Benefits
of special vs. supermarket foods debated
naturally
By Cindy Coglbnese
"Tell me what you eat, and I wilt tell
you what you are, "-Brillai-Savarin.
Health foods, organic foods -and natural
foods ate those substitutes for the preservative-packed
staples on the shelves of the
local supermarket. But what is the big dif
ference anyway?
Chad Hoesing, co-manager of the Open
Harvest Food Cooperation said the differ
ence between natural foods and organic
foods Is in the growing process. He said
natural foods supposedly have no additives
such a preservatives, and color agents but
can still be raised Using chemical fertilizers.
On the other hand, organic. foods are free
of any chemical additives.
Irwin Goldenberg, owner of the Golden
Carrot health. ? food store in Lincoln
described the difference between the type
of food oft the grocery store shelf and the
type of food you might find In his store.
AS AN EXAMPLE he used the process
which white bread goes through. As the
bread is being processed, he said, many
essential vitamins and minerals are removed
from the white flour. In addition the bran
and wheat germ, which are important to
the human digestive system and bowels, are
removed.
The reason bran is extracted from the
flour is because it becomes rancid after a
short period of time, he Said. Processors
take out the 6ran, which contains 33 nu
trients, so the loaf of bread has a longer
shelf-life in the store.
Goldenberg said that a bleaching process
destroys "abouj anything else" left that is
nutritious. Bleaching also masks inferior
wheat so the product comes out looking
Uniform, ? : K 4-.-,
. "Theft they ad a few vitamins and call
that enriched, hft said.
Goldenberg said natural whole wheat
bread h i : better choice than the white
bread, He added that honey is a better -jchoice
than ttygg M Jthert &a small 4uantk: .
ty ot vitamins and minierals in honey that
aid in the digestion.;
down."
Hie owner of The Good Earth-John
and Lois Valenti-said they have a main
objective in establishing their store. -
"We want to eliminate anything foreign
or synthetic, such as chemicals, sugars, ad
ditives and 'preservatives, John Valenti
said. "Our bodies were not designed to
break down synthetics but only that which
comes from the earth.
"Look at Tang. The astronauts drink it
so It's supposed to be good, but look at the
ingredients, tt is strictly synthetic .and
chemicals. There is a chemical added for
tartness and there is a chemical added to
inhibit tartness.
And then there is the other side of the
counter. The Director of Dietary at
Lincoln General Hospital has a beef against
the health food stores.-
"THESE PEOPLE are in the buisness to
make a living, Lena Clancy said. "These
people can point to tests that have been
done but you can make an accounting
sheet show anything.
Clancy said the nutritional quality of
health, foods and processed' foods is
probably about the same.
"It disturbs me that health foods are
probably just as nutritious as grocery-store
roods, but health foods are so expensive.
The claims to superiority and the price
bother me. ,
"If we follow the Basic Four-dairy
products, meats, cereals and fruits and
vegetables-irt recommended amounts, then
we can get .the nutrients that we need to
keep us healthy and strong, she said.
She did agree that whole wheat, rye and
stone ground breads are more nutritious
than white bread. Clancy also suggested
avoiding sweetened cereals, chips, cookies
-and anything high in sodium.
HARRIET KOtftf is a food and nutri
tion extension ; specialist at UNL She
agrees that many of the foods in heatlh
food stores may be expensive but some
Items are cheaper, such as sesame seeds.
"Basically I think the difference, in price
between the foods you get in a health food
store and a grocery store is not warranted"
Kohn said.
"On the other hand there are a lot of
items in a health food store that you can
not obtain easily in a grocery store. Health
food stores also carry some items for spe
cial diets so -they do serve a legitimate,
purpose, Kohn said. She also said quality
food can be obtained from a grocery store
if it is chosen carefully.
She said there are some exaggerated '
claims about the use of health foods. As art
example she used the popular notion that
high doses of vitamins are healthy. She
said that very high doses of vitamins are
not desirable because they can become
toxic within the system. This is es
pecially true of vitamins A and D, she said.
Another misconception of health foods
is the idea that wheat germ and other foods
have magical qualities. Kohn said that if
these "magical1' foods are eaten in exclu
sion of other foods, serious nutritional
problems may develop.
She also questioned the claims that
health foods can cure arthritis, diabetes
and cancer because there has been no sub
stantial research in these areas.
Big 3' burger chains battle for an ever-expanding market
. "SUGASt IS about 100 percent carbo
hydrates, Goldenberg said.
"It takes 10 milligrams of Bl to digest a
bottle of Coke. Eventually you develop
deficiencies because the sugar has to rob
other stores in the body for it to break
By Shelley Smith
"Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce with
the two all-beef patties, special sauce and
be sure to make it hot and juicy ,the
battle goes on.
Past food restaurants have become the
greatest fad in nutrition today. And like all
fads, fast food Is subject to controversy.
The controversy stems from the quest
ion of nutrition. Nutrition critics argue
that people are obsessed with fast food and
don't 'think about the nutritional value of
what they eat.
However, fast f00 restaurant managers
argue that their products are quality -oriented.
Burger King, McDonalds, and Wendy's
are the top three hamburger fast food rest
aurants in Lincoln. Each serves basically
the same clientele, and each has exploded
ingrowth.
Tim Kuntz, a co-manager of Wendys,
930 N. 48th St., said the growth of
Wendy's has "mushroomed since 1969
when the first Wendys restaurant was
opened.
R. DAVID THOMAS built the first
store in Columbus, Ohio, and named it
after his 9-year -old daughter. Since then
1,700 other Wendy s have been built across
the nation.
Kuntz said there are three stores in
Uncialn, and because of the citys growth,
a fourth Wendy's may be built.
Burger King and McDonalds share
a similar history In that both began in the
yearly J950s., .
Jon Furrer, manager at Burger King,
522 1 O St., said Burger King's growth
rate hasn't exploded like Wendy's but has
been steadily constant in the past 10 years.
He said the franchise opens about 400
new stores a year. Burger King also has
stores in Canada and 1 1 foreign countries.
McDonalds also is world-wide and
boasts of its success with the slogan on
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sold."
ACCORDING TO Berni Patera, manager
of McDonald's at 865 N. 27th St., the
slogan began in the mid 1950s when Ray
mond Kroc bought the franchise from the
McDonald' brothers in San Bernadino,
Calif.
She said Kroc was selling multi-mixers
to make milk shakes with and . became
interested in the small walk-up store the
McDonald brothers had built.
"Eventually he bought them out and
began chain stores in 1955," Patera said.
' KroC at that time calculated that two
billion hamburgers placed end to end
would circle the earth 3.4 times, and
established the slogan .
"He began counting how many hambur
gers were sold and publicized it on the bill
board," Patera said.
McDonald's also has stores in 13 foreign
countries. The total number of McDonald's
stores is 6,000.
Burger King was bought by the Rllsbury
corporation in 1967 and started opening
stores nationally. They now have 2375
stores world .wide.
Each restaurant chain has a manager
training school where managers are taught
the history of the store and its manage
ment. Whopper College is Burger King's train
ing school in Denver, Colon according to
furrer. The national training school, Burger
King University, is in Miami, Fla.
McDonald's has Hamburger University
in Illinois, and Wendy's has it's training
center in Columbus, Ohio.
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