I have often giggled at the term regularly used by Jillian Michaels and others~ Frankenfoods. But it should also make us think a bit. What's in our foods?
Now I do want to be a realist and enjoy a good meal at a restaurant. However, I try to be a bit more of a fanatic when shopping for foods in my home. People have asked me what guidelines I use in shopping for 'healthy foods.' First, I read labels. I read a lot of labels. And even though I find a product I love, I still have to read their labels now and then to be sure they didn't bring in ingredients I refuse to eat. For example, I had been purchasing a certain brand of bread with good (not EXCELLENT, but good) ingredients. I started making my own bread for a long time. But I went through a time where I couldn't make it myself and so I went back to buying that brand from before. I didn't recheck the label. I just went on faith. One day I read the label and found that they had started putting High Fructose Corn Syrup in it! Why?? So I will not buy it any more.
I was given a fabulous book recently, called Food Additives: What's Safe and What's Not. This little tool will go in my purse to the grocery stores! There are lots of ingredients that I have NO clue what they are and what they do to people. This book will help!
Another tool is DVDs... I just watched this movie http://www.thefutureoffood.com/onlinevideo.html recently, in DVD form. Then found it online for free. It discusses GMO foods (genetically modified.) Food Inc. was also a great resource for this information, I got it from the local library to watch.
I also have watched some DVDs on artificial sweeteners. Don't think they are harmful? Are you willing to bet your life on drinking them? I'm not! And watching movies like Sweet Misery (see this link for more info...
http://products.mercola.com/sweet-misery-DVD/ and you can read Dr. Mercola's book Sweet Deception for an eye opener on all artificial sweeteners!
In the end, we can only do what we can do. So learn to read labels. Learn what the ingredients are and why you do not want them in your home. Get involved in CSAs and other garden type co-ops. I learned to can a few years ago so I could enjoy our produce all year. My husband invested in a chest freezer for us to store produce also. We shop at many stores, not just one. And we read LOTS of labels.
I don't hate comments and questions. If you have any questions about this topic or comments on how you eat healthy, please let me know! :)
A good video on soy...
ReplyDeletehttp://articles.mercola.com/sites/videos/home.aspx
And a good one on GMOs
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/videos/home.aspx
Looking for a Non GMO shopping guide?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/
And time for my disclaimer... I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV. Any posts on nutrition come from whatever information I've been able to pick up along the way, and I'd like to share those resources with you. You can read and decide for yourself what works for your family. :)
ReplyDeleteexcellent topic, I recently watched the DVD "Earthlings" & am now trying to reduce how much animal products I consume. I do believe that God gave us livestock animals for eating, but the factory farming that goes on today is so disgusting & unhealthy that I don't think you can expect to gain any health when eating it. Just my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteFrau, I have to agree. I believe that the more natural the food, the better. And those huge farms just are... well... nasty. The more you dig into where your food comes from, the scarier it is. We are part of a garden co-op in the spring/summer/fall months. I love it! Our whole family digs in and gets dirty and we earn our produce. Then formal schooling gets put on hold while lifestyle learning takes over and we can and freeze. We shop all over the place to get the healthiest food we can afford. But that co-op really saves us a lot!! And it's an excellent learning opportunity. Our boys know where the food came from and the work that went into growing and preserving it.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting tidbit... We all know less chemicals are best. However, I have recently learned that even if you purchase foods that have chemicals, so long as they were truly ripe upon picking, they'll be healthier for you. They get one last shot of phosphorus when they are ripe, and that helps to spin toxins out of our bodies. But if they are picked too soon, they don't get that from the vine and therefore can even be somewhat toxic to our systems. So, if you can shop from farmer's markets or grow your own foods, or grow them in a co-op, you will know you got something that was picked RIPE! Even if it has chemicals, you know it will be a healthy choice. But buying in the stores, you have no idea how early it was picked (but you know it wasn't ripe) and you are only hoping there weren't chemicals used. So, spring is coming, we ought to get busy planting! :)