Lately, my sister and I have been talking about healthier food for our families. So after her good example, I to wanted to change things in our home.
So I've started reading, watching and researching food.
Now before I continue, I'm not big on documentaries at all. I also thought Organic food was for hippies and people who were into food fads. That being said, I'll move on.
I heard about Robyn O'brien from another mom's blog looked her up and started reading. She started her crusade because of her daughter's food allergy. Now I'm not saying I support all that she claims, or writes about. I do, however, believe there is a whole lot of crap, chemicals, mcnasty, what every you want to call it in our food. In her book she lists some ways for people to take steps in switching over to healthier food, ie. getting rid of all the processed junk, avoiding HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), rBGH (hormone they inject in cows that's in milk products), food coloring and GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), etc. She has a lot of kid friendly recipes which helps because its a bit overwhelming at first.
I also watched Food, Inc., a documentary on our food system. I would highly recommend everyone, minus kids, to see it. (PBS airs it, you can check it out at your library, if you have Netflix you can watch it instantly, find a way and watch it.) That's a real eye opener to what's in our food.
I remember Travis telling me, back in college Biology how he was learning about all the chemicals in our produce. He mentioned a study done on the frogs that lived by the farms where they were using all these chemicals. Scientists found that all the chemicals had turned the frogs into hermaphrodites. I freaked out of course when he told me this a long time ago (especially at the part where he said that those chemicals were in our drinking water as well) but then quickly reassured me it would take forever to consume the amount it would take to effect us. Scary isn't it? That there is so much stuff in the food that isn't natural!
So I want to do better.
I have overwhelming guilt when I let my kids eat crap. So this has been a real win, win.
No more crap in our food, no more guilt for the food they eat!
Things we are going to try and do (budget permitting):
Buy organic produce
(it's expensive so we are going to start by buying the produce that we know has the most pesticides, and buy them organically instead. )
Buy rBGH free diary products
NO HFCS or GMO's
Make our bread
(which is a big deal since I suck at it, at least it will be good practice)
Buy only Organic Meat
(as of late we don't even buy much meat so hopefully it won't break the bank)
Buy food with ingredients I can pronounce.
And so it has begun.
9 comments:
ash im so proud of you! what a good example you are. keep us posted
A few tips...grow your own...even in an apartment this can be done (look up pallet gardens) and if it can't look for a local shared garden. Also, check out farmers markets, our local market even takes WIC. Trader Joe's has good food at good prices. Hannah and I eat there peanut butter, which is just nuts and Sarah eats there Sunflower butter (looks and taste like peanut butter but without the nuts).
A tip I learned, since organic is so expensive buy items you are going to eat all of. Anything with a skin that you can remove doesn't get as much chemicals.
Just another FYI(it isn't just our food that is making us sick) Toothpaste has alot of harmful items, cleaning supplies (more chemicals) I use baking soda and vinger and have since 1993 when I found out I was pregnant with Sarah. Also laundry soap is full of things, we use free and clear as well as Dawn for spot removal. No dryer sheets. Large city living, Sarah was one of those who developed Asthma in second grade (look this fact up) they have found a lot of kids are getting Asthma is second grade who live in large, overcrowded and dirty cities. One of the reasons I moved to a smaller place. After two years of clean air her Asthma went away.
Good Luck!
I would love to star a garden, infact growing a garden is our first priority once we move. And the more I've been reading the more I've been thinking about all the chemicals in EVERYTHING! so yes looking into the Chemicals I clean with and our detergents are always the free and clear kind do to sensitive skin. Toothpaste never even occured to me! Thank you for all the tips!!!!
Nice post Ash! Hope shopping went well, I still have to finish mine. :)
I love your passion honey. It is wonderful that you kids learn so much from each other. For some silly reason when parents suggest things it just doesn't carry as much weight. LOL I sure don't think it matters as long as we all just keep learning and figuring things out.
Do you have a bread mixer?
Go to the Farmer's market at the Barton Creek Mall on Saturdays! It has great organice produce for pretty good prices. Don't go to the one in Sunset Valley: that one is more expensive than the Barton Creek one! Try Sprouts and Sunflower Market! They often have sales on organic produce. Those two grocery stores are at the top of my "What I miss about Austin" list, and believe me when I say it's a very short list! We have nothing like that here. There isn't even a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods. And the grocery stores we do have have very limited and very expensive organice options. I've been following this blog: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/ (Click on the about tab to get a good start).It talks about eating "whole foods" and getting away from processed stuff. I watched Food Inc too. Changed the way I thought about food. I would reccommend reading Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver. And pretty much anything written by Michael Pollen is a good read. Good luck. I look forward to updates on your progress. Sorry for the long post, but this is something I'm pretty passionate about! I've done a lot of research over the last couple of years and I loving sharing my knowledge (what little I have) with other people.
Oh and you can check out a CSA. Go to localharvest.org. You can buy weekly "shares" of produce from local farmers. I've wanted to do this, but we it just being the two of us, and with one of us not eating vegetables (I'll let you guess which one!), it's not a practical option for us. But it's a dream of mine to join one eventuall!
Thank you Michelle! We went to Sunflower Market yesterday, we used to go alot when they first opened. I was sad though because they didn't have a whole lot of organic and it was double what HEB was selling and most of their produce was from Mexico or California! HEB has a lot of Texas produce and Made in texas products (honey, etc). But I love the atmosphere of Sunflower, the store is cleaner,smaller, and way less crowded and the produce itself looks better. Thank you for the tips on the farmers market we'll definitely try out the Barton Springs one! And I'll get cracking on those books! Thanks Michelle!!
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