New Smart Choices food label helps us eat, um, healthier

BY PAM LOBLEY

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

Like many mothers, I want my family to eat healthy foods. They prefer Cheez Its. Frankly, I prefer Cheez Its. Why are those things so delicious?

Each week at the store I try to make the best choices. I have to buy cereal, and snacks, and cold cuts and cookies, and I try to pick the healthiest foods. Barring that, I just pick what's on sale. Cheez Its are always on sale.

Lucky for me, there is now a new food label that can help me make better choices. It's called Smart Choices, and the label features a big, green check mark. Green, like spinach or cabbage. I feel healthier already.

Even better, the tidy green check mark appears on some of my favorite foods. Hellman's Mayonnaise gets a Smart Choice check. So do Froot Loops.

Really? Froot Loops, you ask? Cocoa Krispies? Yes, these cereals get the Smart Choice check. As it turns out, the Smart Choice rating system is sort of a comparison type of deal. In other words, Froot Loops would be a good choice for breakfast COMPARED TO a doughnut and soda. So, for those moms out there who have been confused for years about which is the better breakfast — doughnut/soda or sugary cereal — answers are on the way.

The Smart Choice program bases its choices on government dietary guidelines and widely accepted nutritional standards. It also, however, takes into account research that says that consumers don't want to be dictated to — and they don't want to hear negative messages.

You bet we don't! Don't tell me I'm fat! Don't remind me I'm a juice pouch away from diabetes. Just hand over the Froot Loops and leave me alone.

Better yet, hand over the Froot Loops and tell me what a good choice I've just made.

smartchoices100409_opt The Smart Choices program is not affiliated with Food and Drug Administration. It's an independent ratings system, and it is backed by most of America's largest food manufacturers. These companies, like Pepsico, Kellogs, Kraft, and many others, each pay up to $100,000 a year to participate and enjoy the green check mark on some of their foods. They hope to earn their foods the status of "better than" other foods.

This is such a zippy idea, the "better than" thing. I don't see why we just can't apply it to all areas of living. It was a Smart Choice that I slept through my alarm this morning and made the kids late for school. Because it was better than choosing to sleep through lunch also.

It was a Smart Choice that I forgot to bring my son's muddy cleats in the house and they got soaked in the rain, because forgetting them in the rain was a better choice than just putting them in the driveway and repeatedly backing over them with my minivan until they were crushed to a pulp.

It was a Smart Choice that I charged $200 at JC Penney's when we haven't even paid the mortgage yet this month. I bought new sheets, towels and a comforter, but I DIDN'T buy any clothes for myself at all, and I stayed out of the cosmetics department altogether. I'm getting great at making choices.

It's a relief to know we don't have to pretend anymore, because we're not going to change our eating habits. We're going to keep enjoying processed, sugary, transfatty foods. We're just going to change how we feel about it. We're not going to feel guilty. We're going to feel great. A little green check mark told us we can. Smart Choice!

Pam Lobley is a columnist and co-author of the book "You Definitely Know You're a Mom When ..." To read her past columns or get contact information, visit her website: www.pamlobley.com.