Have you read the average food label lately? Yuck! Most of it you can’t even pronounce. There is a scene in the Disney movie Ratatouille, where the one rat who craves gourmet cuisine in Paris where they live and his brother gnawing on something he found in the garbage. “What…is…that?” The brother tells him, “I don’t know.” “You don’t know, and yet you’re eating it?” The brother insists, “Once you past the gag reflex, all kinds of possibilities open up.” It’s gross but true. Today almost everything the average American eats is composed of ingredients they don’t know what they are.
I read a label and I ask a person what is “sodium phosphate” or “monosodium glutamate”, also known as MSG, which many don’t know, and they say, “I don’t know”. So why are you eating it? Why let your child eat it? One of our jobs as parents is to give our kids the best nutrition we can, 100% of the time for better health and habits now to carry later, because our health today impacts theirs at 80, and our next generations. Poor eating leads to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart attacks, so if we continue to eat the same way, we make our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren more susceptible to these diseases simply because we didn’t care about our own health. Their medical history and genetics are because we were too lazy to eat right.
While the economy is running on the last drop in its reserve tank, we can still provide our kids with better foods and keep within our budgets. First of all, most food expenses are on junk foods anyways so cutting them out can save hundreds each month. You are spending far more on chips, juice, candy, fruit snacks, and processed foods than you think. Instead of cookies and most crackers, even Wheat Thins, which are not healthy, try giving them a handful or two of Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain Goldfish crackers. There are less processed, have less chemicals and cancer causing ingredients, and far healthier than the common choices.
Simply™ products are a new line of everyday items kids love, just done better. For instance, GoGurts that kids love so much are now available in Simply™ varieties with the same taste but no funky chemicals and NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP; just natural ingredients at the same price. They also make fruit roll ups, ready to cook cookie dough and buttermilk biscuit rolls. They taste exactly the same but much better for you.
Moms are changing and they are letting the companies know, we want less junk and additives and more things we can use from nature as we did since the dawn of time.
Instead of hydrogenated oils that bring trans fats and suffocate the heart, peanut butter can be bought without high fructose corn syrup, palm oil, and chemicals. For a good price, try Laura Scudder’s Natural peanut butter or Adam’s brand. Both are available in supermarkets and even Wal-Mart stores nationwide. Our family uses Laura Scudder’s No Salt Added; the only ingredient: peanuts.
Cereals are loaded with scientific ingredients that inhibit our bodies from absorbing vitamins and nutrition so Full Circle Organic is just one of many brands that have excellent tasting cereals from organic and natural foods. My son loves Honey Nut Toasted Oats, instead of the chemical filled Honey Nut Cheerios, and even grandma agrees the taste is better. We never pay more for better food, and often this cereal is on sale for at least a dollar less. Score!
Mott’s applesauce is good, and for the same price we go with the Natural version: same ingredients but minus high fructose corn syrup and no added sugars. We always eat it and my friends all say they actually liked it better than the original. They are also available in individual lunch packs of 6 and the same price as the ones with the bad ingredients.
Even in a small town with not much of a market for it, our local grocery stores are carrying more natural, organic products at competitive prices and more selection each month. Wal-Mart and Target’s grocery sections also sell them, usually a little cheaper. Search retailmenot.com for free coupon codes to save at the checkout and swap with other community members online, for free! Eat healthy today for a healthy future our great grandchildren can inherit.
