The Skinny on Skinny Cow
We often end up scanning the nutrient panels on products to see if they are a healthy choice without reading the ingredients list. Sometimes this can lead to decisions like Skinny Cow Ice Cream over our regular brand because the stats appear lower.
However, upon further review of the back of the label this small ice cream sandwich is STUFFED with chemicals.
Here are the whopping 33 ingredients and my comments after some of them:
- Skim milk
- Bleached wheat flour (acts like sugar in the body)
- Sugar (one of the main causes of belly fat)
- Caramel color (the same junk they color soft drinks with)
- Dextrose (sugar)
- Palm oil
- Corn flour
- High fructose corn syrup (causes extreme cravings)
- Corn syrup (ditto)
- Baking soda
- Modified corn starch
- Mono and diglycerides
- Soy lecithin (much of this has MSG hidden in it)
- Cocoa
- Sugar (again)
- Corn syrup (again)
- Polydextrose (sugar)
- Whey protein
- Cream
- Calcium carbonate
- Inulin
- Natural flavor (this is a joke considering all the unnatural flavors)
- Propylene glycol monostearate (more on this below)
- Microcrystalline cellulose
- Sodium carboxymethylcellulose (can you pronounce that?)
- Guar gum
- Monoglycerides
- Sorbitol (a sugar alcohol)
- Carob bean gum
- Citric acid
- Vitamin A palmitate
- Carrageenan (a seaweed extract)
- Salt
So as you can see, this may be a low-fat ice cream sandwich, but don’t think for a second that this “Skinny Cow” is a healthy food choice. This is a nutrient dead “Frankenfood.” By this I mean that it’s not even a real food, it’s just a chemically-altered food-like substance.
And it gets worse: Propylene Glycol Monostearate (ingredient #23) is found…
- As a working fluid in hydraulic presses
- As a coolant in liquid cooling systems
- To regulate humidity in a cigar humidor
- As the killing and preserving agent in pitfall traps, usually used to capture ground beetles
- As an additive to pipe tobacco to prevent dehydration
- To treat livestock ketosis
- As the main ingredient in deodorant sticks
- As a solvent used in mixing photographic chemicals, such as film developers
- As an ingredient in the production of paintballs
Source: Wikipedia.com
The College of Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State says this about propylene glycol monostearate:
“Slightly more toxic than propylene glycol in animals, and in large doses produces central nervous system depression and kidney injury.”
This is why it is extremely important to read the ingredients list when you want to know what you’re really eating. If you just look at the table, it looks like a good choice, but the fact is that it’s a terrible choice when compared to a brand that may have a slightly higher fat or calorie intake but all natural ingredients.
Too bad you couldn’t pick out all of those bad ingredients and leave the whey, etc. What really gives me a laugh is how marketers will harp on the fact that it is “trans fat free” or cholesterol free” on a food, neglecting to mention the nasties that it does contain. Sadly thats enough to sell a lot of people. Like you say they have to read that lable, not just the front of the package
It’s true. Sadly a lot of the time they add in the chemicals and whatnot to replace something like sugar or trans fats. All so they can put that banner on the front. People generally don’t take the time to look at ingredients, or don’t know what to look for.
Propylene Glycol Monostearate or PGME is found in all of the other products because it is an emulsifier. It is merely a portion of vebetable fat that has been reacted with a glycerine. The government made food companies give their products these “franken” like names that no one can pronounce and aotomatically think are harmful.
Eating them leaves me hungrier
It’s so sad but true that much of the “healthy” food on the market is loaded with harmful additives. The best way to avoid this is by doing most of your own cooking, avoiding processed foods and reading labels if you do.
I completely agree.
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