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CNN Saturday Morning News

Super Foods with Healing Power; The Slow Food Movement; CNN & Foursquare

Aired October 02, 2010 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, welcome back, everybody.

Top of the hour here now on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. And this time, every single Saturday, we spend this half hour, this 9:00 a.m. Eastern half hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING and we dig a little deeper on an issue that directly affects you. And we've got one that certainly affects you.

We're talking about your food. CNN has been digging deeper on this all week. We have been on a cross-country food journey this week. We have sent our reporting teams all over the place. Our mission was to get you some fresh answers about how our food is grown, how the choices we make impact our health, our state of mind, our budgets as well and also just the pure joy of eating.

We have teamed up with the new CNN.com food destination, Eatocracy.com, to bring you "Eatocracy Mind, Body and Wallet." Let's start here now. Going to the best, super foods, they're called. Foods that are so vital to your well being that you should be eating them every single day. They earn this title by virtue of their rich, nutritional power. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta visits a grocery store for us and walks us through the super food aisle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You've probably seen the lists, the super foods, the 10 foods you should eat every single day. What is it about super foods? What makes them so super? Can they protect you or prevent you in some way from getting sick? Let's take a look, come on.

Hey, Ann.

ANN DUNAWAY TEH, REGISTERED DIETITIAN: Hi, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Thanks so much for meeting us.

TEH: Thank you for having me.

GUPTA: So I see you're hanging out by the fruit, the berries. If you had to pick one out of these here, what would you say is the ideal super food and why? TEH: Blueberries are definitely the ideal super food and it's because of their dark, rich color. And that means it's got a lot more antioxidants in it and it's great for memory, also for eye health and might also help lower bad cholesterol.

GUPTA: OK. So definitely put berries on the list of super foods. Leafy greens is what we talk about all the time. What about leafy greens?

TEH: The dark green color lets you know again it's got a lot of nutrients in it. It's a great source of calcium and fiber.

GUPTA: I mean, there's a lot of foods that are good for you. What makes a food super?

TEH: A super food is what we call a nutrient-dense food, so it's going to do a whole lot more for you with less calories expended.

GUPTA: Can it erase my other bad eating habits?

TEH: Well, if you start replacing some of those bad eating habits with more fruits and vegetables, it can certainly help. But if you're going to be loading it down with other really unhealthy foods, it's probably not the best choice. But at least you've got them on the plate.

GUPTA: Can these foods in some ways act like medicines in the sense that they can decrease inflammation, decrease your cholesterol? Things like that.

TEH: Yes, there are some studies that show some of these foods can do that, but it's also part of our lifestyle that we want to get, as well.

GUPTA: Sweet potatoes, I know are on your list.

TEH: Yes, sweet potatoes are great. The Center for Science in Public Interest called this one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat. And that's because they're so packed with nutrients. Their deep orange color lets you know there's vitamin A in there, which is really great for our eyes, also vitamin E for our skin.

GUPTA: Fish is I know very much on your list.

TEH: The fatty cold-water fish that have the omega 3 fatty acids, which is the good fat that helps fight inflammation. Those are salmon, halibuts, mackerel, tuna, sardines, and herring are all great fish that have a lot of omega 3s in them.

GUPTA: Now, hearing all that super foods, you may think "great, but I don't have a market like this in my backyard." Good point, a lot of people don't. But you can get a lot of these foods frozen and you can even get them canned. And keep in mind, eat those super foods with a healthy diet in general. Every now and then, even get a little bit of exercise. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. I am going to bring this conversation now on the air. I'm sitting here getting into it with this doctor I have sitting next to me right now. Dr. Felicia Wade, physician and author of the book "Heart of the Matter." We are going at it over these super foods. Everybody's curious what they should be eating, what they should be doing. He went through some of those super foods. And you're telling me you should get these into your diet every single day.

DR. FELICIA WADE, AUTHOR "HEART OF THE MATTER": Yes. And you should start today.

HOLMES: OK. What are the easy ones we can get in there?

WADE: Easy ones are fish. Because you need the omega 3 fatty acids, T.J.. You need to protect your heart because the super foods, Dr. Gupta is right, as always. Super foods protect your heart, help prevent cancer, they lower your blood pressure, and they lower cholesterol.

HOLMES: OK. People want to know - this is just a way of life, it sounds like essentially. You should be eating this type of stuff every day. And I was trying to ask you when we were talking while that piece was going on, like when in your life should you start? When can it have a real effect? If you're 40 now and you start doing it for the next five years or is that really going to have the same impact, you know, when should you be doing and how much should you be doing to have that real impact?

WADE: Well, you should start now because, let's face it, the articles are already out that talk about (INAUDIBLE) that children as young as seven can have cardiovascular disease. The articles are already out there. So when I answered the question and I said we should start now, starting today, that was the real answer. So we should start getting omega 3 fatty acids our diets now.

So it's never too late to eat fish. We need to eat fish. We should have some. That's one. We should have walnuts, that's two. So we can do that. We should have spinach for folic acid. We should have oats to help lower our cholesterol.

HOLMES: Where am I supposed to get oats?

WADE: Oatmeal. Come on, T.J..

HOLMES: I was thinking of picking up a bag of oats. Is it just oatmeal? Is that the only thing really you're going to get

WADE: You can have oat bran. You can have oatmeal.

HOLMES: Oat bran. What's oat bran?

WADE: You can go in the grocery store - T.J., do you go to the grocery store very often?

HOLMES: Yes, I go to the meat aisle, and then grab some vegetables, and then I get out of there.

WADE: That's the only area you go. Come on, we're supposed to start at the outside of the store first where the vegetables are.

HOLMES: Well, the beer is on the outside too, you know,

WADE: Oh, my goodness. Do you want to go to the grocery store together?

HOLMES: Maybe we should.

WADE: OK. Let's do that.

HOLMES: Tell me about the real conditions. You can kind of prevent from - serious medical conditions you can try to keep away by eating these foods.

WADE: Absolutely, let's start with number one, cardiovascular disease. Because you know, over 500,000 people die every year of heart disease. We need the omega 3 fatty acids. Walnuts and fish have omega 3 fatty acids. We need to do that. Also, when we talk about folic acid, green, leafy vegetables. We need to be on the outside aisles of the supermarket. We need to be picking up some green, leafy vegetables.

I love spinach. Spinach is easy to buy, it's not expensive, we can put that in the basket, you pop it in the microwave, very easy to cook. OK. Even you can cook that very easily. Exactly. I'm going to get you to eat spinach if it's the last thing I do.

HOLMES: I do like spinach, I absolutely do. But another question I had. And this kind of a personal one but a lot of people always wonder, how much red meat is OK? How much steak is OK in that diet?

WADE: How about one to two times per week.

HOLMES: Per week.

WADE: Depending on what your blood pressure is, what your cholesterol is, what your BMI is, your body mass index, meaning what your height and your weight is, OK. After talking with your doctor, OK. What your colon looks like. Because it's really important. And that's not just a doctor answer. That's a real answer. OK. You can't just have steak every day.

HOLMES: You're making me feel like I'm really at the doctor's office right now. Telling me what I need to be doing. All right. We're not done.

WADE: Don't you just love that?

HOLMES: I do. I need to get to a doctor and this works, I bring the doctor to me. But Dr. Wade we're not done just yet. She's going to be joining us again in a bit. She's going to be talking, of course. Talking about the super foods, talking about fast foods, as well. But you're going to be showing us some stuff and ways to do it and how much this stuff -- people concerned sometimes you eat healthy and it will cost you. But that's not necessarily the case.

WADE: No, we can do it very easily and we can do it very, very cheaply and we can do a new beginning.

HOLMES: A new beginning. OK.

WADE: That's right.

HOLMES: It sounds like I might need one here. All right. We will see you again here in just a bit. We are not done. Stay with us, folks. Quick break, we're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We've been talking a lot about Eatocracy this week, you know, CNN's food journey. And during some of the brainstorming sessions about it, one of our own employees, Shavalerie Thurman said she was frustrated. She told us buying healthy food is difficult because she has two teenage boys who eat nonstop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAVALERIE THURMAN, SINGLE MOTHER: I spend about $250 to $300 every two weeks on groceries. It is a little bit challenging. If I can get things for them but they're healthier and it cuts my bill in half, then that'll be really good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We actually had her go grocery shopping with a nutritionist. She learned how to make healthy food choices and not overspend. A couple of things she learned, maybe just make baked beans instead of that second burger. It's healthier, it's filling, it's cheaper and also buy fresh potatoes instead of frozen French fries. That's an idea.

Shavalerie tells us her family has been keeping up the healthy food shopping and last week actually saved $85. So there you go. America, as we know, just loves some fast food. Probably why something called the slow food movement is increasing in popularity. It encourages people to take the time to savor and enjoy food while also taking into consideration where it comes from and how it's made.

Judith Winfrey from Slow Food Atlanta, joining me here to break this down. Simply tell me what exactly is this movement? Slow food. What does that mean?

JUDITH WINFREY, LEADER OF "SLOW FOOD" ATLANTA: Well, slow food is a movement that began in Italy. It's an international grass roots movement that exists to celebrate and enjoy food. And we do this in three ways.

HOLMES: OK. WINFREY: Also, we ask people to make sure that they have good food. And good food means food that first of all tastes delicious. You should enjoy it when you eat it.

HOLMES: OK.

WINFREY: And second of all, it should be good for you. It should nourish your body. And those two things are not mutually exclusive. A lot of people think they are. But actually food that is delicious can be really good for you. In fact, food that's good for you usually is delicious.

HOLMES: OK. So Slow Food, the movement you speak of sounds like it's a healthy food movement. You can't because there's a lot of delicious stuff I could eat slowly and savor, but it might not fall into that category of slow food because it might not be so good for you. Is that a part of it here, healthy eating?

WINFREY: Well, it is about food that's healthy for you and also food that's healthy for the earth. And that's where the clean part comes in. Food that's clean, doesn't harm the earth. There aren't runoffs from fertilizers that create pollution and the water systems. It's good for the people who are harvesting the food, it's good for the animals that are in the system. It's a holistic approach to food. So we're talking about foods that's good for you, tastes delicious, and it's good for the earth.

HOLMES: OK. Give me some examples of the kind of stuff we're talking about here.

WINFREY: Well, a bowl of locally-grown organic or biodynamic strawberries is an excellent example of slow food. And just sitting down and enjoying.

HOLMES: Why do we call it slow food?

WINFREY: Well, in many ways it is the opposite of fast food. I mean, we're in a consumer culture that has sped everything up so fast and we forget sometimes to just sit down at a table and enjoy food together.

HOLMES: Now, how is this catching on? Because I am - as we were putting this together, of course, I'd heard about the slow food movement. So has it been around a while? Is it growing?

WINFREY: It has been around a while. You know, it began in Italy over 10 years ago. It's a global movement. In fact, they're about to have their international conference in Italy where they bring farmers from all over the world together to talk about food production and why it matters and how these little farmers are saving the world.

HOLMES: OK.

WINFREY: (INAUDIBLE) at a time.

HOLMES: OK. People always have the concern, if I'm eating healthy or if organic is attached to it, that means it's expensive. In some ways, that is the truth, is it not?

WINFREY: Well, that's not necessarily true.

HOLMES: Not necessarily. OK.

WINFREY: And one of the reasons it's not necessarily true is because I think we have a skewed perspective on our values and what we spend money on. If you think about it, food is the only thing you will ever buy that actually becomes a part of you.

HOLMES: OK.

WINFREY: When you eat it, it breaks down and becomes a part of who you are. Now, why would you be willing to spend more money on sneakers or a telephone than something that actually becomes a part of you. And I'm not suggesting that we spend hundreds of dollars on an apple, but I am saying, what are the values here? What do you really value?

And as a farmer, I'm speaking as a farmer, we - I feel like we have a right to earn a living. And to be paid a fair wage for what we grow. And that's another part of the slow food movement is really honoring and valuing the people that are producing food.

HOLMES: You talked about Italy and how with the big conference is coming, as well, are we having enough growth here in the U.S. for this movement, would you say?

WINFREY: I think we are. People who are interested can go to slowfoodusa.org to find out more information.

HOLMES: All right. Dear lady, I learned something.

WINFREY: Thank you.

HOLMES: - this morning.

WINFREY: I hope to see you at a farmers market soon.

HOLMES: You know what? My wife has been trying to get me to a farmers market for quite some time. After this segment, I'm certainly going to be going. Thank you so much, Judith Winfrey from the Slow Food Movement. Also you've been hearing a lot about super foods this morning, as well. Some concern that they come with a super cost, but Dr. Felicia Wade is going to be back after the break to scold me once again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Super foods. You saw that list up there. We were talking about a moment ago. A lot of folks walked down the grocery aisles and you walk right past the healthy stuff. You might have your own reasons. Maybe you just don't like it. But sometimes people are turned off because sometimes it can be a little bit more expensive.

But Dr. Felicia Wade, she's back with me, physician and author of "The Heart of the Matter" telling me about healthy ways to eat that can actually save me money. OK. Let's just deal with this. Because a lot of people hear organic often times and they hear healthier stuff and they believe that means it's going to be a little more expensive. Is that sometimes true, though? People have reason to think that?

WADE: I think if they go to markets where the prices are higher, then that can be true sometimes. But I think if they go to the local supermarkets, it's not always true. You know, and I brought proof.

HOLMES: Oh, you brought the receipt.

WADE: I did the shopping myself, and you can see this says - What does this say?

HOLMES: $12.45 for all this stuff right here?

WADE: For all this stuff right here. And so if you take the same $12 that you would go to a fast food restaurant and you feed a family of four for one meal, you can buy all this.

HOLMES: Where's the meat? Where's the meat?

WADE: T.J., come on. Come on, we're talking about vegetables and super foods. So we're talking about fresh greens, OK, green leafy vegetables, folic acid to prevent birth defects. So this is $1.25. So fresh greens or frozen greens, fresh carrots for the eyes or frozen carrots that has low sodium on it. Fresh apples, golden delicious, Granny Smith, or gala apples. They all taste great. Or you can have a veggie tray. Put it in the refrigerator, your child will love it.

HOLMES: Is there a difference? I mean does it matter if I buy the fresh carrots or the frozen?

WADE: No, it doesn't.

HOLMES: I'm getting the same nutritional value.

WADE: You're getting the same nutritional value.

HOLMES: Do we have to watch out, you said no sodium but sometimes when they put a little something -

WADE: That's why you read the side. So if you read the side of this, what you'll see is that this says what? 60 milligrams of sodium. So this is very low sodium.

HOLMES: That's OK.

WADE: This says two percent of the daily recommended value. This is very good. This is less than 10 percent of what they recommend per day.

HOLMES: Now, if you get the salted stuff, stuff that might have a little more flavor, are you ending up paying more for that stuff? WADE: You generally are. And that's why I say your first step to healthy eating is passing on the salt. That's the very first step. The second step is drinking water. So if you're going to start today and we said you would start today, right -

HOLMES: Did we say that?

WADE: Yes.

HOLMES: OK. Go ahead.

WADE: We would start today because the title of the book is "A New Beginning." the new beginning starts today, right? It's the "Heart of the Matter." A new beginning starts today. So first step is pass on the salt, second is water, then the vegetables, right?

HOLMES: OK. How tricky is it? Don't you have to train - I'm talking about kids here. That's a challenge for parents. Kids on the move, practice after school, need to grab something. All that stuff. But, but, but - how difficult is it once you get a kid to 10 or 12 years old that's been doing this so long. Is it hard to wean them off that cheeseburger and say, "oh, yes, here you go. Take this bag of carrots today."

WADE: OK. And so what you do, we're not saying wean them off anything, we're saying you add, just do one step. You put this in the refrigerator. Kids are about convenience. So if this is what's in the refrigerator with the dip, with the carrots, with the tomatoes and they're ready to go, they will eat this. Kids are about convenience and about choice. So this is what's in the refrigerator, they will take that.

HOLMES: All right. Let's talk about costs. We're wrapping up here. But costs one more time. I know we talked about this is inexpensive, but isn't it tough sometimes when you can get $1.99 cheeseburger or $2.99 for a whole meal kind of thing. That's convenient and inexpensive in these times. It's just a tough battle sometimes for people to try to -

WADE: That's why I did it this way. If you take the same $12, that's one meal for a family of four, this will be three meals for a family of four. You take that same $2.99 per person, that's one meal at your favorite fast food.

HOLMES: You're telling me to cut out the meat from the meals.

WADE: You're trying to get me, T.J..

HOLMES: Dr. Wade. No, really, these are great tips. I know I've been giving you a tough time a little bit. Having a little fun but we get it $12.45 for all these stuff. It makes perfect sense. And that's what we should do. Dr. Wade, thank you so much.

WADE: We've got to go shopping.

HOLMES: We appreciate you. We're going shopping, folks. Stick around here. We're getting rewarded, as well, just for showing up. But you could be running out of time. We're talking about CNN's farmers market Four Square discounts. They expire today. If you're one of those Four Square folks, stick around, please teach me a thing or two. We've got it right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Need desperately for you to help me out here. Derek Dodge, one of our producers here. This Four Square thing. Now, we have the CNN Four Square badge? Am I saying that right?

It's the healthy eater badge.

HOLMES: Healthy eater badge.

DEREK DODGE, CNN PRODUCER: You have to follow Four Square on CNN on foursquare.com/CNN, right?

HOLMES: OK.

DODGE: And then when you go to one of over 6,000 farmers markets and check in, you'll unlock the CNN healthy eater badge.

HOLMES: OK. For the folks who aren't Four Square literate, I'm one of them. When you say check in, what does that mean?

DODGE: So, Four Square is a location-based mobile app that's on your phone. By GPS, it knows where you are. So when you go to a location like a farmers market, you pull up your phone, you check in and then you let your friends know where you are. And you get rewards and incentives based on places you go.

HOLMES: And the reward and incentive for our badge at CNN as well?

Well, we've partnered with over 6,000 farmers markets in the United States. Some participating vendors may choose to give you a reward or a discount if you showed them your badge. I was at Peachtree Road Farmers Market and I got a free thing of honey because I showed the badge.

HOLMES: You got honey.

DODGE: This is the badge. I mean I want you to fall in love with Four Square here.

HOLMES: All right.

DODGE: This is foursquare.com/CNN. To follow us. Here's some of the tips that we left about different farmers markets in the country. And check this out. Over 6,000 farmers markets in the U.S., these are the top three of people who have checked in. Union Square, Ferry Plaza, Pike Place. And get this number, over 8,000 people have unlocked the CNN healthy eater badge.

HOLMES: OK. How do you unlock it, necessarily?

DODGE: Well, it's like if you check in at over five different airports, you unlock the jet setter badge, right? That's what I want to get. You should want to get the farmers market badge. But now, you need to check into two farmers markets.

HOLMES: Two.

DODGE: We've changed it starting today for the next three weeks.

HOLMES: For the next three weeks. So starting right now.

DODGE: Starting right now.

HOLMES: It's a little different. How many folks have we been able to - you said healthy eaters, but are a lot of people getting into Four Square? Now this one kind of came after the Twitter and the Facebook thing, is this going to be the next big thing?

DODGE: Yes, it's definitely the next big thing. I think they have over three million users right now. They've been growing rapidly, especially this year.

HOLMES: How did we find all of these farmers markets? 6,000. How did you do that?

DODGE: The USDA actually has a searchable directory on their web site where you can go in and put in your zip code and find the nearest ones here.

HOLMES: People have to become members of Four Square. So it's as simple signing for Facebook page, a little information and you're good to go?

DODGE: Yep.

HOLMES: All right. He's going to get me squared away.

That's going to be it for us here. Just for this half hour. More CNN SATURDAY MORNING, of course, coming up at the top of the hour. Back with more live news and updates.

But, right now, I'm going to hand it over to "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" line with Poppy Harlow.