Throw in a real banana and it's "healthy"

[smeep]

I work at a specialty food store and we have these new things that are basically bananas covered in chocolate. Because they don't have artificial ingredients, the box says "HEALTHY!" on the front. But with 14 grams of sugar, really?! It makes me want to sharpie over that on every box.

Soooo irritating. Sure, it's not as bad as an ice cream cone filled with chemicals and even more sugar all from high-fructose corn syrup but STILL! I can't stand how people think chemical-free or organic equals healthy. Sugar content is the FIRST thing I look for.

[StrawberryFields]

Does it contain a whole banana? Because a whole banana has about 12, 14 grams of sugar or so. And I consider a banana to be a healthy snack so I guess depending on how much of the food is banana vs other ingredients, it doesn't sound too bad IMO.

[Oh the Irony]

ah, but is it dark chocolate?

[La Sombra]

Ah, well yes, food labeling is notoriously pernicious but I very much tend toward a kind of common-sense, traditional-foods based nutrition so that if eaten as part of a balanced diet, the sugars found in natural, raw fruits (such as the chocolate-covered banana--yum!) are NOT inherently bad just because they have sugar in them. In other words, no food is simply the sum of its parts and all healthy natural foods have certain components that, when taken out of the context of the whole food in which they appear, sound bad. But in fact they aren't, at least not necessarily.

For someone who puts it more articulately than I have, read Michael Pollan (especially, in this case, In Defense of Food) as well as Marian Nestle and many others!

[sunnmama]

Yup, a fresh banana can easily have 14 grams of sugar. An apple can, too. Simply having 14 grams of sugar doesn't equal unhealthy. Our bodies need sugars! Now, empty sugars are another thing....

[vermontmomma]

as long as it's dark chocolate then it's a lie i'm happy to tell myself.

[LisainCalifornia]

Actually, that does sound pretty healthy to me. Chocolate is healthy in it's own way, and I love eating bananas--which are high in sugar.

Not healthy? Try a Hostess Twinky with everything is refined and filled with chemicals you can't pronounce.

Banana+chocolate=healthy enough for me.

[Ellp]

Yeah I'd say a chocolate covered (thin layer, not gooped on) banana is fairly healthy.

Talk about Twinkies? There was a newspaper article a few years ago here that talked about DEEP FRIED TWINKIES SPRINKLED WITH ICING SUGAR AND WHIPPED CREAM. One serving of those puppies sets you back 880+ calories.

(That said, I still want to try a bite...)

[smeep]

You guys are right! I didn't even think that it could be taking into consideration the fruit sugars...duh! Hmm, I wonder how much is banana and how much is chocolate sugar. Thanks.

It still irks me with all the rest that don't have a whole banana to account for the vast majority of the sugar.

[tanyam926]

Sounds yummy!

When we are out I let my kids pick a treat from what I deem the more acceptable ones, like caramel apples or choc covered bananas. We don't have good and bad foods in our house, just growing foods and sometimes foods. We esp love chocolate and if we can get dark choc w/some fruit, totally yummy!