food

Last week, I shared a bit of background of what I’ve been reading and why we’re rethinking some of the foods we have in our house and the baby-steps we are taking to change.

First, we’ve made the switch to full-fat milk, organic dairy products. And we’ve also been eliminating two more things from our diets in step two:

Food Dyes

Why did I pick food dyes? Well, from what I’ve read, they not only have they been linked to long-term health problems, but these chemicals often have immediate and devastating effects on children’s behavior and ability to learn. (Now my kids don’t seem to have reactions to food dyes, but I have many friends whose kids have insane reactions to dye.) What really sealed the deal for me was that in Europe foods containing artificial food dyes require warning labels on them that tell parents of these risks to children. WARNING LABELS.

And, well, frankly – the dyes are generally in food that probably isn’t really all that healthy anyway, so this has been an easy change to make. Two great reads:
The Color of Trouble on Spoonfed
Food Dyes’ Favor Fades as Possible Links to Hyperactivity Emerge in the Washington Post.

HFCS

Now, a somewhat controverisal issue, High Fructose Corn Syrup. AKA “corn sugar.” That’s right, it’s no longer “high fructose corn syrup,” but “corn sugar”— that the corn industry hopes will subtly convince you that “sugar” and “corn sugar” are interchangeable ingredients. Wrong.

It’s argued that HFCS is fundamentally identical to sugar with similar amounts of glucose and fructose. But scientists have expressed doubt over this argument, citing a Princeton University study in which lab rats became obese drinking HFCS (which has a higher proportion of fructose than glucose) while other rats that drank an equal amount of sucrose (which has a 50-50 proportion of fructose and glucose) remained at a normal weight.

Here’s the thing about HFCS, regardless of whether it has any independent association with weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc:  this ingredient is essentially (to borrow a term from Michael Pollan) a “food item” — something that looks like food, something that companies want us to think is food, but which is in fact a creation of science. Corn sugar is not found anywhere in corn. It is made in a lab, where they must change the molecular structure of the corn.

The article A Sweetener With a Bad Rap in the New York Times give a good two-sided version of the story, basically while the charts seem to really link the huge rise in obesity and diabetes to the introduction of HFCS, its not technically proven.

What concerns me most about HFCS is that it is everywhere, in so much that we eat. And not just sugary drinks or candy – because not only is HFCS is cheaper than sugar, but it’s also a preservative and stabiliser in food products to enhance and prolong their shelf life on grocery store shelves. Its in that whole wheat bread you’re buying because its healthier. Its in tomato sauce, ketchup, crackers, salad dressing, soup,  juice… even things we don’t think of like pretzels and chips!

And I have to add – its not just HFCS. We are all getting too much sugar – in any form – so reducing our sugar intake in general is important. So, I’m trying to look for products that use pure cane sugar—or better — that have no sugar at all.   I’m especially looking to cut HFCS from things that do not need extra sweetening, like bread, salad dressing, crackers, etc. And I’ve been pleased that it has not been nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

How I’m doing this:

I went to the grocery store – by myself  – one afternoon and took the time to read the labels of the products we buy. There are 10 varieties of ketchup and my kids LOVE ketchup – and I found that  Heinz now makes a Simply Heinz Ketchup that tastes exactly the same, but has all natural ingredients – no HFCS. (Their organic variety is the same.) So now, that’s the ketchup I buy. Easy!
There was very little we had to actually give up (‘fruit snacks’, being one) – we mainly just changed a few brands and my kids barely noticed.

For example, My kids favorite snacks are:
1. fruit (obviously no dyes or HFCS there)
2. Goldfish Crackers (sticking to regular varieties or whole grains. Avoid the the colored version, as they have food dyes.)
3. Pretzels (finding ones with simple ingredient lists. While Rold Gold Pretzel Sticks have HFCS, Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzel Sticks have no sugar at all and only 7 ingredients, all of which I can pronounce.)

So they still have their 3 favorite snacks, just healthier versions.

So far the dairy switch and the food dye and HFCS switches have been relatively painless. Our grocery bill has gone up a bit as we added organic yogurt and cheese to the milk we were already buying and I’ve been buying more produce, but its been manageable.

I’ll keep you posted on our next baby step!

(This was originally the longest post in the history of blogging, so I'm breaking it up. You're welcome.)

I've been thinking alot lately about what our family eats. I started by watching the documentary Food, Inc. It was quite interesting to learn about the business of food and the food industry – which, like most industries, is driven by profits not necessarily what is best for their customer -  but I wanted more facts. So then I read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (both of whom were interviewed for Food Inc). 

Then I watched this video by Robyn O'Brian, author of The Unhealthy Truth. (If you read or click on one thing in this post, click that. Please.) And today I had the pleasure of meeting Robyn and talking with her at a lunch sponsored by Stonyfield.

Its been a lot to process. And frankly, I'm more than a little overwhelmed. It is so much information and very little of it is good. But I was so encouraged by Robyn today, as she shared that she follows the 80/20 rule. Try to eat the best you can 80% of the time and focus on progress, not perfection.

Love it. We're taking some baby steps here in our house.  We've only done a couple things, but we're slowly making some changes and  I thought I'd share what they are and why. I started by focusing on things we consume the most of every day.

First up: Milk and Dairy

We've been drinking organic, pasteurized whole milk in our house. This isn't new, we've been drinking organic milk since my children were born. But I've expanded this to include all dairy. We consume a ton of dairy products in our household, and since I've been committed to organic milk already, this wasn't a huge jump for us.

We drink/eat organic dairy because dairy products account for a reported 60 to 70 percent of the estrogens we consume through our food. If that seems like a shockingly large number, it’s mainly because milk naturally contains hormones passed along from cows. Milk that's labeled as organic has to come from cows that weren't treated with BGH – a growth factor that conventional milk producers use to increase milk production. BGH may be converted in the body to a hormone called IGF-1 which experts believe increases the risk of certain types of cancer – especially breast and prostate. Robyn just wrote a terrific article called Raging Hormones about hormones in milk. Hormones in milk have also been linked to early puberty in little girls.
Hormones are not the only issue: antibiotics are found in dairy as well. The cows – who are sick due to their unnatural-corn diet and the hormones – are injected with massive doses of antibiotics, which the USDA says may lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in people. Plus, "Many doctors believe that too many antibiotics at too early an age is part of the reason that kids are more likely to be allergic: their immune systems aren’t being given the “microbial environment” that they require" according to Raging Hormones.

We drink whole milk because I’ve learned is that when they take the fat out of dairy, they have to use additives – including powdered milk – to preserve the original body and texture.  Plus, your body needs the fat in whole milk to be able to absorb fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K.

We drink pasteurized milk because while pasteurization kills harmful bacterias such as E. coli, it also destroys vitamins and healthy enzymes and bacterias. Many organic milks are actually ultra-pasteurized, which involves heating the milk to extremely high temperatures to extend the shelf-life  – and it pretty much destroys anything beneficial in the milk. Jo-Lynne has a wonderful post on the different types of pasteurization. When I can, I buy from a local dairy that offers minimally pasteurized milk.

If organic is too pricey, at least pick up milk that’s labeled rBGH-free, rBST-free. 

I'll stop here since most of you have probably stopped reading already. But there's more to come!

disclosure: i am NOT an expert on this in any way. this is just a few things i found and how i processed it. but the people in those books are, so read for yourself. i attended a lunch today sponsored by stonyfield – i was not compensated, but i did receive a gift bag. with coupons for free organic yogurt! score!