Food Renovation

I have a few friends who have done (and currently are doing) an amazing job getting their families to eat healthier.  For some time now, I've been hearing all about the crazy stuff that is getting put into our foods.  It's pretty disgusting when you take a closer look at the food label and notice that the majority of the ingredients is stuff you can't even pronounce, let alone know what it even is.

My one amazingly brilliant friend recommends that if you have to purchase packaged foods to keep it to 5 ingredients or less (if at all possible).  Then there are the tips that you should shop mainly in the perimeter of the grocery store (where all the fresh food lives), only get foods that have whole wheat/grains, and stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Or, any added sugar for that matter. There are so many names given for sugar, it's crazy!

I had a great thing going with Jeff doing all the grocery shopping for close to two years.  I have to tell you, it was really nice coming up with a list and letting him do all the work.  However, I am taking back control and going back to the grocery store.  I want to read every single label and make sure it makes sense for our family to eat.

I am drawing my line in the sand on the following:

• Enriched white flour or any white flour,
• High fructose corn syrup / corn syrup,
• Ridiculous amounts of added sugar,  
• Red 40, Yellow 12

It's not easy, but I am trying.  I freaked out (quietly on the inside) when I looked at the cheese we had in our fridge to make grilled cheese sandwiches and one of the main ingredients listed was "corn syrup".  Also, the applesauce we get the kids had the 2nd ingredient listed at "high fructose corn syrup."   Unfortunately the greek yogurt I absolutely LOVE is no longer allowed in our house -- that had HFCS in it too.  Really.  That sucked the most to me.  Buh-bye favorite yogurt.

It's interesting, Katie Couric did a show on this topic a couple of weeks ago.  I had already started making huge strides in what we are stocking our kitchen with, but her show reinforced the need to take it up a notch and really look at the amount of sugar in our foods.   An interesting example she gave was, you think you are doing the healthy thing by eating your yogurt at breakfast, however, some yogurts are WORSE than 2 glazed donuts.  From the neck down, your body has no idea you didn't eat the donuts.  Such a powerful example.  The other statistic that was mind-blowing is we are raising a generation of kids that will have a shorter life span than their parents.  How scary is that!?!?!?!   Katie was promoting a documentary she was part of called "Fed Up".  I went and saw it last Sunday evening.  It was a mix of being a huge wake-up call and incredibly depressing.  What the food industry is allowed to get away with is disgusting.  I feel like everyone in America should be required to watch this movie.  I challenge anyone to watch this movie and not start looking at food labels with a more discerning eye. 

I know that the kids will be visiting relative's, friend's, and other people's houses throughout their lives -- this is where whatever they have in terms of food at someone else's house is ok with me.  And when we go to restaurants, I am not going to be a stickler for what the kids order.  It's when we are at home, that I want to keep the options healthy and to feel good about it.

We've been doing some stuff right from the get-go; my kids do not drink soda.  They never have.  Yay for me on this one.  And 95% of the time, they don't even drink fruit juice.  It's plain water for them.  It's just the way it is and Ian & Sam are very used to it.  The other night we went to a restaurant for dinner and given any choice on what to order for a drink, all the kids said "water". 

The other thing we've gotten away from is this notion that you have to have dessert after dinner.  Jeff and I were on the same page that if the kids ate well (meaning: did a great job with their vegetables and protein on their plate), we were inclined to let them have something sweet; whether it be a cookie, lollipop, or a bite of their chocolate bar (YES!!  It is still around).  No more!  Now getting a treat after dinner is a more once a week type of thing, not an every day thing.   I am most proud that I stopped putting a cookie in their school lunch and they haven't once asked where it went.  Again, yay for me on this one!

I am only replacing our food with the better alternative as we finish what we already have in the house.  I've already switched out our sandwich bread, yogurt, cheese, crackers, peanut butter and oatmeal.  And, I've gotten rid of cheez-its, goldfish, and plain bagels for good.  Not once have the kids complained or asked what happened to a particular product.  I've been making changes now for a month and it feels awesome to know the kids are eating good-for-you food.

There are so many things that need to be fixed with the food industry -- from RED 40, Yellow 12 (WTH!?!?!  We need to dye our foods to look pretty?  Studies have shown these dyes cause hyperactivity.), to all the added sugar, preservatives (Food shouldn't have an indefinite shelf life!), and hormones.  It's just not right.  I totally get it now why people shop organic.  I even understand the gluten-free craze for those that don't need to follow-it for medical reasons. I mean if you want to stay away from the white or enriched flour, there is no better way to do that then with gluten-free pasta or bread.

I am now gravitating towards Whole Foods for some of our groceries. And I am spending more time in the healthy foods section of Wegman's. It takes time to read all the labels and it takes more money too.  Even when something says "All Natural", I still need to make sure it doesn't have a lot of sugar.  After hearing what these processed foods and added sugar is doing to us, it more than justifies it in my opinion to take the time and extra money to do a better job feeding the family.