I follow Tosca Reno on Pinterest. She usually pins recipes from CE bloggers, pics from her photo shoots, weightlifting info, etc. So when the picture above hit my Pinterest feed...I said "WHAT???" loudly ( in my head, of course. )
This was the last straw. I've been slightly irked at CE Magazine for a few months now - slowly but surely, Unclean content has been filtering into the pages. Recipes for desserts, unclean ingredients. Inappropriate ads.
You might not have noticed - I specifically didn't do a "Newsstand Alert" post for the October 2012 issue of Clean Eating Magazine. Why? I was really unhappy with the content - and I didn't renew my subscription to the magazine when it lapsed.
Poor content:
Page 9 - Advertisement for King Arthur Flour. WHY on Earth are they advertising white flour in a magazine where it is much more appropriate to advertise whole wheat flour? A core tenant of CE is removing white flour from your diet. DUH to whoever checks their advertisements.
Page 17 - "Cheers to A Fat Fighter: Red Wine" - Seriously? Alcohol is a CE no-no - regardless if studies show a small amount is good for you. You can get the same heart healthy type benefits from other foods ( raw grapes, for example ) without drinking wine. Wine and alcohol are detrimental to your body's machinery. It's a don't, any way you slice it. Sorry CE Magazine. You muffed up.
Page 33 - Advertisement for Kashi Peanutty Dark Chocolate bars. Another in the "Who the heck is in charge of advertising over there?" questions - The bars shown in the advertisement have over 30 ingredients - MANY of which are forms of sugar.
And the KICKER as far as I am concerened...
Page 42: "Loaded Baked Potato Pizza" recipe - which includes ham as an ingredient. This recipe was developed by Chef Jo, CE Magazine's resident chef. The recipe calls for Deli sliced, all natural ham, chopped - and advises "Try Applegate Farms Natural Slow Cooked Ham."
a ) Processed meats are NOT Clean, regardless of the "all natural" attribute to the label.
.
b) Applegate Farms brand claims the ham isn't cured - but you'll find celery powder in the ingredient list. Why is this important? Meats cured in celery powder are just as loaded with nitrates as meats cured with chemical additives. It's the nitrites that are the bad news, folks - doesn't matter if the source is natural or man made. ( For the record, celery naturally has nitrates. You'd have to eat THOUSANDS of stalks to get the nitrate load you get in one "naturally cured" ham slice. So eat celery without worry. It isn't heated. )
c) Why are nitrates bad for me? The problem with nitrates in ham, bacon, or hot dogs
isn't the nitrate itself, but the carcinogenic nitrosamines that are
created when nitrate and amino acids are heated together, i.e., when the ham ( or bacon ) is cooked. These have been clearly and directly linked with cancers, heart disease, and COPD. During the meat processing, the food is heated to a high temperature to kill bacteria and make it safe to ship. So even if you eat the ham cold or the hot dog straight from the fridge - you are still eating those nitrosamines that resulted from high heat application.
Using ANY processed meat is not Clean, not healthy - and this recipe is NOT Clean. CE Magazine's quality control has gone way WAAAAY down if this made it past the editorial board review.
Page - 74 - Photo for "Fall Weeknight Dinners"shows a family at the dinner table - and Mom and Dad don't have a glass of water in front of them - they both have a glass of red wine. Tsk, Tsk Showing alcohol consumption as an everyday occurrence. Again - alcohol ISN'T Clean. Period. .
And to wrap it up?
Page 98 - Recipe for "Gooey Peanut Butter Brownies" - CE Magazine has somehow lost their path, and more and more dessert recipes are popping up in the magazine. ANYONE who eats Clean on a regular basis will tell you: The more you eat sweets, the more you crave them. And the more you crave them, the harder it will be to avoid processed desserts like candy bars and packaged baked goods. I really don't care the recipe has mainly organic and natural ingredients. It's best for the CE Lifestyle to not eat desserts or sweets. There are so many temptations out there - your brain can't discern a "healthy" brownie from the high test version. It just knows "WANT!" and will scream at you until you buy that candy bar at 7-11 or eat a dessert when you know you shouldn't.
So when I saw the graphic at the top of this post, I got redheaded, boiling irritated at CE Magazine/ Oxygen magazine. Bacon is Clean? Just because it is cured in a jillion pounds of celery powder?
Sorry, Tosca. Color me one very disappointed follower.