All I Wanted Was A Tuna On Wheat

[DonRedwood]

For those of you who read my posts you probably (maybe?) might know I had a heart attach this summer. Since then I've been pretty crazy and militant about calories and cholesterol. I've dropped 30 lbs and my cholesterol at my last test was 77. (yeah, just 77...no 1 in front of that). So I read every label and I'm eating very little meat.

But every once in a while it feels like my whole body is screaming out for (I'm sorry PETA members) meat. It isn't all the time, every couple of weeks or so-maybe once a month, but I just suddenly feel this deep, intense need to eat some tasty critter or other. Today I suddenly felt starving and my energy was dropping. The veggie sandwich I was going to eat wasn't going to cut it.

So I jumped in the car, zipped down to Safeway, and got a tuna on whole wheat at their deli. My mouth was watering. It sounded so delicious (and full of that verbotten mayo!! yuuuummmmm!!!!) Tuna on whole wheat. I could hardly wait. This was a huge calorie splurge for me and I was so hungry for something substantial. She wrapped it up and handed it to me. It felt heavy and delicious. I could hardly wait. When I looked at the sticker on my sandwich it had the ingredients printed out. Tuna, whole wheat. YUM! Tuna and healthy whole wheat.

Ingredients: wheat flour, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, ribovlavin, folic acid, water, sugar yeast, soybean oil, potato granules, salt, oatem, calcium culfate, guar gum, ammonium sulfate, monoglycerides, ascorbic acid, enzymes, hydrolyzed wheat gluten, tuna fish, (white tuna, tongol tuna, water, vegetable broth, , soy, salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate,) soybean oil egg yolks, vinegar, corn syrup, spice, calcium disodium edta, celery, salad dressing, soybean oil, water,corn syrup, bengar, egg yolk, modified corn starch , sugar salt spice, lemon juice, oleoresin, paprika, onion, dill pickle: cured cucumbers water vinegar salk, moadifed tapiaoca starch, xanthan gum, sodium benzonite flavoring, polysorbate 80, calcium chloryde, turmeric, alum, natural flavorings, vinegar,potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate, modified corn starch, glucono delta lactone, xanthan gum, spice, soybean oil, egg yolk, , whole egg, distilled vinegar, sugar salt, lemon jice concentrate, calcium disodium, natural flavors, paprika, tomatoes, ffresh pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt enzymes, annattolia lettuce, red onion, cucumbers, alum, calsium chlride poassium sorbate, polysorbate 80, yellow 5, blue 1.

Sigh... I just wanted tuna on wheat. I ended up with someone's science project. Tasted crappy. I threw it away. The commercial food industry as has stopped serving food. They are serving us science.

[marybourg]

1. Dare I suggest 1) that you not

eat so ascetically that you develop cravings? All things in moderation is still good advice and 2) that you buy a loaf of whole wheat bread (Orowheat is OK) and a coupla cans of tuna in water (Trader Joe's is good if you can get it), add 1 Tb extra virgin olive oil and 1 Tb mayo, mash and enjoy. (every week or two). Buying sandwiches at the supermarket is not the same as eating real food.

[DonRedwood]

5. I was at work and only had a few minutes so that was the option I grabbed

And I promise I'm being healthy. I actually have a nutritionist and am almost always full and happy. Just every once in a while I start thinking about meat...nothing else will do. I guess technically that is a craving but I figure I'm just not cut out to be a full-on veggie-terian.

[Matariki]

36. Can't you discuss the meat cravings w/ your nutritionist?

My naturopath recommends small amounts of lean meat in my diet. There's a reason you get that craving and it's not just nostalgia.

[DonRedwood]

7. PS Trader Joe's tuna is to die for (with vegan mayo, onions, mmmmmmm)

[Puregonzo1188]

37. I recently started getting the Trader Joe's tuna in olive oil.

Best ever.

[Warpy]

2. Most of the ingredients in the bread were added vitamins

Guar and xanthan gums make up for the reduced gluten in whole grain flours and are used extensively as stabilizers in things like mayo, to prevent them from separating as they sit on a shelf.

Other than the food coloring, which is totally unnecessary, I don't find much that's objectionable in your sandwich. If you'd bought a can of tuna , loaf of "wheat" bread and a bottle of mayo and made the salad yourself, you'd be getting much the same stuff.

The one ingredient I do object to is the "cured cucumbers." I hate pickles in tuna salad with a purple and undying passion, probably because that's what they do in the south and I hated living in the south. It's celery, people, not pickles.

The only way to avoid chemistry is to avoid all processed food, including mayo (one of the truly great convenience foods), buying your tuna at the fish counter, eggs, olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, and baking your own bread out of flour, water, yeast and salt. The vitamins will still be in white flour, though, it's the law.

[DonRedwood]

11. Dave's Killer Bread. We have an amazing bread company in the NW

spendy bread, but worth every penny/calorie!

I like onion, a SMALL amount of pickles AND celery. Another crazy trick is, if you're using white bread, break up a piece of bread and mix it in the tuna...the bread absorbs all the fish water but stays kinda fluffy... it's a new york deli trick someone taught me...tuna goes farther, no wetness, no change of flavor, YUM!

[KT2000]

19. do you get Dave's Killer at Costco?

they have it - 2 loaves for $6.99
the green one and I think the blue one.
They also carry the Sin Dawg sometimes but that might not be OK for your diet.

[Warpy]

29. I've done that one, too, especially

when I've been poor and had to buy the flaked tuna, AKA fish flavored sponge. The bread does a great deal of good when it comes to sopping up the excess so it isn't tuna and veg floating in greasy white water the next day.

I just liked my own bread better than anything commercial, although Pepperidge Farm toasting white came close in the bad old days.

[Trailrider1951]

17. LOL, sorry, Warpy, but while I love you dearly and your posts as well

Dill pickles and, God forgive me, sliced green olives absolutely belong in Tuna Salad, along with celery and whatever veg you want to add. It's all good! Damn, I'm hungry!

[Warpy]

28. Then I'll pass up a dinner invitation

at your house. Nothing personal.

[shireen]

25. LOL! Just had to chuckle about this ...

I hate pickles in tuna salad with a purple and undying passion

When Pres. Obama first ran for president, early in the campaign, there was a news feature of him at home with the family in Chicago making tuna salad for sandwiches. He added pickles to the tuna salad, and I thought, what a way to ruin tuna salad!

[Warpy]

27. Yeah, who knew he was a pervert?

[Aerows]

43. Mmmmm....

Sweet pickles in my tuna fish sandwiches . Sometimes I even dice up Bread and Butter pickles. I don't ever put eggs in my tuna fish, and I like mine with some sharp cheddar cheese.

Southern? Probably, but then so am I.

[louis-t]

3. I guess if you have to put 10 things in it to preserve it...

3 more things to color it, several vitamins back in to counteract the amount of time it sat around on a shelf, natural and artificial sweeteners to keep it from tasting like goat droppings, thickeners to keep it from soaking the bread, etc. etc. etc. Just go to Subway. You can get baby spinach, green peppers, tomato, black olives, with a little black pepper. Maybe a little provolone cheese. Ok, now I'm getting hungry. I've got half a sub left.

[DonRedwood]

6. Usually, on my way to work, i stop and grab:

6" honey oat wheat, all veggies (except hot peps) avacado, mustard, vinegar salt and pepper. I have that almost every single lunch. (but no meat, no cheese)

[Honeycombe8]

14. Where do you get that? And...is there a reason you don't make it yourself?

I mean, it'd be a lot cheaper.

[stopwastingmymoney]

22. Sounds like Subway

[Honeycombe8]

39. It sounds good. I might stop in there & pick one of those up for lunch sometimes.

I don't normally do sandwiches....too much bread. But occasionally it'd be fine, and a veggie honey oat sounds pretty good.

[pinboy3niner]

4. "Sigh... I just wanted tuna on wheat. I ended up with someone's science project."

A description of the problem that is both eloquent and entertaining.

[DonRedwood]

9. I've tried to simplify everything...

so it was disturbing to see you just can't let your guard down for a minute!

But thank you, I kind of liked that line myself.

[pinto]

8. Here's a quickie I keep on hand at home -

Canned chunk albacore in water.
Olive oil.
Celery.
Onion.
Garlic.
Black pepper.
Any other spice that fits your taste.

Wheat bread.
Romaine lettuce.

Everything blended or chopped and spread on bread with some extra olive oil and the Romaine makes a great, quick full sandwich.

(added) If I have avocados on hand, I slice one up. Really fills out the sandwich.

Take care.

[handmade34]

10. your post makes me smile...

I have changed my diet drastically and experience the same as you... every once in awhile I just WANT some old style comfort food... can't tell you the number of times I have experienced just what you did... see something in the store and end up throwing it out because I realize it just isn't "food" (my craving has been tuna melt lately)... I have cut out all bread (except for the rare tuna melt) and feel that even what most call "whole wheat" is hyper processed.

I feel the same way when I walk through the grocery store and note that 90% of the stuff there is overly processed.

yup all science project lately; not nature

"The End of Overeating" by David Kessler is a good book describing how food processors are denaturing our food

[Jane Austin]

12. I'm sorry you weren't in Austin

when this tuna attack occurred.

Thundercloud Subs tuna on whole wheat with provolone is incredible.

I get an attack for these every now and then and can't be dissuaded.

[Honeycombe8]

13. You did not get (or order) a tuna on wheat. You got a tuna SALAD on generic bread

that has some wheat in it.

Those ingredients you're reading are for all the stuff to make that salad...relish, mustard, mayo, celery, whatever else they put in that.

Next time, may I suggest:

Go the store and buy a loaf of real whole wheat bread (1st ingredient listed should be WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR). It's pricey, but bread isn't a pricey item, even for the pricey ones.

Buy a can of tuna in water. (Ingredients on label: tuna, water)

And there you have the makings of a real tuna on whole wheat. Add your own mayo or whatever.

If you WANT tuna salad, as opposed to real tuna, then that's when you get all those chemical ingredients...from the relish and stuff.

I prefer tuna over tuna salad, myself. Melt some cheese on it, and you've got a tuna melt. Yum.

Despite your efforts to be BAD...tuna is actually good for you. So you seem completely converted to a healthy lifestyle. I'm going to check into doing that, myself. You set a good example, Don!

[Silent3]

15. Did it really taste so bad, or did you psyche yourself into imagining...

...that you were sticking a toxic waste dump into your mouth, and ruined the taste in your mind?

Even if you think every ingredient with more than two syllables is vile poison, there are plenty of people who eat stuff with ingredient lists like the one you posted multiple times per day, day after day, and average life span is still in the 70s-80s for people who largely eat that way.

If you only indulge once every few weeks in the kind of food many people eat regularly, do you really think your precious Temple of Bodily Purity will be destroyed?

BTW: I've lost 57 lbs in the past few months, I've been getting a lot of good exercise, my cholesterol is 133 (more than low enough, good HDL/LDL ratio), and all I really needed to do was employ some portion control, eat more veggies, cut out a lot of fried food, eat smaller portions of leaner meats, more whole grains, a little less fat but healthier fats, fewer snacks and deserts... that sort of thing.

I feel great, energetic, my blood work shows I'm very healthy, especially for having just turned 50... and I didn't need to make all-natural/organic/unprocessed a religion.

PS: Do you realize that all food is made out of chemicals, and that many chemical names for naturally-occurring food chemicals are far longer and more difficult to pronounce than many artificially-produced chemicals?

[PavePusher]

16. Wait, wait...!!!! Food is made of....

CHEMICALS!!!1!11!

O.K., please resume your panic.

[MrMickeysMom]

18. Come on... do this for yourself....

Can of drained tuna (in spring water)
Mayo (enough to make it stick together)
sweet relish 1/4 cup
minced onion 1/2 cup
minced celery 1/2 cup
a few grinds of whole pepper
Romaine lettuce

Good bread.

You'll have a great time!

[yewberry]

20. Hey, just to throw it out there--

If this isn't welcome, I apologize. But if you ever want to talk about what foods might help keep those cravings down, please feel welcome to post in the V/V/A/R group: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1131

Most of the folks there have been around long enough to know that preaching isn't helpful so questions are usually answered without a lot of judgment.

I know that diets like the Ornish plan can feel incredibly restrictive but the results can be remarkable. If you ever want tips for veg*n replacements just come on down.

(You can make a 'tuna' sandwich out of garbanzo beans-- my friends find it completely hilarious, but it's actually pretty good. High protein, dense, high fiber, low fat-- all good things. Yes, I know it sounds weird.)

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. I realize you have an RD

So go back and ask your RD. But one thing I would advise, to avoid the cravings, are 4 oz of grilled lean protein, can do 6 with fish and salmon is particularly good.

4 oz is literally the size of your palm, with the thickness of your hand.

Here we eat lean steak every so often. I buy one, and it's enough to feed two adults and two conures. It goes well with veggies and rice, or potatoes or quinoa.

We even eat cheese from time to time.

As to the mayo, a little should be allowed, and are you a member f the 10k step club yet?

Good luck, lost fifty pounds, I know it's work, going on year five keeping it off.

[diane in sf]

23. Make your own tuna salad with organic mayo and toss the bread. Enjoy!

[TahitiNut]

24. When I have that feeling (and I DO), I go for sushi.

Believe me, I can actually feel the change in my well-being ... as though the essential fatty acids and nutrients are healing my nervous system and every axon in it.

Sushi. Yum!

[FarCenter]

26. I thought ingredients were listed in order by weight?

[MADem]

30. Go buy some nice "artisan" bread.

Go buy some tuna in water.

Squeeze out the water.

Chop up a little onion and celery.

Grab some nice mayo, not too much, just enough--the kind made with olive oil is very tasty.

Mix these things up, get some nice organic lettuce, slap that and the tuna/mayo/onion/celery mixture on the bread.

You'll have much fewer ingredients and the thing will taste better, too.

Oh, don't spare the pepper mill--always makes stuff better, that, IMO!

Yeah, it's more work--but the upside is, you have a better idea what you are eating if you make it yourself. It also tastes good--not like partially hydrogenated poops on shingles!

[mysuzuki2]

31. Just a suggestion - making bread is VERY easy.

You can get while wheat flour at Whole Foods so you know what's in it for not that mucch money. You can make a few loaves of dough and freeze them. You'll get good bread for not much work and a lot less money than buying it.

[kestrel91316]

32. Trader Joe's bread, or Whole Foods' if you have it, or

Von's/Pavilions - they all have good "natural" or organic breads.

Tuna is fine but more oftent han not now I indulge in canned salmon made into salad with celery and a tiny bit of mayo.

If you're really a purist you can bake your own bread and make your own mayo. I've been known to do that.

[xfundy]

33. Store "bakeries" and delis I've tried suck.

I no longer can stomach tuna salad sandwiches unless I make them myself.

Incidentally, I read awhile back that the tuna sandwiches at subway are WAY higher in fat and calories than most of their offerings.

[reusrename]

34. monocrystalline cellulose

The main ingredient for Pudding Pops.

[bluestate10]

35. If you have that urge again, go to your local Sub shop, or Quiznos. You will get a better

sandwich. I would not ever buy a sandwich from a grocery store, even the very good one that I use.

[jeff47]

45. Actually, you'll get the same sandwich.

Most of those ingredients aren't all that controversial. It's vitamin-fortified bread. Guess what sub shops and Quiznos use for their bread?

[Egalitarian Thug]

38. K&R&LOL. I know just what you're saying. The very last time I ever ate at an IHOP

was about 8 years ago, I ordered a simple breakfast. Two eggs scrambled, hashed browns, toast & jelly, and when it came, I realized that there was not one thing on my plate that as real food.

Never been back, and hardly ever eat out anymore as more and more, I find that I am expected to pay high prices for chemical slop that I wouldn't feed to my animals.

[Honeycombe8]

40. What is your diet, to get low cholesterol and such?

You mentioned not eating meat. I eat poultry and fish - no other meat. My cholesterol is about 157.

Do you eat dairy?

Do you eat processed foods, or are you sticking with low chemicals, low processing, no processing?

Are you exercising, walking or whatever?

[a kennedy]

41. I know, my husband has said for a long, long time, nothing tastes the same.....

Those little baby carrots??? Taste like cardboard now....ugh....I'm starting to agree with ya DonRedwood.

[TwilightGardener]

42. I just want to say...

that pickles (relish) and tuna don't belong in the same universe together. I use mayo, lemon juice, minced onion, dill (the herb, not the pickle), and maybe celery for crunch (though I skip it). Anything else is an abomination. Carry on with your discussions.

[jeff47]

44. You might want to find out what those ingredients are first before getting upset.

Ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, ribovlavin, folic acid, calcium culfate, and calcium chloryde are all vitamins. We fortify commercial bread in this country with vitamins to prevent malnutrition, especially among the poor.

Most of the rest of the chemicals are straightforward stuff you'd put in bread baked at home - or you'd use something similar. For example it doesn't matter if the fat is soybean oil or some other oil when it comes to making the bread.

The only vaguely science-y stuff are the gums and polysorbate 80 (emulsifiers), the various preservatives (potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate), and the artificial colors (last two ingredients).

If you bake the bread at home, you'd probably replace the gums and polysorbate with other emulsifiers (such as eggs), and you'd skip the colors and preservatives (which are tasteless so they aren't the reason for the bad taste).

[DonRedwood]

46. I know they're not gonna kill me.... just wanted simpler food.

This tuna had been processed so much that it had the consistency of ground up wet paper towels and hardly any tuna taste. I just think they had added so much to the mix (breadcrumbs being one of the ingredients) that there was hardly any meat.

Tuna paste would be a pretty good description. Tuna and paper towel paste, even better.

[jeff47]

47. So the problem was one ingredient, but you're railing against the entire ingredient list?

Take out the breadcrumbs and the tuna would be far more tuna-y. So what's wrong with all the other ingredients?