I'm back from the Yucatan, dear friends, and soon I will have a few posts detailing the stupendous dishes I enjoyed while away. But first, welcome to "A Brief Rant About Nutella."
Ok, people: I like Nutella as much as the next guy who loves chocolate. That's because Nutella is chocolate. With, like, some hazelnuts ("Over 50 hazelnuts per 13.5 oz. jar!" I hear).
But then you see ads on Facebook, Google and elsewhere, marketing Nutella as part of healthy, balanced breakfast. And it's not even just a marketing ploy -- the website, www.nutellausa.com has a "Nutella & Breakfast tab" as well as a dynamic "breakfast builder" with which you can design a balanced breakfast (which will, inevitably, include Nutella!). So OF COURSE NUTELLA MUST BE PART OF A BALANCED BREAKFAST? How could it not be? The website says so.
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| From www.NutellaUSA.com |
Well, sort of. The section referring to Nutella and nutrition goes into great depth about how critical breakfast is, without really ever adding the caveat that WHAT one chooses to eat for breakfast might have some impact on things. By this logic, straight, unadulterated spoonfuls of butter could be part of a balanced breakfast. Sneaky (and good lawyering).
Somewhat buried in the "breakfast builder" I found the nutrition facts, which note that 2 tablespoons of Nutella have approximately the same number of calories as 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (200 vs. ~190). However, a somewhat important distinction here is that Nutella is stuffed with 22 grams of carbs (SUGAR!), 11 g fat, and only 3 grams protein, while PB is more nutritious with only 6 grams carbs, an admittedly higher 16 grams fat, and 5 grams protein. And that's just peanut butter; Nutella has only 4 fewer grams of carbs than do faux-maple syrups such as Log Cabin, which are almost straight corn syrup.
Additionally, Nutella's ingredient list (sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk, whey (milk), soy lecithin, vanillin) is weighted -- meaning there's more sugar than any other ingredient (oil is next).
Want to guess what the most prevalent ingredient in peanut butter might be? (No points for right answers).
Now, I'm not a doctor, nor am I a nutritionist. But I'm also not an idiot. And trying to sell me chocolate for breakfast, implying it's healthful, is tantamount to Nutella telling me that I am an idiot.
Nutella is not the only offender, of course; sugar cereals have been doing this forever, and how many folks start their days with doughnuts or muffins (which are basically cake)? And yeah, maybe any breakfast is better than no breakfast. But I refuse to believe that there aren't many, many alternatives that cost the same or less in terms of money, time, and energy and contribute far more to a "balanced breakfast." I ascribe to Men's Health's "Eat This - Not That" school of thought: when there is a choice, choose the better of all options.
So let's call dessert dessert, Nutella, and stop calling me an idiot. Thanks!