Monday, September 29, 2008

Life Was So Simple Until Now


We had a great meeting on Friday night at Lisa's home.   Many thanks to Becky and Alyson for their engaging, delicious and truly eye-opening presentation on knowing the food we eat.  Who knew that 20% of the "meat" in chicken nuggets is actually chicken skin? Or that extra-lean beef probably indicates meat taken from old/sick animals?  I've been meaning to read such books as Fast Food Nation,  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and The Omnivore's Dilemma for quite a while, but now I'm on my way to the library!  Becky and Alyson strongly encouraged us to make informed decisions about the food we eat--there is so much behind the scenes that we as consumers don't know.   They also explained that moving toward sustainable eating is a gradual process and advocated starting with small, simple changes that do not feel too overwhelming.

Here are a few of the tips they offered:
  • Buy organic produce--especially the "Dirty Dozen":  peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, grapes, pears, spinach & potatoes
  • Buy organic whole milk dairy products
  • Find a CSA (fresh, locally grown produce coop) at www.localharvest.org
  • Limit sugar intake to 40g per day: avoid refined sugar and flour whenever possible.  
  • Use extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil or  butter instead of vegetable oil, margarine or other highly processed butter/oil products
  •  Replace processed foods with whole grains: you need 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day
Here are 12 Food Additives to Avoid:  I went home and checked my fridge and cupboards and couldn't believe how many of these additives I found!  See this slideshow for all the details.
  • Sodium Nitrate: Sure enough, there in the Oscar Meyer turkey hotdogs that my kids love.
  • BHA and BHT: Oh my, this was in my Orbit sugarless gum and the packaging in our MiniWheats.
  • Propyl Gallate: Didn't see this one in my cupboards, but apparently found in meat, chicken base in soups and gum.
  • MSG: Wow.  This was in my Campbell's soup, chicken bullion cubes and noodle mix.
  • Trans-fats:  I have been avoiding these, but found some in the cake mix I bought for my husband's birthday.
  • Aspartame: There it was in my Orbit sugarless gum--yikes!
  • Acesulfame: Sure enough, Orbit sugarless gum is the culprit again.
  • Food Coloring: Found this in the cake mix, sugarless gum and the Listerine (of all places!)
  • Olestra
  • Potassium Bromate
  • White Sugar: There it is, 5 lb. package in my pantry.  Not to mention all that is in every other product out there.  
  • Sodium Chloride
Be sure to see Alyson's great blog for great healthy/organic recipes, reviews of organic products and musings on living a more sustainable lifestyle. 

2 comments:

Miranda J said...

I just saw this blog Janika. This is terrific -- I think it will make a difference in building community. Have you sent this along to everyone, also asking if they have blogs that need to be included?

Sara said...

Janika,

Thanks for your comments on my blog...it is always fun to see when we have new followers! I bought the canvasses at the art store...they were not expensive ones. I had orginally intended to paint something myself but then I think Lucy was bored one day so I just let her paint. I didn't intend for it to become art for my home but it turned out so great that I decided it had to go up! The paint we used is Reeves brand acrylic, from A.C. Moore. It is only a few dollars a tube. I think what really helped the look is that I pre-painted the canvas one background color (including the sides) before letting Lucy have at it. I can't remember what kind of brushes we used...it was whatever I had around the house. I think that big art brushes with long handles would probably work best (I painted the canvas background with a regular paintbrush like you would use for walls).

Thanks also for your comment about my wonderful Nana! Her name is Angelina and she has started giving Lucy the Angelina Ballerina books, so she now calls herself Angelina Nanarina. She lives for my girls and is a regular blog commenter!

I am going to read your blog today because it seems what you do with this group is really interesting. Feel free to drop me a line sometime...sarabrookline@yahoo.com.

Best,
Sara