EVER WORRY ABOUT YOUR CHILD GROWING UP AN ADDICT? CIGARETTES, DRUGS, ALCOHOL………SUGAR...

ever imagine yourself as their dealer?

Saturday 21st January, 2012

There’s one addiction that many parents are playing a very active role in pushing their kids towards – without even realising it – and, believe it or not the addictive nature of SUGAR is easily as potent as those others that we fear so much!

I had a long chat with a great old friend at the races at Flemington last Spring Carnival – she was keen to talk about weight loss and I, as ever, keen to expand on the simple solution, which is – Lose the Sugar! 

An hilarious girl, she repeatedly dipped in to the large glass jar of mixed lollies nearby, as we spoke, laughing and berating herself, while she nodded and took in what I was saying!

But it was just a week ago, when my sister visiting from London had caught up with this same old friend, that I was sparked into action to write about it.  She told my sister all about our chat and how she’d nodded and agreed at the time ‘but’, she said, ‘I don’t agree, MY KIDS NEED SUGAR, they’re active and non stop and they need it!”

Wow!  It struck me that this is what we’re up against. 

People have seriously been so brainwashed for so long, that in the face of awful statistics and research facts about SUGAR, a Mother would still say straight out ‘MY KIDS NEED SUGAR!’

Let’s look at it – sugar appears so rarely in wholesome, whole, real food – yep fruit, which I certainly wouldn’t deny anybody – a piece a day - whole, with all it’s fibre and other goodness to counter the fructose (the part of sugar that’s actually doing all the damage – and in fact does not provide any energy, because our body can’t process it to do so, but that’s an even longer story!)

But, all the other foods you can find sugar in (and there’s heaps of them) are generally man-made, that is, processed,  and the sugar is usually added.  (Of course fruit juices have only ‘natural sugars’, that’d be largely fructose, with none of those other good bits left!)

So, if it needs to be added to a man-made food and isn’t sitting naturally in all the good, wholesome, natural foods available, then how can we possibly justify SUGAR as something that our ‘kids need’?

Quite simply, SUGAR is highly addictive and has done enough damage already. 

We need to be starting now – with our kids – and making every effort to send them into adulthood with a better understanding and better habits when it comes to what they are eating. 

If we start now, inform them and fight that impulse to believe that they need it for energy, perhaps, a lifetime addiction to SUGAR and the ongoing battles that define an addiction, can be avoided.

the gluten free re-formulated...

Saturday 17th December

the muesli gluten free is a product that we are very proud of.  We're working continuously to make sure that we have not only the most sugar free, gluten free muesli available on the market but the most delicious too!  We believe that we've now come up with the perfect mix of nutrition, flavours and of course premium ingredients and plenty of them. 

People suffering from Coeliac Disease and other gluten intolerant conditions are confronted with an endless array of often bland and tasteless foods many of which have been processed otherwise by the addition of masses of sugar.  My friend's favourite Gluten Free muesli had 31% Sugar - by the time we had her large serving spread into three piles, one of which was labelled Sugar, I'd committed to making the muesli gluten free.

The 5 Nuts and 4 Seeds, still make up 50% of the mix, with the delicious Coconut chips and Puffed Australian Amaranth, we've simply replaced the puffed rice with a crunchy, full flavoured Brown Rice Flake.  It's a better choice nutritionally as well as aesthetically and at 97% Sugar Free - just 1.9g/100g we think we've achieved our ultimate goal!

Available late January 2012 we're currently offering a buy 1 get a 2nd free on the remainder of our current gluten free mix. A great deal for a delicious and nutritious, 96% Sugar Free, gluten free breakfast.

So stock up for the Summer break and stay tuned for when the newly formulated the muesli gluten free  becomes available in 2012.

what's in it...

 Tuesday 22nd November

Do you read food labels?  Here's a pretty simple users guide:

'Fat Free' - Most likely high in sugar & salt.

'No Added Sugar' - Check Sugar line in nutrition panel it's probably got plenty already in the ingredients (dried fruit is concentrated sugar)

'Only Natural Sugar' - Fructose is the part of sugar that's implicated more and more in the obesity crisis as well as other health issues, Type 2 Diabetes, Cancers and Heart Disease to name a couple - Fructose in high proportions will generally be found in any product (often fruit juice) with this claim on the label.

The Ingredients List

Don't feel that you have to understand the Nutrition Panel - look FIRST to the Ingredients list, this is where the true story is told, let's take a popular muesli whose ingredients list reads as follows:  

Rolled oats, nuts 8.5% (almonds and cashews), brown sugar, raw sugar, glucose, oat flour, canola oil, seeds 3.6% (pepitas and sunflower seeds), starch, natural vanilla flavour, antioxidant (306)

What you need to know:  

Ingredients in a list on packaged food must be listed in order of quantity contained in that food.  

So, in this product the oats are very dominant, with nuts at just 8.5% next.  Here's where the scary part comes in - brown sugar, raw sugar and glucose are 3, 4 & 5 on the list of ingredients in order of quantity contained in the mix.  Then there's oat flour and at number 7 - before the 3.6% pepita & sunflower seeds, is canola oil!

This muesli costs $4.95 for 500g - a real case of - you get what you pay for - when you break it down like that!

The perception that 'they make a healthy start to the day' and that 'muesli is one of the best breakfast foods you can have' is why there are so many of them on the market.  

It’s also why so many people unwittingly make a bad decision when buying their breakfast - 'it's muesli so it's good for you - right?'  Wrong!  Not all mueslis are created equal and a quick look at an Ingredients list tells the story.

everything in moderation...

Saturday 3rd September

Lots of tastings lately, in some of the most gorgeous stores - fresh fruit & vegetable grocers, with deli and other fine foods  - last weekend, all around Adelaide, Metropolitan Fresh Fruiterers, Caruso's Fresh Foods and Hyde Park Fruit, then just this morning at V&R Fruit & Vegetable Market, Geelong. 

We hear the phrase 'everything in moderation' a lot from dieticians and nutritionists in response to the latest 'diet' doing the rounds.  It occurs to me, looking at the beautiful fresh fruits & vegetables available to us, that in this fresh, whole, raw produce is the 'sugar' enough to count as 'moderation' in our diet.  Surely then, when we're buying manufactured products in a packet, the simple rule of studying just one line of the nutrition panel  - Sugars g/100g, is worth following?  Less than 5g/100g is a great start.

We should be looking for a 'Sugar Free' or 'Low Sugar' message on what we buy, guaranteed it will make that 'diet' work better than looking for 'fat free'!

confusion reigns...

Sunday 21st August

In a Choice press release sent out last week, the muesli  - 100% natural and 97% sugar free - was compared to a double quarter pounder.  Today Tonight, not unsurprisingly, went with a story based on this 'sensational' claim - it's little wonder the general public is confused!

No, there was not a mention of the fact that the fat content of the muesli is all natural, unadulterated, good fats essential for normal body function - at no time ever comparable with the fats contained in that burger.  That didn't stop them putting a burger in the bowl with a pile of product that was not the muesli.  They also named the muesli but showed a graphic of a completely different product.  Serving size?  Not mentioned.

It was also not mentioned, in amongst a lot of talk about high sugar, that the muesli is 97% sugar free, despite the fact that their named top 4 choices contained between 12% and 18% sugar.

The consumer is already completely confused, because despite being told for the last 20+ years that they must avoid fat at all costs, they are still getting fatter by the day.  Even though the bag of snakes they bought at the supermarket and consumed on the couch last night, quite clearly said 98% Fat Free on the front!

the muesli is a product that is proudly - Sugar Free.  Programmed for all these years to believe that fat is evil while sugar has infiltrated nearly every processed food on the market, it's time that the consumer had this very simple message to look out for.

all the good fats…….and no sugar!

Wednesday 17th August

Not keen on being compared to a hamburger,  Emma Dumas of all natural 97% sugar free the muesli welcomes the opportunity to weigh into the debate about what’s healthy, what’s doing you good at breakfast and what’s definitely not.

In a Choice comparison of 159 muesli products, Choice managed to continue to perpetrate the myth and bury the fact. ‘We’ve been brainwashed by all things ‘fat free’ for way too long, when sugar is implicated across the board for health issues worldwide, not least obesity, diabetes and heart disease’ says Dumas.

By making a ludicrous comparison with a hamburger based on fat levels, and looking only to those meeting ‘low fat’ (3%) and ‘low sugar’ (5%) definitions, you really have to search hard in the Choice report to uncover the fact that 103 of the 159 mueslis tested contained over 15% sugar. In fact this is the case for 10 of their named 20 under the heading ‘Best of all Worlds’.  31 of the 159 compared contained more than a quarter sugar.

the muesli has been developed to be naturally sugar free – 2.05% naturally occurring - with the raw, essential fats contained in the 5 different nuts, 4 seeds and coconut that make up 64% of the all natural mix. 

Emma lost 8kg as a part of a television weight loss comparison in 2005. Not only has she kept that weight and a bit more off, she’s eaten the muesli every day during the program and since.  “I’d like to see someone eating a hamburger, in fact I'd like to see somebody eating a muesli with a sugar content over 15%, achieving that”.

response to Choice

Wednesday 17th August

Yes the muesli is full of good natural fats. Raw nuts and seeds make up 50% of the muesli. The fat they contain is natural and unadulterated (not heated, roasted or toasted). We take issue with the inference, by comparison with a hamburger, that this makes the muesli in any way unhealthy. This represents the ideal distinction between ‘good fats’ and ‘bad’. Unlike the ingredients in many popular foods, the muesli is 100% natural and unprocessed. 

We created the muesli to be the healthiest, most delicious muesli available. To do this, we developed a muesli with an extremely low sugar content, and a high percentage of tasty, premium raw ingredients. In a market saturated with sugar-filled mueslis, the muesli was first and foremost naturally sugar free. ‘Choice’ has chosen to ignore the fact the muesli has just 2.05g of sugar per 100g. Sugar free is the muesli’s major nutritional benefit – and virtually unique in the category.

Sugar is the major contributor to the problems of obesity, heart disease and ill health in society today. For years, we’ve been brainwashed by the ‘fat free’ message carried by highly processed foods.  In food, fat is flavour. When it’s removed, sugar is often added to compensate for the flavour lost.  In foods such as raw nuts, seeds and coconut, fat is flavour too. The difference is it’s natural and unprocessed, meaning our bodies are able to process it and benefit from it. Even the saturated fat in the muesli, which comes primarily from the coconut, is an easily digestible source of fuel with a list of important health benefits. Fat is not the enemy, especially ‘good fat’. the muesli was developed specifically to be all natural and sugar free, not fat free.

The notion of comparing an average 50g serve of a sugar free natural muesli to a 305g hamburger is completely flawed.

Please feel free to contact us on 0425 009 998.