By 100 Days of Real Food, on September 3rd, 2010 The other day my brother emailed me asking my opinion on some organic prepackaged snacks they were considering buying. He said that for their busy family (which includes two working parents and two kids, ages 8 and 4) it is important for their school snacks to be individually wrapped. After reviewing the list of ingredients he emailed me I thought the “Organic Jammy Sammy Snack Size Sandwich Bars” had both pros and cons:
Pros:
- It was organic (although just because something is organic does not mean it is okay…there are a lot of highly processed organic foods out there)
- It contained whole grain oats
- It contained whole grain barley flour
- Salt was the last ingredient on the list, which means it was what they used the least of
Cons:
- The first ingredient (and what it contained the most of) was the strawberry filling which lists cane juice (a sweetener similar to sugar) as its top ingredient
- The strawberry filling also contained rice starch and pretty much anything with the word starch (like corn starch) is highly processed/refined
- The strawberry filling also contained citric acid (a preservative)
- In addition to the cane juice in the strawberry filling these bars also had two other forms of sweeteners listed – agave and more evaporated cane juice Continue Reading »
By 100 Days of Real Food, on August 19th, 2010 Most parents struggle at one point or another with a picky eater, and the most important thing to remember is to never give up! My youngest daughter frustrates me almost daily with her pickiness – luckily my older daughter is quite the opposite- but clearly since we are all doing the 100 Days of Real Food together I’ve had to try almost anything and everything to get my 3-year-old to eat whole foods. I hope some of these tips that I have learned along the way, which are all based my own personal experiences and observations, can help you make some breakthroughs with your picky eater as well. And of course please keep in mind that each suggestion is not necessarily going to work for every child out there, but you certainly never know until you try. And as always, if you have any additional tips or suggestions from your own experiences please feel free to leave a comment!
- Take baby steps when trying to convert your kids to whole foods. First of all, start with some familiar foods by switching out the beloved processed version with a healthier alternative. For example, my daughters both used to love the white store-bought flour tortillas, so one of the first things I did was make them some homemade whole-wheat tortillas. Continue Reading »
By 100 Days of Real Food, on July 4th, 2010 When your focus is eating whole foods you end up cooking a lot. There is just no way around it. And despite my commitment to our new diet, I occasionally miss the convenience of ready-made store bought foods. Not only do I have to make sure I cook a healthy dinner every night, but I now also have the added responsibility of making breakfast, lunch and snack foods as well. That’s what happens when you no longer eat store-bought cereals, tortillas, hummus, or granola bars.
Ever since we made this change a few months ago I have been on the prowl for store-bought items with a simple list of ingredients. We all already know about ready-to-eat snacks such as nuts, raisins, popcorn and fresh fruit, but here are some other convenient options that I have recently become a fan of… 
Triscuits
We love that these crackers have only 3 ingredients as opposed to their Wheat Thins counterpart that boast a dozen or more ingredients including multiple sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup. Continue Reading »
By 100 Days of Real Food, on May 24th, 2010 Okay, so you see the title of this post…sound familiar? Just like you have been told since you were a child to not judge a book by its cover, the same goes for food. I get irritated every time I see yet another product at the store that has positioned itself to appear to be the “healthier” alternative. Upon looking a little closer, however, you often discover the real truth.
One of Michael Pollan’s food rules is to “avoid food products that make health claims” like “vitamin-fortified”, “contains omega-3s”, “lowers your cholesterol”, and I even saw a juice that claims it helps with your child’s “brain development”. He says to have a health claim it must have a package so “it’s more likely to be a processed rather than a whole food.” This makes perfect sense, and I couldn’t agree more, but I would like to take it a step further. I think we also need to be cautious about the overall look and wording that manufacturers use on some of their packaged products as well. Continue Reading »
By 100 Days of Real Food, on April 2nd, 2010 Now that we have established a bunch of stuff you shouldn’t eat anymore, let’s talk a little about what you can eat (and feed your children) when it is snack time. Some typical snacks in a processed food world may include things like Goldfish, Chex Mix, Kix Cereal, Cheerios, and graham crackers. We used to have a “snack basket” with all of that stuff in it too. Here are nine easy things to consider if you want to start making some changes for the better… Continue Reading »
|
|
