I'm struggling to write this post, because there's no way to do it without it sounding a leeetle bit obnoxious. So, I apologize, but some of you might be interested in our latest greatest food philosophy: Eat Real Food.
It started with corn syrup. I'm a fan of the stuff in candies and scotcheroos. But I had a BIG problem when I found it in my bread. So I started checking labels of basically everything and have become AMAZED at the stuff they're sneaking corn syrup into.
So, why is corn syrup in everything? Because of government subsidies. Yes, our nation is sponsoring the very additive that is killing us slowly and sweetly. It's absurd that we destroy other crops but sponsor corn products. If you're unfamiliar with the health risks of corn syrup it's mostly the quantity in which we consume it that is the problem. But research has also shown that it's worse for us than normal cane or even beet sugar. And whats worse--it doesn't even taste good. So stick with sugar. Rant over.
So now that I was looking at labels, I wondered what on earth xanathan gum was. And it all went crazypants earthy foodie from there. Okay, not totally crazy pants. I just want my food to be food. So the new philosophy:
All foods that I consider to be "real" shall not contain weird stuff. Real food includes bread, juice, meats, veggies, milk, ice cream, cheese, regular snack foods, sauces, salad dressing, sour cream, seasonings, etc.
And I try to do this in moderation. For example, I don't mind natural food colorings or limited preservatives, but I also don't want the ingredient list to be 13 items long. Here's how it plays out on a practical level:
Non-hormone, non-saline-injected meat is difficult to find, and expensive when you do find it. If I can make a better choice without it costing me significantly more money, I will do so. Case in point: sour cream. The normal sour cream I have been buying had xanathan gum and corn syrup solids in it. I now buy the same brand's "natural sour cream" which has cream and enzymes in it. And it tastes WAY better.
"Low fat" and "fat free" items are the worst. There is so much garbage in them to make them taste palatable that in my opinion you might as well just eat a small portion of the GOOD stuff. Plus why have a fat free dressing when olive oil is so heart healthy and tastes so much better? Why have 3 mediocre tasting cookies when you can have one good one? It makes no sense.
Sodas are pretty much out. I won't drink artificial sweeteners, so I won't buy diet. And I won't drink corn syrup, so I don't buy regular. Unless I'm at a snooty grocery store, I'll probably skip the sodas. And yes, even Henry Weinhards has corn syrup. It's depressing. Better-for-you brands include Blue Sky, Hansen's, Hot Lips, and lots of locally brewed sodas and home made sodas. I've been making 0 cal cream sodas with the help of my friend Stevia. (Stevia is so awesome it deserves its own post). But if you've ever traveled abroad and wondered why the soda was so much better there, it's because other countries don't use corn syrup in their drinks. Hence the popularity of Mexican Coke, and Canadian A&W Root Beer.
Ice cream is probably the most challenging thing to find "real." Many but not all of the Breyer's ice creams make it like I would make it -- cream, milk, sugar, eggs, and flavoring. But most every other ice cream out there (including local favorites, Tillamook and Umpqua) has corn syrup as the second ingredient. I am okay with a mix-in (like oreos) having crap in them (it's usually a small enough dosage), but I don't want the entire base of my ice cream to be something I'm trying to avoid. I've taken to making my own.
Also in practice, I can continue to enjoy occasional non-real foods. I don't eat much junk anyway, but when I visit my parents I enjoy sneaking some of my brother's cheetoes. They're so fantastically ORANGE and non-cheese flavored! I can't resist. I could never completely abandon you, cheetoes, oreos, poptarts, and Henry Weinhards. But I also don't miss you...THAT much.
6 comments:
The Butcher's Guide to Well Raised Meat
Yeah, baby.
The bread we love is vita bee at Fred meyers. Lots of good stuff, decent price when bought on sale and it freezes very well. It does have some preservatives, but it's a bread all my picky eaters love (David grew up in a white bread environment) and recommended by the homeopathic doctor my mom works for.
And it isn't food snobbery to want to eat natural things!
Why is eating so darn much WORK. I think in addition to the fact that we have conversations about gardening the fact that we routinely read nutrition labels means were are grownups after all.
I use Splenda to bake a lot now. Yeah, it's not as good as real sugar, but it's not aspartame (although, I love Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke, so I get enough of that anyway.), but it IS low calorie and a very safe alternative, so I'm good with it. I've tried diet sodas with Splenda, and they taste just fine, but they don't seem to be that popular in stores, based on quantity levels I've seen. There ARE a lot of sodas now that use pure sugar, which is great for people who want that (I haven't drank anything but diet or low-cal sodas for years).
I'd like to be more vigilant in eating foods with better ingredients and less preservatives. It's a good way to be.
I think a lot of the culprits can be avoided simply by preparing your own food. Yeah, I have cheats and short cuts that may involve cans or bottles, but I know high fructose corn syrup can't be added to the raw spinach I purchased at Sunflower.
I've noticed that people also don't read labels with medications. I grew up knowing what a lot of basic OTC drugs do. It's funny to see things in pretty packaging that are more expensive because they're being rebranded as something else. I recently saw a very expensive syrup in the cold section that was simply Tylenol in liquid form. It didn't do anything else besides what acetaminophen normally does, but had been marketed as a pain reliever for a cold.
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