Whole Foods Beer and a New Me

Did you know that Whole Foods sells BEER? Well, ok, that is not really news to anyone. But I was surprised to go into WF yesterday and see beer being sold on tap. For $3.99 (I think) you can buy a 32 oz growler with a metal wire top and they will fill it up for you with one of five different local brews. Next week I'll bring it back and they will refill it for just $4.99. Truly, $4.99 is not such an amazing price for 32 ounces of beer. But the idea that there will be less waste because I will simply reuse the bottle. Also this gives the priceless benefit that I won't have to cart out all my empties for the neighbors to see what a lush I am. Aaah, the joys of apartment living. I love the idea that this is local beer too. I am just beside myself on this one!

On a separate note, there were other things that I needed at Whole Foods yesterday. I returned from vacation with virtually nothing in my pantry, and had some car trouble and couldn't even do a good shopping when we returned home. So we have been "coasting on fumes" since we returned. We ran out of butter, olive oil, sunflower oil, milk and COFFEE! Egads! But in doing my shopping I really contemplated what I needed rather than what I wanted. And I probably saved $10-$15 just buying only getting what I needed. Strange, it is such a simple concept, buy smaller containers and only get things that you will use until the next time you go shopping. I might be able to save enough to put my kids in college. Whew!

ANDI Scores

Do you know what ANDI scores are?

I had to go to Whole Foods the other day because I needed a loaf of sprouted grain bread and Whole Foods or Fairway are the only places I know of that sell it. I am sure there are other smaller health food stores, but when I need something, I just need it—okay? I don’t want to have to search around at 10 stores or spend 30 minutes on the internet trying to find a place. Anyway, I go into whole foods and I see a sign showing the ANDI score of every vegetable in the produce section. ANDI stand for Aggregate Nutrient Density Index. This is a system that scores food items based on their, what else, nutrient density. For example, soda gets a 1 and a bunch of Kale gets a 1000.

This just brings up a whole host of questions in my mind. I almost don't even know where to begin. I did find a great article on thatsfit.ca about the scoring system. The system was invented by Dr Joel Fuhrman in the late 1990's as a way to identify foods that are nutrient rich but low in calories. Basically, a high ANDI score is a way to identify a food that is a good 'bang for your buck' in nutrient/ caloric terms.

At first glance I thought this would be a great easy system. And then I started looking around. I found kale, that got that high score of 1000, Bok Choy got an impressive 824 and radishes got a surprising 554. But then something funny started to happen...I got into the sweeter and higher carb vegetables like carrots (336) and butternut squash (136) and potatoes (43) and the numbers all went down so low. Is Whole Foods trying to suggest that Kale has more value in our diets than carrots on purpose? Or are they just doing it inadvertently?

I do get the point, Whole Foods is trying to steer customers toward healthier foods, more fruits and vegetables, and items that have more nutrients. However there are some major flaws to the ANDI scores.

The ANDI system measures a whole host of vitamins and antioxidants, Calcium, Caretinoids, Folate, Iron, B Vitamins, Vitamins C and E, among several others. But it does not differentiate among the vitamins in the scoring process, nor does it offer the consumer a way to easily diversify their nutrient intake. One could say that this is because the system does not want to FAVOR any vitamin over any other. It does not take into consideration that some vitamins like iron or beta carotene are available in such low calorie foods like kale while other caretenoids are found in higher calories veggies like carrots or butternut squash that happen to include sugar. Kale might be higher in it's nutrient content per calorie than any other food, but it does not contain ALL the nutrients one needs in a day. So in my opinion any food nutrient guide that allows for a perfect score for one food that doesn't have all your RDAs for all nutrients is a flawed guide.

The system overall rates all foods, not just whole foods. So my second biggest issue is that Whole Foods is only labeling vegetables, pitting plums against peaches and tomatoes against potatoes. But while Fuhrman's guide does give soda an ANDI score of 1 (actually .6 to be more exact) none of the soda's sold by Whole Foods have their ANDI scores displayed like all their healthy counterparts do in the produce section. Does anyone else see the irony in this?? Whole Foods has adopted a system that gives high/ low marks to all foods and then only displays the results of the healthiest foods in their stores, produce? This robs the consumer of the ability to make clear decisions across all food products in the store. All it does is make some vegetables look less desirable than others. In a country where we need to eat more vegetables, like 3 or more time more than we are currently eating every day, we need to do everything we can as a culture to promote any whole fresh vegetables to be consumed, not make you feel guilty for eating zucchini because it only gets a 43 (zucchinis are still healthy by the way).

My third biggest issue with this system is really more of an issue with Whole Foods. Each produce item's ANDI score is clearly labeled with the number on that laminated sheet that they use to tell you tidbits about the kind of veg you are buying. You see that and a very short description talking about the guide. The one page sheet explaining the index was displayed by the escalator that one uses to enter the produce department. You can see it as you are descending, but once you are down stairs, a post blocks it from view and you have to crane your neck over some cheese display to get a good look at it. At least that is what it was like at Union Square. This means they are doing a good job telling people what the scores ARE but not a good job telling people what the scores MEAN. If I have learned anything in the last few years reading about nutrition and our eating habits in the US I have learned that left to our own devices Americans will instinctively attach good/ bad status to high/ low scores on any scale. The Whole Foods customer is absolutely doing this. Don't kid yourself.

This is a shame because I visited Dr Fuhrman's website and it does seem like he has the right idea about nutrition. His food pyramid is right in line with my own beliefs. And I don't even want to bring up the issue of personal/ corporate responsibility. If Whole Foods is going to adopt a nutrient index it should be prepared to educate their customers. Especially since they have adopted an index that gives a lower score to Olive Oil (9) than to White Pasta(18), Potato Chips(11), or American Cheese(10). It might even be a help if we ate the same serving of white pasta as olive oil, but of course that is not taken into consideration.

We can make numbers say anything. If you don't believe me, ask the guys that used to run Enron. But as consumers we must drill into what the numbers are saying. In my opinion, ANDI scores give us some interesting information. But it is not really ALL the information that I need to make wise decisions for me and my family on what to eat.

So if I can't use the system to decide what to eat, what is it for?

If you search for happiness, don't go looking farther than your own back yard.

We finally found time today to go to Whole Foods. I mentioned a few days ago that I had been in search of some organic peanut oil. Well I decided that if I was going to go to Whole Foods for one item, I would just get everything there.

I had visions of isles of prefect and organic produce, all varieties of blissful fruits and vegetables. I expected 10 different varieties of organic tortillas and organic cheese to write home to my parents about. And I kind of found it, but I kind of didn't at the same time.

I did find beautiful fruits and veggies. Everything seemed to have a coat of gloss paint on it. But I was surprised to see that half of the produce was conventional and the other half organic. I did like that the store labels items that are local. Probably there are local varieties at Fairway, but they don't label them, so who will ever know?

I am a store brand shopper. I always try to buy everything from the store brand at Fairway, because it is cheaper and I think very high quality. Many of my friends do the same thing, I know the Fairway brand sells faster and so those goods are fresher. The Fairway brand is always clearly labeled as to whether the items are organic or not. At Whole Foods, I always thought that the 365 brand was always organic. It is not. And there were times that I found it hard to find the organic labeling on the packaging. Maybe that was just because I was looking for the label of organic and it wasn't there.

The most amazing thing though??? Price. I discovered that Whole Foods was no more expensive or less expensive than Fairway. I was SHOCKED about that. Mostly because I have said that I felt that Fairway was such an affordable grocery store, and at the same time I have been convinced that Whole Foods was so expensive. And maybe Fairway's conventional items are less expensive. But when it comes to organics, the brands are identical and the price is nearly identical. Some things you pay 10 cents more for other you pay 10 cents less. It is a wash.

I am happy with everything that I bought at Whole Foods. There are a couple of items and brands that they carry that I cannot find anywhere else. so I will probably try to run over during a lunch break to buy a bottle of prized oil or a great cheese. but I don't need to go out of my way to get all my groceries at Whole Foods. Heck, Fairway has a parking lot. And to me that is huge!

But I think the thing that stood out the most to me was that all the brands of organic items were exactly identical. Whole Foods did not have an expanded selection that was apparent to me. That says to me what I have heard for a long time. That there really aren't as many organic options in this country. For the millions of people in this country only a small percentage can eat food that is not conventionally grown. Not because of price, but because there is not enough supply. But my generation is coming. Our demand of organic food is growing because we are all seeing the effects of the 'modern' way of life. So much progress has been made recently, but we have a long way to go before we can proclaim that every child in this country has access to foods that have been created at every level in a way that preserves the land for their future.