The underlying implication of all of Dairy Management’s campaigns and efforts is that an increase in cheese consumption equates to an increase in healthiness. According to its I Love Cheese campaign, “Research indicates that enjoying 3-A-Day of Dairy servings of milk, cheese or yogurt each day as part of a reduced calorie weight loss plan can help adults achieve better results, when it comes to trimming the waistline, than just cutting calories and consuming little or no dairy.” However, there is no proven correlation between dairy consumption and weight-loss.
As such, while these campaigns and websites are informative, there are a few things they do not tell consumers. For example, the BodyByMilk website tells its readers, “Milk is one of the “food groups to encourage” in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommended 3 cups of lowfat or fat free milk a day for everyone over the age of nine.” The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, incidentally, were written by the Department of Health and Human Services and the USDA and “serve as the basis for Federal food and nutrition education programs.”
Such circular logic, however, is not apparent unless one knows that the USDA funds Dairy Management who, in turn, runs the BodyByMilk campaign which cites the USDA as the source of its information. Of course, this is not the only area where the government contradicts itself along its concurrent “war on obesity” and “push for dairy.”
First lady Michelle Obama and United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack have pledged to make child nutrition a priority. They’ve worked with Congress to make changes to the Senate-approved Child Nutrition Act which is currently awaiting approval from the House. The proposed bill would give more money to schools to spend more meal, including meal “upgrades” and the banning of junk food from school lunch lines and vending machines. And this isn’t the only area that First Lady Obama has tackled in terms of “healthy” changes. She’s also called for “every restaurant to offer healthy menu options” at the National Restaurant Association’s annual meeting.
However, work behind the scenes contradicts Mrs. Obama’s goals as a series of confidential agreements have been approved by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under both the Bush AND Obama administrations to expand cheese-laden products in restaurants under the direction of Dairy Management. (Given the presence of a product reminiscent of one of Innovate With Dairy’s suggestions (Hidden Healthies) that was highlighted in Part 1 of this series, it seems as if these agreements might have also extended into the school system as well.)
Through the help of Dairy Management, Domino’s Pizza was able to concoct new, and grotesque, forms of increasing their use of cheese: they now have a line of pizzas that have 40 percent more cheese on them than previously.
In what could only be called an attempt to remove blame, Domino’s website states: “Pizza can be healthy. It’s just a matter of choosing the right ingredients. Lean toward vegetables, go light on the cheese and you’ll be surprised how healthy it can be.” However, Domino’s provides its consumers with the option of “double cheese” and “triple cheese.” It also, at least on the website, allows its buyers to calculate the nutritional value of the pizza they’re ordering – one of the measure’s the company provides to “help you build a healthier pizza.”
When a customer purchases a hand-tossed, cheese-only medium pizza, their serving size (one slice) gives them 210 calories, 70 of which are from fat and providing the consumer with 18 percent of their saturated fats for the day. When a customer selects the “triple cheese” option, the caloric intake per serving jumps up to 375 with 185 of those coming from fat and 11 grams of saturated fat or 54 percent of your daily value. Again, this is for a single slice of pizza – not necessarily what the average American limits themselves to for dinner.
The Domino’s website also provides another handy tool for its frequenters: an area that provides you with suggestions to “lighten” your meal. When selecting the triple-cheesed, hand-tossed crust medium pizza, this area reads: “Based on the products and toppings you selected, we have no further recommendations to lighten your meal.” This lack of suggestion seems counterintuitive as one, single, solitary slice of this pizza will give you 54 percent of your saturated fat – the same saturated fat that the USDA is claiming to convince Americans to “give up” despite the fact that it’s throwing its money into efforts such as Domino’s triple-cheese option.
Domino’s is not the only company partaking in the cheesing of America. Fast food giant Taco Bell has become notorious for throwing copious amounts of cheese into and onto its products for years. In fact, the following products all make use of Taco Bells “three cheese blend” of cheddar, mozzarella, and pepper-jack: the Seven Layer Burrito (calories: 510; 160 fat calories; 6 from saturated fat), the Cheesy Rice Burrito (480 calories; 190 fat calories; 5 from saturated fat), Pintos and Cheese (which is labeled as ‘side) (calories: 170; 5 fat calories; 2.5 from saturated fat), and the Mexican Pizza(!) (540 calories; 270 fat calories; 8 from saturated fat).
Some Taco Bell products that rely heavily on nacho cheese (and saturated fat): the Cheesy Double-Beef Burrito (calories: 470; 180 fat calories; 6 grams of saturated fat), ½ Pound Cheese Potato Burrito (calories: 530; 230 fat calories; 8 grams of saturated fat), the ½ Pound Nacho Crunch Burrito (calories: 520; 230 from fat; 8 grams of saturated fat), and the side option of Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes (270 calories; 140 fat calories, 2.5 grams of saturated fat).
Others consist mostly of cheese, such as cheese roll-ups (200 calories, 90 from fat, 5 grams of saturated fat) and the cheese quesadilla (470 calories, 240 from fat, 11 grams of saturated fat).The barrage of numbers is a bit rough on the eyes, and the stomach, but it’s a testament to Taco Bell’s transparency, though, I won’t blame you if you glossed over the majority of it – most consumers probably do as well. Additionally, this “transparency” only goes so deep: despite providing information for all other condiments, sauces, and products, Taco Bell does not provide the values for the nacho cheese sauce or the three-cheese blend. It does, however, provide the following ingredient breakdowns for the nacho cheese sauce, three cheese blend, and cheddar cheese for your convenience and browsing. Though, if you’re going to a fast food place, you’re not necessarily looking to spend time to check out their website to acquire this information.
It would appear as if the government either doesn’t expect Americans to educate themselves on the sources of their food and nutritional education or they simply do not care. The research for this article only took roughly two hours and the amount of contradictions and circular logic encountered cannot be all that there is to find. However, with the average citizen not knowing, or caring, about the source of their food, it is not at all shocking that the government would be, unabashedly, trying to pull one over on America: they’ve been doing it for years and, at this point, it will be difficult in preventing them from continuing to do so.
That is, unless we, as humans, begin to know our food – where it comes from, who is making it, and what it’s made from.
References:
http://www.tacobell.com
http://www.dominos.com
As a person struggling with weight problems these facts do not come as a surprise. With my recent weight loss and diet regiment, I have all most completely cut out the consumption of cheese. But I still do have a dairy intake in the form of FAT FREE skim milk. If people would educate them self about what they are putting into their body's America would not have the epidemic of obesity that is gained a strangle hold on our society.
ReplyDeleteBut mostly the problem is the convenience that fast food in a whole has on our "fast paced society". How many times a year do families sit down at a dinner table in their own house and enjoy a home cooked meal? Americans as a whole have became complacent and lazy which in turn has manifested with rising health problems. And its comes as no surprise that a government ran program is pushing something that only benefits the company's that the lobbyist work for. It all boils down to the all mighty dollar. Sad but true facts of a system of government that has spun out of control with career politicians who grave the attention that their position brings.
I hate to be Debbie downer but people need to open their eyes and start making hard decisions about the lives they lead. It comes down to people being able to make intelligent decision for them selves instead of turning to some one else to make it for them. Education is the key! Great article by the way, keep up the fantastic work!