Buying healthy raisins and tater tots

In this two-for-one video Tony tackles what to look for if you’re shopping for raisins or tater tots in the grocery store. You’re probably thinking, “Why in the world did Tony pair together these two items?” The reason is because the keys to finding good raisins and good tater tots in the grocery store are actually the same.

Raisins

When shopping for raisins, the first thing to look for is if the raisins are organic or not. If they are, then this will tell you that the grapes have not been genetically modified or sprayed with pesticides. Next, see if there is any oil in the raisins. Food companies love to add oil to these products because it stops the raisins from clumping together in the package.

It’d only take you a few seconds to break the raisins clumps apart with your hands, but food companies do whatever they can to get an edge of competitors. (Side note: Imagine if food companies competed to make the healthiest product instead of the prettiest, tastiest, or best textured product). The best raisins in the store are organic and don’t have any oil in them. The only raisins you should eat are the ones that only have one ingredient listed.

Tater tots

Like with raisins, the key to finding good tater tots is deciphering if the product is organic (have the potatoes been grown with genetic modification or pesticides) and seeing what the oil is that’s used in the product. Any oil heated to high temperatures is known clog arteries, this is why fried foods (rightfully so) get a bad rap. But the oil that you’re using and the temperature that that particular oil starts to break down is a key piece of information. I am not a fan of canola oil. There is no such thing as a canola tree – canola oil actually comes from the rapeseed. Animal studies on rapeseed oil have shown it to cause obesity and be harmful toward memory and brain function.

By the end of the study, when the mice were 12 months old, the group on the regular chow had an average body weight of 31.88 ± 0.91 gr, whereas the one receiving canola oil had a significantly much higher weight of 37.71 ± 1.24 gr (p < 0.01) (Supplemental Fig. 1). – December, 2017 Study in Scientific Reports

The same study confirms that (in mice at least) canola oil diets negatively impact brain function, memory, and immunoreactivity.

Sources: Lauretti, Elisabetta, and Domenico Praticò. “Effect of canola oil consumption on memory, synapse and neuropathology in the triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.” Scientific reports vol. 7,1 17134. 7 Dec. 2017.; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5719422/