Balance of Food

Tom Vilsack is not a good way for Biden-Harris to fight for improvement in the food supply

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" was meant to be a metaphor by Pete Townshend from The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again in 1971. Townshend likely couldn't imagine Tom Vilsack being invited to run the Department of Agriculture once again in the United States.

Vilsack was not an inspired choice even in 2009 under Barack Obama. He did fit the recent definition of having been a governor (Iowa) in an agricultural state. 

Vilsack's most significant act while as the Secretary of Agriculture is to endorse the use of "pink slime." Vilsack said pink slime was "safe, it contains less fat and historically it's been less expensive."

Colbert Report: Tom Vilsack and school lunches

Stephen Colbert calls out Tom Vilsack for ag policy contradictions

Vilsack will have an easier time since Stephen Colbert went out to do a regular talk show at CBS.

Vilsack is leaps and bounds ahead of Sonny Perdue, Mike Johanns, and Ed Schafer in the post.

As we noted during the campaign, the outgoing regime has done disturbing and disgusting work to reduce the safety standards for meat, poultry, and seafood.

Needing a radical 'New Deal' from the next Secretary of Agriculture

If the United States has a benign or progressive food policy that factored in nutrition and American consumers, Vilsack might be able to sail the ship and not crash into an iceberg. Stephen Colbert did more to advance the concerns over the U.S. food supply in the 9 years on the Colbert Report than any Secretary of Agriculture has done in decades.

Michael Pollan turned down a proverbial request for the position after the 2008 election. Pollan did offer these words of wisdom.

"What Obama needs to do, if he indeed wants to make change in this area — and that isn't clear yet that he does, at least in his first term — I think we need a food policy czar in the White House because the challenge is not just what we do with agriculture, it's connecting the dots between agriculture and public health, between agriculture and energy and climate change, agriculture and education."

Substitute "Biden" for "Obama" and that advice is still helpful.

Vote for a better food policy on Election Day

Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump: Who will be better on food policy

The American people did vote for a better food policy on Election Day with the election of former Vice President Joe Biden and outgoing Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). They will be sworn in tomorrow midday as the new U.S. president and vice president, respectively.

Biden and Harris will be arms in deep in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic amplified the growing food insecurity in the United States. The pathetic financial supplement further exasperated a widening gap in a struggling to feed a family or even an individual.

Children who weren't in school struggled to get fed where school breakfasts and lunches had been the difference for many kids.

Celebrating the Michelle Obama legacy for food and nutrition

Biden could pick a nutrition czar, something that Barack Obama did during his time in office. Sam Kass and Debra Eschmeyer filled that role under President Obama. Michelle Obama might be available once again. Unlike Vilsack, that is a retread Americans can get behind.

5 questions you should ask presidential candidates about U.S. food policy

BalanceofFood.com school lunch coverage

President Obama placed a priority on increasing the money spent on school lunches. Conservative Democratic senators helped water that down to a 6¢ increase in 2010, the first such non-inflationary increase since 1974.

Expectations are low and since the food supply didn't come up, no promises to be broken. Here's to hoping to find solutions in the next 4-8 years.

photo credit: Colbert Report/Comedy Central

Meat and dairy want authentic labeling but not across the board

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" — Juliet from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

In the world of fake news, we have fake cheese, fake burgers, fake milk. Several states has passed laws prohibiting the marketing of products as "milk," "rice," and "sausage" if they aren't actually milk, rice, and sausage. 

Veggie burgers and soy milk have piggybacked on the backs of burgers and milk to show what the product is supposed to represent. Manufacturers weren't concerned when they had a small percentage of food sales. The increased interest becomes the theoretical threat.

Consumers don't get home with groceries thinking that grabbed meat or milk when they haven't. They know what they are buying.

Soy beverage or veggie patties aren't that different from soy milk and veggie burgers.

Having empathy or sympathy for meat and dairy manufacturers would be easier if they were equally as concerned about the defense of meat and cheese across the board.

Stephen Colbert opens up can of sand as Taco Bell lawsuit gets more publicity

Kraft Singles nutrition 'endorsement' puts dietitians in bad light

The United States is the land of pasteurized process cheese food, made from not less than 51 percent by "optional cheese ingredients." The USDA says any "meat taco filling" should at least have 40% fresh meat.

The obvious argument is that these products do contain meat and cheese, not a lot of them.

They are upset over soy milk but think non-dairy creamer is okay. Canada has the sensibility to call that product coffee whitener.

Fight these battles and then we can talk about soy milk and veggie burgers.

What's Tempting: Eating real cheese

The argument is that soy milk and veggie burgers are deceptions. Consumers know they aren't the real thing. Using the words "cheese," "dairy," "meat," and "creamer" are far more deceptive.

photo credit: Sargento

UHT milk provides longer shelf life but nutrition and taste are lost

If you need a long-shelf life for your regular milk, you might be excited that you are seeing expiration dates longer into the future. We are seeing this especially in organic milk.

However, those longer shelf-lives come as a result of the milk going through the process of ultra high temperature (UHT) or being ultra-pasteurized. Are the advantages of organic milk being compromised by being UHT?

I learned the different pasteurization techniques via Alton Brown on an episode of Good Eats. The conventional process is 145°F for 30 minutes. Brown referenced HTST pasteurization (high temperature/short time), which is 161°F for 15 seconds. UHT is 280°F for 2 seconds and then cooled quickly.

Brown noted that low and slow is the way to go because it produces better flavor and body.

Nutrition is more important than taste, but a better tasting milk means more milk will be consumed, especially by children. Drinking milk is also about health above and beyond calcium and protein.

Scouring the Internet won't take you long to find articles about the evils of UHT pasteurization, such as altering the milk protein structure is altered and that UHT milk has less folate and could have reduced Vitamin B₁₂, Vitamin C, and Thiamin.

From the Weston A. Price Foundation:

According to Lee Dexter, microbiologist and owner of White Egret Farm goat dairy in Austin, Texas, ultra-pasteurization is an extremely harmful process to inflict on the fragile components of milk. Dexter explains that milk proteins are complex, three-dimensional molecules, like tinker toys. They are broken down and digested when special enzymes fit into the parts that stick out. Rapid heat treatments like pasteurization, and especially ultra-pasteurization, actually flatten the molecules so the enzymes cannot do their work. If such proteins pass into the bloodstream (a frequent occurrence in those suffering from "leaky gut," a condition that can be brought on by drinking processed commercial milk), the body perceives them as foreign proteins and mounts an immune response. That means a chronically overstressed immune system and much less energy available for growth and repair.

If you like raw milk or want to have the milk as little pasteurized as possible, UHT milk goes to the other extreme.

Schitt's Creek amplifies illegality of raw milk

What's Tempting: Finally tasting raw milk

What's Tempting: Fairlife as a milk alternative

What's Tempting: Raw milk from a vending machine

What's Tempting: Raw milk in 2014

Colbert showcases government extreme on addressing raw milk

The UHT process doesn’t add nutrition to the process. UHT milk isn’t safer than regular pasteurization. The primary advantage to UHT is that grocery stores can increase profits. Less milk to throw out and more people will buy milk with a longer shelf life.

You can drink regular milk past the expiration date. Unless you take a long time to consume a container of milk, you almost never have to worry about spoilage. And if you need a long-term, shelf-stable milk, you can buy non-dairy milk.

Your food can be “too safe.” The U.S. has allowed irradiation of ground beef since 1999. Health Canada approved irradiation of ground beef last year but that information must be declared on the label. Irradiated ground beef might be "safe" but I wouldn't want to eat that beef.

We praise Europe’s food process, but the UHT wave comes from Europe. You might remember the Parmalat milk from the 1990s. Finding UHT milk is much easier in Europe, but then again, raw milk is easier to find in Europe.

If I’m going to drink milk, I want to get as much complete nutrition as I can in that glass. UHT milk makes buying and drinking milk less worrisome to some people, but provides no worthy reason where nutrition is concerned.

Subway Canada chicken comes up short on chicken, according to CBC Marketplace

Americans might remember the case against the Taco Bell Beefy Crunchy Burrito where the allegation was that the taco filling contained less than 35% beef, below the ridiculous low USDA standard that taco filling "must contain at least 40 percent fresh meat."

Stephen Colbert opens up can of sand as Taco Bell lawsuit gets more publicity

By those standards, the chicken at Subway Canada is "meaty" by comparison.

Marketplace, a CBC-TV investigative show, conducted research on fast food chicken in Canada. The other major fast food chicken scored between 84.9% chicken DNA (McDonald's Country Chicken) to 89.4% chicken DNA (A&W Chicken Grill Deluxe). Tim Hortons Chipotle Chicken Grilled Wrap (86.5%) and Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich (88.5%) were the other major contenders.

The Subway samples scored considerably lower than the others; the Marketplace team got more Subway chicken to sample.

Marketplace sampled the Subway Oven Roasted Chicken Sandwich: its average chicken DNA was 53.6%. The average of the Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki chicken strips was 42.8% chicken DNA.

With other ingredients and marinating, 100% isn't viable. The other major fast food chicken scored in a reasonable range. The Subway chicken ended up with a lot of soy, according to the Marketplace research.

Still better than the Taco Bell taco filling allegations but not likely what Canadians want in their fast food chicken.

"SUBWAY Canada cannot confirm the veracity of the results of the lab testing you had conducted. However, we are concerned by the alleged findings you cite with respect to the proportion of soy content. Our chicken strips and oven roasted chicken contain 1% or less of soy protein. We use this ingredient in these products as a means to help stabilize the texture and moisture. All of our chicken items are made from 100% white meat chicken which is marinated, oven roasted and grilled. We tested our chicken products recently for nutritional and quality attributes and found it met our food quality standards. We will look into this again with our supplier to ensure that the chicken is meeting the high standard we set for all of our menu items and ingredients." — Statement from Subway Canada to Marketplace

Subway Canada says it plans to sue the CBC for $210 million. The company issued its own tests after the Marketplace finding, though those findings did not address the issue of chicken DNA. CBC posted its findings online on the tests.

CBC Marketplace chicken episode (CBC News)

The CBC television show noted that the fast food chicken overall had about 25% less protein than in a home-cooked equivalent and 7-10 times the sodium levels of pure chicken.

Registered dietitian Christy Brissette noted on the show that most of the fillers are variations on salt or sugar. The sugar adds carbohydrates to a product that, unadulterated, has 0% carbohydrates.

BalanceofFood.com Canada coverage

BalanceofFood.com fast food coverage

The show pointed out that the soy protein filler and other fillers were designed to bring the cost of the product down. You think you are getting chicken in your fast food chicken or beef in your fast food taco filling. They start with 100% chicken or 100% beef but starting isn't finishing.

Fast food in the United States and Canada is a game. We will trick you into thinking you are eating what you think you are getting. You will get us not too much money for stuff that contains food. 

As long as you know fast food is a game, then you know the rules. If you are going to do fast food, know the rules. Or pick places that are less likely to play the game.

The 4 people the show gathered as taste testers were fast food aficionados. They seemed surprised that what they were getting was not 100% chicken. Those who frequent fast food the most should be the ones that really know how the fast food game is played.

The best way to "Eat Fresh" is to buy quality ingredients and make them yourself. The home-cooked chicken scored best among the taste testing. The chef used a few herbs and some salt. No carbohydrates, no fillers, no soy. Just chicken and spices. 

photo credit: Marketplace/CBC

Celebrating the Michelle Obama legacy for food and nutrition

Michelle Obama will leave behind an incredible legacy as First Lady of the United States on food, nutrition, childhood obesity, and school lunches. Let's Move made an impact on trying to get kids to spend less time on screens and more time playing.

The First Lady used television well in a natural manner to spread the message. iCarly fit in well to attracting young people to hear the message. The Biggest Loser was a natural fit with people trying to lose weight. Let's not forget the many talk show appearances from Ellen to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

You might think that her natural grace and flair comes easy. Some of us still can't shake the image of Nancy Reagan on Diff'rent Strokes talking about drug abuse. Nancy Reagan used to be an actress.

Like Batman, Michelle Obama had her list of enemies: Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Chicago Tribune, Basil Marceaux, James Sensenbrenner, those against federal school lunch programs. Instead of being constructive, they were destructive. Obama played it cool every time, even when the other side won significant victories. As she noted during the 2016 election campaign, "when they go low, we go high."

The White House organic garden started out as a powerful symbol but also proved beneficial to people in the capital city with bountiful produce.

Regardless of who the next president of the United States was going to be, Michelle Obama's legacy needs to be applauded. Michelle Obama, private citizen, will still have a platform after January 20 and we hope she takes advantage of that opportunity. The Obamas are staying in Washington until Sasha graduates from high school. The organic garden isn't too far away from their new home, if the new tenants will let her.

Her enemies, who fought hard and mostly without facts, will work to destroy anything Obama accomplished in her 8 years in that role. They can't take away her legacy, the idea that someone with power wanted people to eat better and exercise more. Obama talked about "vegetable feasts," not "federal food nannies." Her positivity can't be shattered.

Since there will be significant changes in the government, keeping the legacy of Michelle Obama alive requires the help of the people. We have touted the need for government to help where it can. The American people need to help out that legacy. Fight for school lunch reform. Encourage people to grow gardens. Focus on new food labels with an emphasis on added sugars.

The fear is that her legacy reads more like an obituary. Let's not make this an obituary.

BalanceofFood.com U.S. food policy coverage

BalanceofFood.com Congress food policy coverage

BalanceofFood.com school lunch coverage

Here are a few stories we have written over the years about Michelle Obama. The articles are in reverse chronological order so you can go back to the beginning.

2016

5 questions you should ask presidential candidates about U.S. food policy

2015

Appreciating Jon Stewart, The Daily Show on food and nutrition

President Obama needs to replace Sam Kass with a nutrition czar

2014

Saying goodbye to the Colbert Report

Election Day back when school lunch reform made headlines

Michelle Obama fights back against GOP school lunch cuts

2013

Barack Obama has 4 more years to improve U.S. food supply, but we need to help

2012

Election Day through the eyes of the food supply

BalanceofFood.com endorses Michelle Obama to be First Lady for 4 more years

Sarah Palin's diet/fitness philosophy likely similar to Michelle Obama's approach

iCarly tries to make veggies 'wacky' to appeal to young children

Michelle Obama talks of vegetable feasts on 'Daily Show'

Michelle Obama uses 'Biggest Loser' to push 'Let's Move'

Latest school lunch improvements prove it's important who gets elected

Temptation of the Week: Resist the non-existent message that government wants to tell you what to eat

2012 braces to be rough political year for food advocacy

2011

Rep. James Sensenbrenner latest to pile onto Michelle Obama

'Federal Food Nannies' aren't real, despite Chicago Tribune editorial

What should Michelle Obama do if she wants to order fast food in public?

Christie, Huckabee stand up for Michelle Obama, but repeat Sarah Palin's lies in the process

Rush Limbaugh better off learning Michelle Obama's 'rules' before he criticizes them

Podcast: Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, and the politics of breastfeeding

2010

Obama signs school lunch bill, still waiting on food safety bill

Sarah Palin could help improve food supply if she argued policy, not politics

Seek out White House reminders of fresh local food

Basil Marceaux's paranoia aside, government will never measure waistlines

Michelle Obama also strikes the balance of food

Going back to 1970s might be best way to cut future childhood obesity

Should hear soon about White House childhood obesity task force

Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move' gets Kids Choice Award seal of approval

Michelle Obama takes obesity fight straight to corporations

2009

Has Barack Obama found the Balance of Food?

Why White House organic vegetable garden is so important

photo credit: iCarly/Nickleodeon

What's Tempting: All-day breakfast

McDonald's all-day breakfast reminds us of Michael Bloomberg's legislation to ban large-size soft drinks in New York City. Both are very full of holes that you wonder why they tried.

Whatever we might think of the ways Americans approach food, half-assed just doesn't cut it.

Will you be able to get hash browns all day? Depends on the McDonald's restaurant configuration. So the location that is 3 miles away may not have them, but the location 5 miles in the other direction might have hash browns.

The primary difference is that McMuffin sandwiches and biscuit sandwiches are regionalized after regular breakfast hours. In the South outside Florida, biscuits rule. Otherwise, McMuffins are the only option. McDonald's says they can't do both after regular breakfast hours.

However, if you are hankering for a McMuffin of some kind and you live in the proper part of the country, this is exciting.

Unlike most of the country, my enthusiasm for fast food breakfast is not as high as "everyone." The only McDonald's breakfast option that had even the slightest appeal for your humble narrator is the sausage biscuit. That isn't an option unless I'm visiting Southern relatives. But even then, and somehow forced to eat at McDonald's, I would still pick lunch over breakfast.

The best tasting fast food breakfast item that I've had in years is the Chick-Fil-A spicy chicken biscuit. But I'm not usually near a location at breakfast time, the chain is not open on Sundays, and the whole anti-gay thing is also a concern.

When I was dipping into the fast food world, I had the opposite issue: wanting burgers and fries for breakfast. I was able to order burgers and fries for breakfast at Jack in the Box in the St. Louis area a number of years back. No one applauded when I order burgers and fries before 7 am and this was before Twitter. While I wanted that in other major fast food restaurants, I severely cut back on fast food before that could ever happen.

I like the idea of breakfast all day. I like the idea of lunch all day. Dinner too. Most of my breakfasts over the last decade have looked more like dinner than breakfast.

We believe in setting your own rules as long as you get what you need throughout the whole day. That includes breakfast for dinner. But you also have plenty of choices to do so, not just what McDonald's can serve you after 10:30 am.

video credit: Late Show with Stephen Colbert

What's Tempting: Finally tasting raw milk

I enjoy trying unusual or difficult to find foods to try and find my own internal Balance of Food. One food has eluded me for a long time: raw milk. As we've noted in several stories, you can score any major illegal drug easier than getting a glass of unpasteurized milk in many parts of the United States.

I came out at the beginning of 2014 and pleaded for help in finding raw milk. The search took until September 2015, but I finally scored raw milk.

The catch is that I didn't find the raw milk in the United States but in a market in London, England.

No trenchcoats or secret codes or whispers in the dark. Just walked up to a stand in the market and asked for raw milk. Money was exchanged in broad daylight (£3 for 2 pints) and I had a container of raw milk in my hand.

What's Tempting: Raw milk from a vending machine

What's Tempting: Raw milk in 2014

Raw milk has to go underground despite a lack of negative proof

Colbert showcases government extreme on addressing raw milk

Slider Bites: Lime shortage calls for better food diversity

What's Tempting: Keeping FDA away from artisanal dairy products

The joy of raw milk didn't lie in the taste of raw milk but in the potential health benefits of drinking raw milk over a long period of time. Still, how raw milk tasted was really important because you still have to like raw milk to get the benefits.

I closed my eyes as I drank from the jug of raw milk. The milk tasted lighter than traditional milk with a bit of grass in the milk. The raw milk tasted good but different, maybe not quench your thirst good, but drink by itself or use in coffee or cereal good.

Raw milk is a bit of a roll of the dice, even more when you consume it on vacation. Then again, England has an excellent health system. Buying the milk from an established source did give me some piece of mind. Even if none of that were true, I would still drink the raw milk. 

I had no health concern or issue in drinking the raw milk. With the second container I got, I did have it out most of the day without being refrigerated, then refrigerated it overnight, and drank it the next morning and still had no issues. 

After having drank 3 pints of raw milk, I had to admit that the secrecy felt pretty silly. Even if raw milk was more readily available, few in the United States would ever drink it. For many, the slight risk does not justify the reward. 

There are many adults who would indulge in raw milk if they didn't have to go through a secret network to make that happen. These adults should have the right to drink raw milk without fear.

In the previous stories, we've noted how ridiculous the anti raw milk side has been. This was all the more reason to try raw milk to see for myself whether the concern was justified.

Again, raw milk is not for everyone. The very young and old and those with vulnerabilities are more susceptible to the potential negative effects of raw milk. Know what the concerns are and respond accordingly.

If I had a regular source, I could give a better idea of the long-term potential of raw milk. Short of moving to Europe, that scenario isn't likely. If your definition of freedom means drinking raw milk, find a good opportunity and go for it. Hopefully, you can score raw milk easier than flying to Europe for the privilege.

photo credit: me

Appreciating Jon Stewart, The Daily Show on food and nutrition

Unlike the Colbert Report, The Daily Show isn't going off the air. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is leaving the airwaves tonight. We don't know quite what to expect for the future Daily Show.

Let's start by pointing out that the actual show is taking a hiatus until late September. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah debuts on September 28. We don't know how much the new incarnation will spend on food trends or nutrition issues. The new host might be more aghast at American food trends.

The Daily Show has been taking its own look back at the amazing Jon Stewart era, mostly in silly ways such as his singing ability, noises, and his (mostly early) ritual of saying he hadn't seen or read the guest's work.

Daily Show coverage on BalanceofFood.com

Saying goodbye to the Colbert Report

We wanted to take our own look at what Jon Stewart and others on and off the screen at the show have contributed to bringing awareness to food and nutrition trends.

While Stewart's focus wasn't as much on food as his counterpart Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report, The Daily Show has had some fun while shining a badly needed light on hunger issues, school lunches, food safety, and even some time for Baconnaise.

Jon Stewart would occasionally take on the indulgences of food, such as his "love" for Baconnaise and Jimmy Dean's pancakes and sausage on a stick.

Who can forget Stewart's odd obsession with Arby's? We are going to miss that and a lot more.

We are going to miss Jon Stewart and what he has brought to The Daily Show since 1999. We are especially going to miss what he and the rest of the crew have said about food and nutrition trends.

Food stamps/hunger

Jason Greenslate is no proof of food stamps fraud

Expensive seafood on food stamps is latest conservative lie

Daily Show on the real life Hunger Games

Temptation of the Week: A Place at the Table

School lunch

Paul Ryan school lunch lie is why we need truthful discussion

850 calories argument makes for good TV, but falls short on honesty

Food safety

Daily Show takes on Subway yoga mat bread

Pink slime conversions prove that food quality battle is all about PR

Jon Stewart, Spaghetti O's, and the food safety bill

Corporate food

Daily Show slams Monsanto's seed dominance

Daily Show takes on ag-gag laws

Other highlights

Dylan Ratigan making nice transition to helping veterans become farmers

Daily Show finds the bliss point with Michael Moss

Daily Show has fun with Quebec maple syrup heist

Temptation of the Week: Reducing drink sizes

Michelle Obama talks of vegetable feasts on Daily Show

Daily Show tells us we are getting just a little fatter

Daily Show takes on Happy Meals in San Francisco

Setting food rules is good, but make them your own rules (Michael Pollan)

Robert Kenner on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Daily Show takes on backlash toward White House organic garden

Can baconnaise be part of the balance?

photo credit: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

What's Tempting: Eating real cheese

The Kraft Singles "endorsement" fiasco was particularly poignant last week since we were already researching Kraft Singles as a compare/contrast vs. Sargento 100% cheese.

Why eat "pasteurized prepared cheese product" (what Kraft Singles currently are) or "pasteurized process cheese food" (what Kraft Singles used to be) when you can eat real cheese?

Cheese is one of those foods that everyone says they love, but cheesy goodness doesn't always involve cheese. Nacho cheese sauce is considered cheese. Pasteurized process cheese food is legally considered cheese by the FDA because it contains 51% cheese.

The 51% standard reminds us of when Stephen Colbert took off on the Domino's school lunch pizza where the pizza crust only had to be 51% whole wheat.

Even when actual cheese is involved, the cheese is either reduced-fat or bland cheese, such as mozzarella.

"American exceptionalism" is real, but not when it comes to cheese.

• Kraft Singles nutrition 'endorsement' puts dietitians in bad light

Your childhood was likely filled with "singles," individually wrapped slices of what you were told was cheese. You were also told that the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny exists and that you weren't an accident.

Giving up that tradition can be difficult if you fall into nostalgia or still eat like a child. If you have children, you feel like you are giving them a part of your childhood by giving them Kraft Singles.

How about giving them real cheese?

We hear the stories: "You can't give kids real cheese because the flavor is too strong for them." "Cheese is high in fat so kids need to cut back."

Cheese has flavor because it has fat; this is a dairy product.

When I was a child, and my peers were loving the Singles, I was complaining that the blue cheese dressings were too mild. Even as an adult, I get a secret supply of blue cheese from a vendor at the farmers market that is extra old, extra strong. No labels — that is how secret this is — just goodness.

As we've learned from other food categories, the more flavor and fat you have, the less we need to eat to be satisfied. With good cheese, 2 oz. can be plenty. With nacho cheese sauce, you could dip with chips all day long and not feel full.

French kids eat more good cheese and are much less obese.

If you have children whose palates are not as sophisticated as mine, there are plenty of sufficiently bland tasting real cheeses. If cheddar is too much, go with Swiss. Need to go further to Blandsville? Monterey Jack and mozzarella will do.

Test your kids: give them a variety of cheeses and see which ones work. You can help them figure out their palates for cheese and possibly other foods based on the results.

Children need fat to grow. They are more sensitive to need flavor as a prerequisite in food. They don't have to eat cheese to grow up. But if cheese is an option, teach them to explore the many facets of the world of cheese. Just make sure that they get real cheese; your children (and adults too) deserve the best.

photo credit: Sargento

What's Tempting: Fairlife as a milk alternative

Milk. It does a body good. But can it do a body better?

Fairlife has taken milk, added more of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff, and presented a product that is still milk but gives you more of what milk provides.

More protein: 13 g vs. 8 g (all comparisons for 8 oz. serving). More calcium: 370 mg vs. 276 mg. Half the sugar and no lactose.

More price too, but that isn't a surprise.

You do have to get over the stigma of drinking milk made by Coca-Cola. That does sound disturbing.

Fairlife offers some key advantages, so much so that we couldn't help but try the product. We tested the milk against a milk product comparable in terms of price: organic milk. We sampled whole milk versions of both for a fair comparison.

In my world, there are two major reasons to use milk: by itself and in cereal.

Fairlife by itself does have an aftertaste. My palate can tell the difference between Fairlife and organic milk. In a taste test straight up, organic milk would win 10 times out of 10. The taste difference isn't that significant but there is a difference.

We tried both milk products in cereal: 1 cup Grape-Nuts with 8 oz. of milk. The difference was similar but a lot less noticeable. Though we didn't try Fairlife in a smoothie, we can't imagine we would notice a difference.

With the extra protein and calcium, the better comparison might be Fairlife to regular yogurt or Greek yogurt. The yogurt, especially the Greek version, offers significant bacterial advantages over milk, even Fairlife. A cup of Fairlife would be a lot easier to consume to get 13 g of protein versus a cup of regular or Greek yogurt.

Fairlife offers 6 g of sugar in a serving vs. 12 g of sugar in milk. The company says the filtering process reduces the sugars. Since Fairlife has no lactose, and lactose is milk sugar, why are there 6 g of sugar?

Lactase enzyme has been added. This would account for the 6 g of sugar while not having lactose. Those who are lactose intolerant could handle this product because lactase is not lactose (one letter difference).

The 2% chocolate version goes from 24 g of sugar to 12 g of sugar. Fairlife makes up for the "lack of sweetness" by adding artificial sweeteners sucralose and acesulfame potassium.

Though I detected an aftertaste in the regular version, that is not the same aftertaste that you get from the artificial sweeteners.

If you are buying regular mainstream milk, the cost factor for Fairlife, regular yogurt, Greek yogurt, and organic milk may limit your purchase of any of these products. Soy milk and almond milk — different beasts entirely — also would be cost prohibitive. You'll have to drink more milk to make up the difference.

A gallon of regular mainstream milk = 128 oz. = 16 cups of milk = 128 g of protein. Cost approx. $3.10. A 52 oz. container of Fairlife cost me $4.29: 52 oz. of Fairlife milk = 6½ cups of milk = 84½ g of protein. Yes, Fairlife has more protein per serving but not more protein per container.

You can get more calcium by drinking more regular milk as well.

So who is the audience for Fairlife?

Those that can afford an upgraded milk, those who appreciate a decent tasting lactose-free milk, and those who only drink milk every so often. Fairlife's saving grace is that it's very shelf-stable. Whatever you might think about what longer shelf life means for a food product, American consumers eat that up, literally.

The Fairlife vs. organic milk battle came at a good time. I've been using almond milk as an occasional source of "milk" but bemoaning the loss of protein. Am also not thrilled with the amount of water needed to get us the almond milk, especially with droughts in California.

Soy milk offers the protein of regular milk but you have to ensure you are getting GMO-free soy milk. A shelf-stable version of milk with more protein that is actually milk is tempting as a supplement to other variations of milk.

The ultimate answer to which form and variety of milk that you choose comes down to how you use milk. Fairlife will never replace mainstream milk in a lot of households because regular milk is cheaper and often used as a loss leader at convenience and grocery stores.

Fairlife won't replace almond milk and soy milk for those who don't want to consume an animal product. Fairlife won't taste as good as organic milk nor offer the advantages of organic milk.

But Fairlife isn't the creepy evil Frankenstein image some are portraying. Fairlife is for occasional use where a burst of real milk satisfies a need over a long period of time.

video credit: Colbert Report/Comedy Central
picture credit: Fairlife