I was feeling quite smug earlier today; I am now allowing myself one chai to drink per day and I’ve actually stuck to it for 3 days so far. Woo Hoo!
But then I made the mistake of grabbing a handful of cashews to eat with my chai, thinking that half my snack should be nutritious and good for me. Kind of like choosing juice to drink with a greasy double cheeseburger and hoping that the good joo joo in the juice cancels out the yuck in the burger.
Anyway, I was feeling quite proud of myself for choosing cashews… until I made the mistake of reading the label on the cashew bag. Some food processor in their INFINITE wisdom added partially hydrogenated soybean oil to my nuts!
I ask you, does it make any sense at all to soak nuts in oil? As if nuts don’t contain enough oil on their own? Were the nuts not SLIPPERY enough, or what??! Of course it doesn’t make sense to dye pickles a neon shade of yellow-green either, but food processors do it all the time. Try finding an au natural pickle at your local grocery store – it’s not easy.
Why, pray tell, would an intelligent human RUIN their nuts by dipping them in partially hydrogenated oil? Is there anyone left in America who has not heard that partially hydrogenated oils are artery clogging, cancer inducing nastiness?! Apparently whomever prepared my cashews for market still has not heard.
I keep expecting the FDA to ban partially hydrogenated oils from all foods, that’s how nasty this stuff is. But here I sit with this partially hydrogenated yuck ON MY NUTS!,
OK, OK – I should probably relax – I’m practically hyperventilating about some ruined nuts. Getting this worked up is probably more detrimental than eating nuts dipped in partially hydrogenated oil… I need to relax and breathe…
Actually, I may have to down a second chai just to calm myself. <vbgrin> Any flimsy excuse to drink more chai.
robin says
I just want to say, It’s really good article and very funny. I appreciate it.