A new treatment extends the life of fresh produce. But some worry about toxic effects.
A new treatment extends the life of fresh produce. But some worry about toxic effects.
Nutrition Diva is hosted by Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN. Transcripts are available at Simplecast.
Have a nutrition question? Send an email to nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com or leave a voicemail at 443-961-6206.
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Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast. I’m your host, Monica Reinagel. And unless you’re very new around here, you know that, in my opinion, eating more fruits and vegetables is one of the simplest and most effective things you can do to upgrade your overall nutrition.
I don’t even care what kind of vegetables you eat (although, in my book, you do get extra points for eating a nice variety of different veggies). And I don’t particularly care how you prepare them.
It’s true that different ways of cooking vegetables may decrease the amount of various nutrients. Cooking vegetables in water or steam, for example, can leach out some of the water-soluble nutrients. But the truth is that fresh produce starts losing some of its nutritional value as soon as it is harvested. The longer it’s been sitting in your fridge (or your grocer’s fridge), the greater those losses may be–even before you start cooking it.
But take heart: No matter how many nutrients may be lost in storage or transport or during cooking, there are still plenty left! And, it may also reassure you to know that the guideline to eat five servings of vegetables a day takes those inevitable nutrient losses into account. So, rather than worry about which style of cooking preserves the most nutrients, I recommend cooking your veggies however you like them best. Because those are the veggies you’re more likely to eat. In the long run, that’ll probably have a bigger impact on your nutrient intake than the cooking method.
But if you’re trying to eat more produce, the first step is to buy more produce when you shop. I’ve noticed that most people tend to under-shop in the produce department. They toss a head of lettuce, a stalk of broccoli, and a bag of carrots into the cart and move on. But hang on a minute: We’re supposed to be eating five servings of veggies a day. If you’re shopping for two people and you go to the store twice a week, then you should have something like 35 servings of veggies in your cart! Of course, you probably eat some percentage of your meals on the road. But you get my point.
As a general rule, vegetables should take up about half of the real estate on your plate. Logically, this means that veggies (whether fresh, frozen, or canned) should be about half of your grocery order.
There is a potential downside to buying more fresh produce, however: It increases the chances that food may spoil before you have a chance to eat it. And that’s definitely not what we’re after. For one thing, it’s waste of money. Secondly, all the food that ends up in our landfills creates greenhouse gasses as it decomposes. According to the United Nations, if food waste were a nation, it would be the #3 global greenhouse gas emitter, after the US and China.
In my house, reducing food waste is as big a priority as eating more veggies. There’s nothing worse than opening up that crisper drawer and finding that $20 worth of fresh produce has now been transformed into some very expensive compost.(Plus, now what are you going to have for dinner?)
And that’s why I was excited about the introduction of a new food technology that can dramatically reduces food waste by extending the shelf life of fresh produce.
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Apeel is a very thin coating of food-safe ingredients (derived from grapeseed) that is applied (sprayed on) by growers or distributors to the outer skin of citrus, apples, cucumbers, avocados and other fruits and vegetables. It’s used on both conventional and organic produce.
The coating helps slow down moisture loss, which keeps the produce plump and crisp. At the same time, it protects the produce from oxidation. It is completely edible and does not have to be scrubbed off or otherwise removed. It’s tasteless, odorless, and practically undetectable…except for fact that your produce will stay fresh for much longer than it would otherwise.
Apeel won’t protect produce forever. Eventually, even treated fruits and vegetables will wither or brown. But this is a product that can really help in the fight against food waste. Not to mention my campaign to get you to eat more vegetables. I also love that it also reduces the use of plastic in food packaging.
But lately, there have been concerns about the safety of Apeel, stoked largely by alarmist bloggers and influencers, writing scary headlines about the poisoning of the food supply. Viral photos of documents supposedly listing safety hazards circulated around the internet. However, these documents were actually referring to a household cleaning product with a similar name but no relation to this product.
Apeel is a product of food technology. And there are people who are very suspicious about technology. Ingredients with long chemical names are automatically suspect. Even when the long chemical names turn out to be completely harmless compounds or even nutrients. Even when the compounds are not actually present in the final product.
I appreciate the “consumer watchdog” ethic that alerts consumers and holds companies accountable for legitimately unsafe practices. And I think we’ve seen enough examples to know that corporate interests, when forced to choose between profit and public welfare, cannot always be counted upon to do the right thing. When charges like this are leveled, I go in with an open mind. But as far as I can see, Apeel does not pose any risk or danger to your health or nutrition, and it provides a real and meaningful benefit to consumers and growers, not to mention the environment.
To the extent that this fear-mongering has reached your inbox or newsfeed, I think you can safely cross this off your list of things to worry about. And get back to eating those fruits and vegetables.
And before we wrap up, I also wanted to invite you to join me for an informal info session that I’m holding on December 14th to share what’s new with the Weighless program, my group coaching program for sustainable weight management. Enrollment for that program will be opening this weekend and I’m excited to tell you more about it. Details for attending are at https://weighless.life/info
If you have a question you'd like me to answer, you can email me at nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com You can also leave me a message at 443-961-6206
Nutrition Diva is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast and is supported by Brannan Goetschius, Nathan Semmes, Davina Tomlin, Holly Hutchings, Morgan Christianson, and Kamryn Lacy.