Friday, September 28, 2007

Going Natural

Our world is getting rocked!
All our eating habits are getting the once over and some of the really bad stuff is getting the boot.
I've heard on and off for several years about how unhealthy high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils are. I sort of shrugged my shoulders and figured it wasn't impacting my family too much. But after attending a class on "Fit Kids" at church, I started really thinking about what kinds of food I am providing for my children. Why on earth would I want to give them substances that are difficult or impossible for their bodies to break down? Why would I purposely feed them things that will make it difficult for them to concentrate, fatigued, and possibly overweight? It started to really bother me. So I looked at the labels of the foods in our house. I was shocked at how much processed, unhealthy ingredients were involved. So then and there I made the decision that I will not buy any foods that contain high fructose corn syrup or the word "hydrogenated" in their ingredients. I didn't throw out all our old stuff, but am replacing it as I go with different, healthier items. Although, I probably should have just thrown the old food away because I feel a pang of guilt whenever I feed it to the kids now. So today's new item was natural peanut butter. I was a bit nervous about this because I am not exactly sure what to do with the layer of oil on the top of the jar. The natural peanut butters were quite a bit more expensive than the regular stuff I usually buy, but Target had one for only $1.99. I just opened it up a few minutes ago to try it. Yes, it was tricky stirring the oil and I am not totally sure I did it correctly. But let me tell you, the taste of natural peanut butter is 10 times better than what we used to buy. I loved it! It is so rich and the flavor so deep and peanut-y. Well worth the hassle of trying to stir it and storing it in the fridge. Plus, no more hydrogenated gross-ness in our bodies. Another major switch we made was to natural bread. Did you realize most loafs of bread in the store contain high fructose corn syrup? I finally found a loaf of Nature's Own All Natural Whole Grain. And again, this product is much better tasting than the old kind I used to buy. The slices of bread are more dense, and have a better flavor. I am enjoying finding new foods for our family to try. And I am still all for desserts by the way! So don't get worried that I've gone off the deep end.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've always loved Nature's Own bread. That's what I usually buy. It's a good thing to reevaluate what we fuel our bodies with daily!

Lindsay said...

Oh I am so for better food. I am so bothered by how processed our foods are nowadays. We barely have any farms left and even if you are buying organic - most of it is shipped overseas where we have no idea how healthy the cattle is nor how they treat their employees - b/c we do not have enough farms to meet the demand. (Part of organic is supposed to be supporting local farms and using being environmentally friendly). As you can tell I just read an article about this. I really try to get as close to the food source as possible - no boxed foods, etc. I just switched to natural peanut butter as well. It does take more work but well worth it. :)

Dara said...

You go, Becky!!!! I love going for natural foods. I've been going that direction since before we had Emma. Of course, I am known as the nutrition extremist by some of my extended family members... but you are what you eat! My mom REALLY knows a lot about nutrition. She reads tons of information about it and has funding to buy only good, pure, whole foods. So I hear daily about what we need to be feeding the kids and ourselves! Eating good foods can make such a difference on how our bodies function on a daily basis... it is so important!!! Good for you for making good, nutritional changes in your family's diet!

Brooke said...

I really love natural Skippy pb and natural Cheetos!