Ever wonder whats really inside those chicken nuggets that you love so much? On this weeks Lets Get Real, Erica Wides is here to tell you that its...well, not chicken! Maybe it comes from a chicken, but, hey- what is chicken these days? Is it a bird? A flavor? Or a finger? Tune into this episode to learn more about what goes into so many chicken-esque products these days. Erica also explains why buying a whole chicken from your favorite market (super or not) is essential in connecting food and agriculture in peoples minds. And dont believe the hype about white meat! Learn how foodiness and fat-phobic propaganda has led America to only eat certain parts of a chicken instead of the whole bird. This program has been brought to you by The International Culinary Center. Dark meat poultry is infinitely better for you. It has much higher mineral content, its a better form of protein, it just tastes better for you. The fat content is minimally higher than the white meat, and eat the skin! Chicken fats are really good for you. -- Erica Wides on Lets Get Real

So now that you most certainly have orthorexia nervosa, Erica Wides finally tells you about something thats safe to eat- ketchup! On this episode of Lets Get Real, Erica explains why Americas favorite condiments - ketchup and mustard- are actually good for you. Tune in to hear about the rich history of ketchup, as well as the many alterations that have been made to the condiment over the years. Erica also talks about some new players in the condiment game- salsa and Siracha. Guess what? Theyre safe to eat, too! But ketchup was not completely able to escape the clutches of foodiness. Instant gratification has placed it in plastic bottles and Dip and Squeeze pouches. So even though your ketchup might be in ridiculous containers, its OK to eat a little. The question is, whats left to put it on? This episode has been brought to you by

Its time to get real about butter. Butter has been demonized in America because of its saturated fats. Erica Wides is here to tell you that the trans fats in margarine and vegetable shortening are the real enemies: butters evil twin. Butter is real food, made from agitating milk and cream, while margarine is the result of many factory processes including bleaching and steam cleaning. Tune in to hear about the decline of butter after World War II, and why margarine became the dominant substitute in the United States and Europe. Did you know that margarine doesnt contain the healthy omega-3s and CLAs that are present in butter? Margarine is a product of the heavily subsidized corn and soybean industry in the U.S. Its time to ditch foodiness substitutes, look at our food history, and eat whats real. This episode has been brought to you by White Oak Pastures. Butter was super because it is rich in short and medium chain fatty acids which we really want, and high in vitamins A and E. But- and heres a complexity alert- only if that butter comes from grass-fed cattle. --Erica Wides on Lets Get Real

The end is near on this episode of Lets Get Real. Erica Wides is talking about the apocalypse, and how our entire food system is reliant on the grid. When a blight destroys all of our crops because of a lack of genetic diversity, how are we going to eat fruit snacks or yogurt in a tube? Solar flares, crop failure, and irradiated food are all very possible, if not probable, causes for the end of society as we know it. What to do next? Erica gives some helpful tips on how to survive an apocalypse (hint: eat your next door neighbor). This program has been brought to you by Whole Foods. The point is that even my culinary students who sign up and pay a lot of money to got to school to have me teach them how to be chefs are utterly clueless as to where their food comes from. Its like going to medical school and being shocked that medicine actually has something to do with human bodies. -- Erica Wides on Lets Get Real

In tonights episode - Super Foods Are Super F\*ed Up - I get real about what foodiness has done to super foods; how icons of power foods like olive oil, which is laced with chlorophyll, blueberries, which are toxic with pesticides, soy which give you man-boobs, and sardines which give you mercury poisoning have been knocked off their pedestals by corruption like John Edwards, Lance Armstrong and John Travolta; how finding out that all the foods that separate the soy and sardine-eating us from the 7-11 cupcake eating them can actually be really bad for you is enough to make you reach for those Omega-3 enhanced Oreos and hope for the best; and how to realistically deal with the knowledge that sometimes there are no right choices when it comes to eating real food - which is to make others feel inferior for not knowing. This program was sponsored by Whole Foods Market. The more you know [about food] the more paralyzed you feel. The foods I even I held up as perfect are maybe more like John Edwards and less like Barack Obama. --Erica Wides on Lets Get Real

Eat your veggies! Not veggie powder or veggie juice - but actual earth grown vegetables! Our fearless host Erica Wides encourages listeners to address their food fears and put down the fake organic snacks in favor of real produce. Learn about how you can find pre washed vegetables to make life easier for you and why even the packaged produce is better than foodiness junk. Let Erica guide you through Foodiness Conversion Therapy on Lets Get Real. This program was sponsored by Fairway Market. The fewer words involved, the better the chances are that what youre buying is real food. I would rather see us eating packaged kale from Costco than loaded potato skins from TGI Fridays. --Erica Wides on Lets Get Real

Is knowledge actually power like they used to say in Schoolhouse Rock? This week on Lets Get Real, Erica Wides is taking on the the burden that comes with food knowledge and education. How can you order food at a restaurant when you know that every item on the menu has been tainted by foodiness? Erica explains that this condition, called orthorexia nervosa, is actually one of the best eating disorders to have! And ultimately, wouldnt you rather know what youre putting into your body? You know what they say, Ignorance is bliss...until you get diabetes. This episode has been brought to you by Whole Foods. Is knowledge about the food youre being fed necessarily, actually empowering? I actually think too much knowledge is paralyzing. Knowing too much is making my head hurt and spin and makes me freeze up in a vortex of indecision! -- Erica Wides on Lets Get Real

This week on Lets Get Real, Erica Wides is talking about multivitamins. Remember those Flintstone vitamins you used to take as a child, or that you give to your child? Erica is here to tell you that there is no proof that these vitamins improve your health in any way! Vitamin supplements are ultimate foodiness; taking the nutrients from food and marketing them as something you need separately from food! Tune in to hear about vitamin overdoses, the origin of vitamin supplements after World War II, and how vitamins are branded like candy to todays youth. This program has been brought to you by Edwards. There is no actual proof that taking vitamins does any good at all, and theres a growing body of evidence that they may actually do some harm since youre taking synthetic versions of the actual nutrients out of their natural context. We dont have thousands of years of culture to base our food lives on. -- Erica Wides on Lets Get Real

Everyone knows that fish are a healthy alternative to meat, right? This week on Lets Get Real, Erica Wides talks about some of the common misconceptions about our favorite oily fish, salmon and tuna. Do you know the differences between omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids? And did you know that ALL tuna contains mercury? Tune in to hear some of the healthier fish to eat instead of farmed salmon and tuna, the dangers of escaped farmed fish, and why smaller fish are inevitably better for you. Tune in to Erica and escape from foodiness. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch. The Eastern or the Atlantic Salmon hasnt been eaten in any great amounts in 100 years. Tuna arent like potato chips, you cant make more of them. Once theyre gone, theyre gone! -- Erica Wides on Lets Get Real

This week on Lets Get Real, Erica Wides talks about the most important meal of the day - breakfast. Specifically, Erica gets real about breakfast cereals, and the expanding waist line of the average American. Erica discusses the origins of foodiness and the anti-carnal propaganda of Kelloggs cereals. Ever wonder how your grandparents stayed so fit eating eggs, bacon, and fatty foods for breakfast? Or why you crash after eating sugary cereals? All this and more in this weeks Lets Get Real. This episode has been brought to you by Edwards. We expend so few calories a day because everything is done for us! During the industrial revolution, people stopped physically working and started physically expanding. --Erica Wides on Lets Get Real