More like ‘Fat & Easy’

It was lunchtime and I was hungry. I don’t eat fast food (not when I can help it), and I’m watching my weight. Someone told me about a new grocery store called Fresh & Easy that is opening up all over California. One is in West Covina, off West Covina Parkway, the other is on Foothill Boulevard in Arcadia. They said the store catered to single people looking for small portions. And they had lots of prepared foods.

Inside the WC store, I saw three different prepared salads in front display case, all pre-packaged in clear plastic containers. I was shocked to see all of them were loaded in fat, sodium and cholesterol. I checked out the “kitchen foods” and these were more fat-laden entries, like enchiladas and re-fried beans. I reluctantly bought the “hearty beef salad” and ate it by scarcely dipping into the mayonaisse-filled, full fat dressing. Here is the label code on this product: Total calories: 430; Total fat: 33 g; Saturated fat: 12g; Cholesterol: 230 mg (which is 77 percent of your recommended daily value); sodium: 620 mg. Wow! So much for healthy foods.

Here is what the top of their web site says:
“Hello. It seems obvious. People want fresh and healthy food choices.”

Hello. These are not healthy choices. I’m Weight Watcher trained, being a lifetime member. I know how to read a food label. Seems like the folks at Fresh and Easy don’t, or don’t care. Haven’t they ever heard of fat-free or low-fat salad dressings? They are all over the aisles at Ralph’s and Albertsons. Haven’t these folks picked up the newspaper lately and read about skyrocketing obesity, and heart disease in Americans?

Just because you market with green colors and use words like “fresh” doesn’t mean you are providing healthy food. It galls me to see marketing pretending to be healthy, when its not.
Buyer Beware.

This entry was posted in environment, land use, Pasadena by Steve Scauzillo. Bookmark the permalink.

About Steve Scauzillo

I love journalism. I've been working in journalism for 32 years. I love communicating and now, that includes writing about environment, transportation and the foothill/Puente Hills communities of Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Walnut and Diamond Bar. I write a couple of columns, one on fridays in Opinion and the other, The Green Way, in the main news section. Send me ideas for stories. Or comments. I was opinion page editor for 12 years so I enjoy a good opinion now and then.

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