I’ve been working on cleaning out my pantry lately, banishing high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, growth hormones in our milk and our meat, artificial sweeteners, and now trying to buy organic as much as possible.
It’s heart stopping to realize how much of the food I’ve been buying has been full of chemicals, and far more sugar than I imagined.
I’ve always been pretty good at reading labels for calories, fat and fiber, but beyond that I haven’t paid nearly as much attention as I should. The recent news about mercury in HFCS was my ‘a-ha’ moment.
Now I read the whole label, and every single ingredient on it. The only drawback to that is it takes me forever to do my groceries! But I assume there is a learning curve and eventually I’ve have a better idea what’s good and what’s not.
The best part about this whole thing is how cool my husband and my kid have been about the changes. I thought they would fight me for some of their favorite things, but so far they’ve been very receptive to their new food options.
The one thing I was most anxious about was my boy’s beloved granola bars. Since he’s still in Kindergarten he just takes a small snack with him and bars are easy for us both on the days we’re in a hurry. Nutri-Grain cereal bars and Quaker Chewy granola bars have been at the top of his list. No more. These items that are marketed as healthy are just the opposite.
The first day I shopped organic I hesitantly brought home Z Bars (the kids version of Clif Bars) and put them in the cupboard. Not long after, my son went looking for a snack and I heard him exclaim, “You bought Z Bars! I love Z Bars!”
Huh? Well, apparently he’d had them at a friend’s house before. So much for me worrying that he wouldn’t like them!
Since then he’s tried all kinds of new things and has liked all of them. And btw, he’s told me that Trader Joe’s cereal bars taste exactly like Nutri-Grain cereal bars. He also loves Archer Farms (a Target brand) organic fruit strips as much as he ever liked Fruit Roll Ups. I’m so impressed with this kid’s adaptability!
I’m hoping to discover more great products as I delve into the world of organics. Any suggestions?
Have you gone organic? Have you thought about it but haven’t done it yet? I’ve been a little overwhelmed by it, but I’m learning!
What did you think about the revelation of mercury contamination in commercial high fructose corn syrup?
by Annette K.
Photo graciously provided by the author, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
Recent Posts By Annette K.
- Teach Your Children Well, If You Can!
- Birthday Party Disappointment
- Changes: Enriched Flour vs. Whole Grain Flour
- Changes: Eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup
(and other evils) - Working At Home: Occupying the Boy
8 responses so far ↓
slouching mom // Feb 16, 2009 at 4:58 am
We love the Archer Farm fruit strips!
STL Mom // Feb 16, 2009 at 5:50 am
I cut most of the corn syrup out of our diet after reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. I know what you mean about reading the labels, but once you find brands that work for you, it gets easier.
I also started making some things that I used to buy. If you go to allrecipes.com and search for “playgroup granola bars” you’ll find a great, easy recipe. Now that I’m used to it, I can mix it up in 10 minutes and it cooks in about 20, so in half an hour you get a whole pan of nutritious, delicious granola bars.
If you want, I’ll also give you a quick, healthy mac & cheese recipe!
Chris // Feb 16, 2009 at 7:21 am
Not to scare you, but some CLIF bars because of the peanut-salmonella thing. The less you can rely on the industrial food system, which even the organic producers are part of (most of them are now owned by Coca-Cola, General Mills, etc.), the less label reading you have to do. I like Michael Pollan’s suggestion: if it has more than five ingredients and they’re not ingredients you have in your pantry, don’t buy it.
Another alternative to commercial snack bars is homemade fruit & nut balls (or bars, but they’re easier and more fun to make into balls). These are basically Lara bars–raw, vegan, and yummy! Here’s a recipe that I use as a basis for all sorts of different flavored snacks:
You can swap another dried fruit for the cherries or a different nut for the walnuts. We’ve done crystallized ginger and pistachios (very grownup combo), cranberry/pecan, and apricot/pecan (my son’s fave). The dates add sweetness and “glue” to hold the concoction together. I’ve used figs instead, too. Not sure how you could make these without cocoa or carob. Instead of making bars as she suggests, we just roll ours into balls. This could be a fun Sunday afternoon project you can do together–which also helps with the buy-in factor.
And say yes to STL Mom’s homemade mac-and-cheese! It seriously takes the same time to make as the stuff in a box–and tastes so much better.
Chris // Feb 16, 2009 at 7:23 am
The recipe didn’t go through:
http://28cooks.blogspot.com/2008/03/just-because-its-vegan-raw-vegan.html
Anita B // Feb 16, 2009 at 8:34 am
I actually recently did this as well after getting tested for food sensitivities. My husband and son are gluten and dairy intolerant and I am gluten, dairy and corn intolerant (among other things). I have made it my mission to get rid of anything that has more than a few ingredients I can’t pronounce and that has helped us get healthy so quickly (I lost 50 pounds in 2 months and am still shrinking!) Although it’s a bit harder for us to find things that are gluten and dairy free, we have found them and now can go through most grocery stores and grab what we want without having to stand there and read labels. It has gotten so much easier! Good luck with your quest-it does get easy!
STL Mom // Feb 16, 2009 at 10:46 am
Chris – thanks for the link to that recipe – I love Lara bars! And if I made them with ginger and pistachios, frankly I wouldn’t want to share them with the kids, or anybody else. Mmm…
Thimbelle // Feb 16, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I was completely unaware, until I read this blog post, that there was any mercury contamination in commercial high fructose corn syrup.
And here I was, worried about the arsenic in my chicken…
RocketScienceMom // Feb 18, 2009 at 4:08 am
I am with Thimbelle. This is news to me. Time to follow your links and do some better shopping.
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