thought

For years nutritional information has been noticeably absent from beer and alcohol packaging in Canada. For the most part I was in favour of this informational absence as I could then blissfully ignore the nutritional deficiencies of such beverages. Of course, that this was the case always seemed to be a condition that was likely to change, likely sooner rather than later (even though I am sure that brewers and consumers both wanted such information to remain absent from such packaging).

Anyway, last night, for the first time in my life, I encountered a case of beer with nutritional information (does this signify a sea change in beer packaging?). While the white box containing the nutritional information highlighted some of the nutritional deficiencies of beer, it also provided a few pleasant surprises about the more positive nutritional attributes of beer (such as the presence of both fibre and protein).

I decided to compare the nutritional provided on the beer packaging with a few other beverages and some cookies. As far as I am concerned, it seems that the beer compared favourably to these other products (particularly the ginger ale).



So it seems that my deepest fears about nutritional information appearing on beer packaging were unfounded. Amazingly, beer does surprisingly well in comparison with other forms of junk food.