{"id":52909,"date":"2016-09-30T12:30:15","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T16:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=52909"},"modified":"2016-10-03T11:28:59","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T15:28:59","slug":"healthy-food-definition-kind-fda-093016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/healthy-food-definition-kind-fda-093016\/","title":{"rendered":"What Makes Food \u201cHealthy?\u201d The FDA Wants You to Weigh In"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What
Photo by\u00a0David Di Veroli<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Deciphering food labels can sometimes feel like you\u2019re trying to crack a secret code. Manufacturers slap\u00a0\u201cnatural<\/a>,\u201d \u201cgluten-free<\/a>\u201d and \u201cfat-free\u201d on food packages, but products often can include a host of ingredients that contradict their\u00a0claims. You know to never judge a book by its cover, but with food labels it’s a must. And separating the good from the bad gets tricky. That\u2019s even true of the term \u201chealthy.\u201d Now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is on a mission to clear up the confusion.<\/p>\n

What complicates things: The last time we defined the term \u201chealthy\u201d was more than 20 years ago. The current definition<\/a> dates back to 1994,\u00a0and a lot has changed in nutritional science since then. The government did announce an overhaul of the Nutrition Facts label<\/a> this year and updated Dietary Guidelines<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

Both of those revamps no longer emphasize eating a low-fat diet and instead focus on limiting bad fats, eating more good fats, cutting back on added sugars<\/a> and opting for vitamin- and mineral-dense foods. Yet, products that get a healthy stamp of approval don\u2019t always reflect that standard, particularly in terms of fat content. Under the current definition of healthy, anything from\u00a0fat-free chocolate pudding to gummy bears score the title, while almonds, salmon and avocados<\/a> don\u2019t. (Baffling, right?)<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>This Graphic Shows How Much Sugar is Hiding on Your Plate<\/a><\/p>\n

As a Matter of Fat\u2026 <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Think back<\/a> to the \u201890s when fat-free products were a craze. You\u2019d never buy a food known for being full-fat, like sour cream and mayonnaise, without picking up the low-fat version. These days, we\u2019ve become fixated on sugar<\/a> and restricting it from our diets. And often times, when food companies remove fat from their products, they replace it with the sweet stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to tell people to limit avocados and fatty fish and go for fat-free snacks. That\u2019s completely reversed.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cEven though we have these innovative guidelines, the labeling law is antiquated by comparison,\u201d says Frances Largeman-Roth<\/a>, RDN, a nutrition expert and author of Eating in Color<\/em><\/a>, who is also affiliated with KIND\u00a0Snacks. \u201cWe used to tell people to limit avocados and fatty fish and go for fat-free snacks. That\u2019s completely reversed. Now we tell people to eat a handful of nuts to feel more satisfied and get more nutrient-dense foods.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2015,\u00a0KIND Snacks<\/a> recognized this disconnect between the benefits of full-fat foods and promoting low-fat versions\u00a0as healthy. It all started with a letter the government sent to KIND. It said\u00a0they violated labeling rules by putting \u201chealthy\u201d on their bars that contained more than one\u00a0gram of saturated fat<\/a>. Considering their products contained real ingredients and most of the fat came from nuts, KIND\u00a0didn\u2019t budge. They stood up to their healthy claim and started a Citizen Petition<\/a> to get the government to redefine\u00a0what healthy means.<\/p>\n

“KIND created the Citizen Petition to request better alignment between food labeling regulations, the latest nutrition science and federal dietary guidelines to ensure the public receives sound and consistent guidance about nutrition,” Justin Mervis, head of regulatory affairs at KIND\u00a0Snacks told Daily Burn via email.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Saturated Fat: Is It Really That Bad For You?<\/a><\/p>\n

Re-Writing the Rules<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

“We hope more companies will use the \u2018healthy\u2019 claim as the basis for new product innovation and reformulation.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Who\u00a0could blame KIND\u00a0for holding its\u00a0own? Nutrition science shows that fats from nuts are actually good for your heart and could potentially help you live longer<\/a>. So the people\u00a0at the top listened to that petition. And\u00a0they\u2019re calling<\/a> on you<\/em> to help them rewrite the meaning of healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy updating the definition, we hope more companies will use the \u2018healthy\u2019 claim as the basis for new product innovation and reformulation, providing consumers with a greater variety of \u2018healthy\u2019 choices in the marketplace,\u201d Douglas Balentine, PhD, director of the Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling at the FDA\u2019s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>21 Low-Calorie Snacks You\u2019ll Want to Eat Every Day<\/a><\/p>\n

Packaged Foods We Can Trust<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Here at Daily Burn, we believe in clean eating<\/a> and the occasional indulgence. (No one should have to go through life without dessert<\/a> or a cocktail<\/a> every now and then!) And while we certainly promote the benefits of making hearty meals at home, we totally get that that\u2019s not always feasible. Packaged foods provide a convenience you just need<\/em> sometimes. The main goal is\u00a0finding products\u00a0with nutritious, real ingredients and evaluating how those items\u00a0fit into your diet as a whole. While the best foods come without labels, it\u2019s nice to know the FDA is making it easier to find healthy packaged foods.<\/p>\n

So how do you think the FDA should define \u201chealthy?\u201d What do you expect from a food with this label? Check out a list of questions to consider at end of this document<\/a>. Then submit your thoughts to the Federal Register at this link<\/a>. Don\u2019t forget to share your comments with us, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts, food manufacturers, bloggers \u2014 everyone has a different definition of healthy. The FDA wants everyone on the same page. How would you define it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[291,51,59,251,71,341,400],"class_list":["post-52909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","tag-clean-eating","tag-food-choices","tag-healthy-substitutions","tag-news","tag-nutrition","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2food-policy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}