The "I'll have another serving of walnut, please" Story

The good old cellulose that is used in your food.

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished reading an article telling me the 27 foods that I should never buy again.  Things like swordfish, multi-grain bread and reduced fat peanut butter.  I'm to cross them off my grocery list because they may be fakes, drastically unhealthy or just plain gross.  Wow, I just bought a jar of Jiff Reduced Fat creamy peanut butter this past week.  Not about to throw it away.  The article tells me that when companies take out the fat, they have to add something back in to make the food taste delicious.  In this case, it's lots of extra sugar and who wants that?  They then tell me to spread the regular Jiff on my sandwich and get more of the good fats and protein without the fake sweetness.  OK, do I want more sugar or more fat?   And, the multi-grain bread is junk food masquerading in a healthy disguise.  Is whole wheat the first ingredient on the label?  If not, I'm getting a few grains mixed into regular white bread.  So, they tell me that I should fore go the multi-grain and go for the straight-up barley, brown rice or steel-cut oats.  But, I love white bread!  Now, I knew about the swordfish years ago.  Since the swordfish is a bottom-feeder like tuna and shark, it is high in mercury content.  I should choose flounder, salmon or catfish.  Hey, I always thought the catfish fed off the bottom.  Starting to wonder who wrote this article I read.  A few more of the things to cross off the list are energy drinks because they are classified as "sugar bombs" and flavored non-dairy milks.  Vanilla-eggnog-caramel soy milk doesn't win any points in the health department.  I should just stick to milk, but buy the skim or fat free variety if I'm after something healthy.  Then, as I continued reading, I was told not to eat foods that are made of wood.  Had to be a misprint.  On the ingredient list of high-fiber cereal or snack bars I may find "cellulose" listed.  Turns out that cellulose is a code word for "wood pulp."  Manufacturers use wood to extend their product and add fiber, so it looks like you're getting more food. Probably only getting a mouthful of wood shavings.  And how do I know what kind of wood they are using?  Pine, oak, pussy willow?  I guess if they used walnut it wouldn't be so bad.  And then I hit the one product that I have been trying to eliminate as much as possible.  Bottled refrigerated ice tea.  In my case I love our local Turkey Hill orange ice tea.  My son recently had a kidney stone that required surgery to remove and later was told it may be because he constantly drinks Turkey Hill tea.  Really bad for you because some of the top ingredients are high fructose corn syrup and other sugars.  Best to make you own iced tea with inexpensive tea bags.  I know it is a pain in the butt to make, but certainly much better for you.  Well, I didn't give you all 27 foods, but the few I did give you may be hard to take off your store list.  But then again, should I really believe the article.  I guess since I read it in a reputable magazine, it must be fact.  Or is it?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.