Dumb Choice

by tristero

Who sez Diet Pepsi ain’t health food? Well, Mark Bittman sez it ain’t, but whadda’s he know, he is simply one of the most widely read and respected food experts in the country. But if you pick up a bottle of the repulsive swill Pepsi has absolutely no shame to attach its name to, you’ll find a Smart Choice label on it, courtesy of a group of Well-Respected Nutritionists.

Nutritionists, my aspic. “Smart Choice” is as likely to get you to eat well as Bernie Madoff’s “investment business” would get you a comfortable retirement nest-egg.

But fair is fair. Compared to deep-fried butter:

Scoops of pure butter the size of golf balls are frozen and covered with dough and dropped into the deep fryer. Bite into a ball and melted butter pours out.

…well, then I suppose that, yes, Diet Pepsi and Froot Loops – another Food Choice product -really is good for you.

There are times I think we live in a very strange country. After all, this is a country in which feeding your addiction to nicotine is being marketed as freedom of choice:

Tiffany Ellis works for the company E-Cigarettes National. She says research from the UK and New Zealand proves the products are safe. And she says companies like hers are getting a bad rap.

TIFFANY ELLIS: A lot of people seem to think that — that we’re just in this to make money, and we’re not. Making money is not as important as the ideology of what you’re trying to support and that is freedom of choice.

But then I remember that there are still a few Mark Bittman’s around, and I breathe (and eat) a lot easier.

Oh, and check out Mark on Nightline here (look under Thursday for “Food Label Fight”). Bittman’s great, but notice how the oh so typical on the one hand/on the other hand nonsense of the reporting works to promote the status of one of the fools who, to be charitable, has deluded himself into thinking Smart Choice isn’t merely a cynical marketing scam.