Health Nuts Drive Me Bananas

[Misty]

I am really getting sick of the health nuts that come into the yogurt shop. I'm not talking about people with allergies or other conditions that force them to be selective about what they eat. I'm talking about people who think that everything from red meat to the plastic in milk containers will give you cancer, who refuse to eat anything that isn't nonfat, free range, organic, sugar-free, etc, etc.

Our frozen yogurt is nonfat, all-natural and relatively low in calories, and while that makes it a healthier choice than the Haagen-Daz across the street, it doesn't make it healthy. All of that dairy deliciousness has to come from somewhere, and if it's not coming from fat, it's coming from sugar. Lots of sugar. And when you start adding toppings like chocolate chips and oreos, you might as well be eating a candy bar.

Things these customers want to know about the yogurt:

the exact calorie count of a certain size
which flavor has the most/fewest calories
a complete list of ingredients
if it contains sugar. If so, what type of sugar?

One woman informed us that a mini serving is worth 3 points on the Weight Watchers plan, and that the sort of thing we should know in case our customers asked.

My all-time favorites are the folks who come in asking if we have non-dairy yogurt. Is that even a thing? And if it is, can it still be considered yogurt if it's dairy free? Okay, assuming there is such a thing as non-dairy yogurt, why do these people look so surprised when we tell them we don't have it? Where the heck do they think they are?

We do keep a binder behind the register that lists all of the product information, which has been a real lifesaver. But seriously all of you health fanatics, lighten up! If you're that worried, just stay home and have some nice organic free trade celery.

[fireheart]

My all-time favorites are the folks who come in asking if we have non-dairy yogurt. Is that even a thing? And if it is, can it still be considered yogurt if it's dairy free? Okay, assuming there is such a thing as non-dairy yogurt, why do these people look so surprised when we tell them we don't have it? Where the heck do they think they are?

We do keep a binder behind the register that lists all of the product information, which has been a real lifesaver. But seriously all of you health fanatics, lighten up! If you're that worried, just stay home and have some nice organic free trade celery.

Organic free trade celery does not contain any less calories than normal celery

And there is such a thing as non-dairy yoghurt to some degree. A quick google search reveals coconut milk yoghurt and soy yoghurt.

[MoonCat]

I think they burn more calories trying to find stuff that's no-fat, no-sugar, no-carbs, etc., than they do at the gym.

[KatherineB]

We can get lactose-free yoghurt in Australia which tastes almost exactly the same as the real thing.

[Trixie]

I'd get that all the time when I used to do demos. People would come up and scrutinize the nutrition list of the products and they say they "weren't allowed to have it" because of the diet they were on. I'd just do a mental eye roll hope they moved on quickly cuz there were always plenty of people looking for free samples.

[paxillated]

"...who refuse to eat anything that isn't nonfat, free range, organic, sugar-free, etc, etc."

Which always makes me laugh.

How do they think something becomes non-fat? Does it come from skinny cows? No, some non-natural method is used. And to replace the flavor of all that lovely butterfat - they add sugar! So much for sugar-free.

Free-range means that the huge chicken shed has one little door to the outside. Whoopee. The chickens stay inside, where the food is, duh. (Though it is better than battery egg farms.) And the chickens are still "beaked," which keeps them from pecking each others' eyes out, and from killing the ones at the bottom of the pecking order.

If you want real free-range eggs, you either have to know somebody with a few chickens, or go out on a country road and look for a sign that says "eggs for sale."

Organic food is more expensive because 1) it takes twice as much land to grow the same amount of field crops and 2) the lack of pesticides makes the loss from spoilage much higher.

Yes, I do live in agricultural country, how'd you guess? ;-)

[cashierbex]

My favorite thing is the sugar free. I rather have real sugar than artificial sugars (of course, I gotta worry,too. I'm allergic to thats tuff). Gotta sweeten it somehow, and not many things are made with Stevia or other natural low calorie sugars.

Of course, thats what I think of when food is "sugar free".

[kibbles]

Why would she expect people to know the weight watcher's value of stuff? If she is in the program that's her responsibility..heck 3 points is pretty good better than 17 for a Blizzard

[sylvier]

Our customers run along these lines - asking about the fat and calorie content in our bran mufffins, then deciding they'll have a cinnamon bun

[Scorpodael]

Yes, but are the bananas fair trade free range organic certified raw-food safe Bananas? What kind of sugars are in the bananas? Are they lo-carb?

[Food Lady]

I think it was nice of the Weight Watchers lady to let you know. She was trying to help out other customers. I think her heart was in the right place.

[Merriweather]

I used to think that most people had a fairly good grasp on what's healthy and what isn't (in general, by traditional standards, not by this hour's latest fad or update ). Then I ran across a few examples otherwise in people I knew to be fairly intelligent.

One friend, upon learning she was diabetic, suddenly felt that was justification to totally blow her food budget all out of proportion in order to buy special sugar-free snacks for herself. Not just the odd item so she wouldn't feel left out when others had something, but she was munching non-stop. She soon learned that sugar-free =/= "'all you can eat"

I had another friend who had put some extra weight on, and couldn't understand why she didn't seem to be able to lose it. I pointed out to her that the peanut butter she loved (and would eat by the spoonful) was awfully high in calories - she wouldn't believe it - but nuts are good for you, they have protein, it's healthy. She honestly believed that anything healthy couldn't make you fat. She also would not drink diet sodas, so since she usually had one (maybe two) of those super Big Gulp cokes a day, that may have been another contributing factor I swear I dont' think I've ever known anyone who kept the level of sugar, caffeine & nicotine as that woman did.

[RealUnimportant]

To add mud to the waters, there's the increasing trend for manufacturers of obviously high-fat or high-sugar items to market them as being low in the other item. For example, an item that barely has the thinnest chocolate coating applied to a cakey/biscuity base will be "low fat" because of all the sugar in the base; similarly, a confection made from almost pure sugar is unsurprisingly considered "virtually fat-free".

I wrote a massive rant here but I've deleted it, because it's more suited to fratching.

[RootedPhoenix]

All I can say is if you came in to eat ice cream, eat ice cream. Sure, knowing what the calorie count is is great for telling you how much you're consuming, and that's useful information. But flipping out about how you're eating something unhealthy....puzzles me greatly.

It's ice cream, for crying out loud, not a carrot.

ETA: Read the OP again, and it was frozen yogurt. Still though...it's a dessert, and people still make me confused.

[Kristev]

Either way, forget the 'health' data, enjoy your food and have fun.