District 76 + Preferred Meals = Food Transparency for all!

Hello Dr Joe, Colette, Kathleen and Dwayne,

I wanted to reach out and say how thankful I am to have met with you all Friday morning at West Oak to discuss increased food transparency, added sugar and your innovative allergy systems menu. It was truly lovely to meet, shed our computer terminals and talk face to face. There is no doubt we are all working in the same direction.

I am thrilled to know that our district families will have full ingredient transparency in 30 days and that you’ll be following up with us on the challenge of including added sugar content information. I am also excited for our school board to continue the conversation regarding the allergy systems menu and am hopeful that these cleaner, more organic options might be accessible to our families in the future.

There is such frustration over food. I could feel it from us all. Questions and debates swirl around what we should eat, what we shouldn’t… conflicting messages everywhere we look… Thank you for sitting at the same table with such optimism and shared concern. What has become clearer than ever is the need for more real food over fake food ingredients, less sugar and food education for all. I am so inspired to hear that Preferred Meals is doing everything possible to remove these controversial ingredients from your school food menu. I believe that not only will these changes positively affect the children in this district who rely on us for 2/3 meals a day, but in the long term, these changes will position your company as a food service provider who can deliver more nutrient dense, real food to school districts across the country. A transition every school food company should be focusing on in order to meet the evolving consumer demand for cleaner, more nutrient dense food. 

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the hidden MSG, partially hydrogenated oils and other artificial additives that are still lurking in some of the ingredient lists. I can only imagine the challenges you face in phasing these ingredients out. This important work should be applauded, supported and celebrated at every level.

Thank you again!  Have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to continuing our conversation!

Lindsey Shifley
JOFR Super Ambassador

ps

The challenge Preferred Meals faces with required calorie amounts (fat is regulated and sugar is not) could be changing! I am hopeful the new 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) recommendations may lead to some regulatory changes that will allow food companies more flexibility and send the sugar packing - This just in:

 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/nutrition-panel-calls-for-less-sugar-and-eases-cholesterol-and-fat-restrictions/?_r=0

http://www.foodpolitics.com/?s=dietary+guidelines

And of course, I couldn’t resist this little ditty:

http://naturallysavvy.com/eat/this-is-why-sodium-benzoate-is-so-scary

Making the Case for School Food Transparency

My printer is tired.

I am prepping for Friday's #schoolfood brainstorming meeting with Preferred Meals and District 76. 

Please leave comments below if you have any concerns or ideas you would like me to bring along to the meeting! 

In addition to driving positive change, I hope this evolving story is a source of inspiration and hope for other parents, grandparents, teachers, administrators and any individuals who are interested in improving school food education and school food transparency. Our teachers and schools need our help in reaching our kids. I'm sick of hearing that it's the teacher or the school district's fault. I have a family FULL of teachers, not to mention a bus full of teacher friends. It's getting harder and harder to teach and reach students (for a variety of reasons... But I'm just sticking to food ed here). In our case with Abbie, it was not the teachers. It was her food. Instruction was not meeting her "needs" because of the food was not meeting her needs. I just didn't know. Once I cleaned it up for Abbie, her brain opened up. This mind blowing experience is what drives my passion. I am not keeping this information to myself. There are other kids out there whose brains could use a roto rooter too. 

This is not about food control, food judgment or food snobbery. This is about food transparency, food education, freedom of choice and the power of the consumer. Schools are the biggest restaurants in town and I think it's time we took a closer look at the ingredient lists to see if they are serving our children for increased academic success, not the other way around.

Let this article bring you up to speed: Connecting Attention and Nutrition

Food transparency = a win win for all: The kids win. The schools win. The companies win. 

Well, that is for the companies who change with the tides.

Food companies who are meeting the demands for cleaner, more organic food are being rewarded and those who are keeping up with the "status quo" of chemical companies who are being left in the dust.

Read about the food companies who keep the chemicals + fake food = real BIG profit losses (Robyn O'Brien)

I hope to discuss the following on Friday:

1. Fake food vs real food ingredients: D76 Preferred Meal Systems - Can we improve the quality of breakfast and lunch offerings within budget to increase sales?
2. Food transparency: Can the District provide full online ingredient list access to parents before June?
3. Can the "Allergy Systems Menu" be offered to all D76 families? At extra cost? How can we make this option accessible to all with or without a doctor's note.
4. When will added sugar amounts be provided to the D76? Is D76 responsible for calculating added sugar? How & when can we get this vital food education information on sugar to our parents and staff? We do have some more eating to do after school and most of us like to eat dessert from time to time.

The amount of added sugar is especially alarming in our school breakfasts. According to my quick math (on an OLD menu, albeit same items) PM breakfasts range from 27g of added sugar up to 46g of sugar. According to the Fed Up Challenge Sugar Facts, 4g of sugar = 1 tsp. The American Heart association recommends that children should not exceed 5-8 tsp's in a DAY (20-32g per day). So, we're already at a minimum of 6.5 tsp's of added sugar BEFORE they even have a snack or lunch at school. Got chocolate milk? That'll put you over the limit in one 8 oz box. What's a Mom and Dad to do at home!? That is one tough, restrictive menu to be handed in my kitchen.

Here is what I have come across in my search for information. More than you need I am sure, but the following is what District 148 offered online in 2011. This simple PDF format will be something I suggest our District can offer families from our District website. (It sounds like PMs website is still "under construction" for full ingredient food transparency.) In the meantime, let's take some pictures and upload them for anyone who would like to look into the school food ingredients.

District 148 - 2011 Preferred Meals spec sheet 1

District 148 - 2011 Preferred Meals Condiments

District 148 - 2011 Preferred Meals spec sheet fruit and veggies

Partially hydrogenated oil + high fructose corn syrup much? WOW - Major MEGA props to PM as these 2011 menu items have been reformulated and updated to meet the growing demand of parents and school districts for cleaner, more organic and local school food. 

Here is the most updated information I could find to access current PMs menus in our country. It took A LOT of searching. Nobody is granting much access to school food ingredient lists in America:

To find this, first you must cut and paste the following into a google search (it won't let me link it for you):

"preferred meals systems product specification sheet 2014"

Next, the following should come up 3rd in your list. Click to download:

"Elementary and Comm Ed Labels. pdf"

www.chelmsford.k12.ma.us/site/.../filedownload.ashx?...3415&dataid...

• Cached

(July 14, 2014)

So what do our menus look like now? I don't know. I still haven't gotten my hands on anything and there is NOTHING current online. So crazy. I have requested that D76 provide me the ingredient lists on Friday. I am looking forward to bringing home a "packet."

I'm most concerned with PM's claim that artificial flavors and MSG have been taken out of the menu. An ingredient does not have to be labeled with "Monosodium Glutamate" (MSG) for it to be in the product. Check out this link for MSG's "spy names". Unfortunately, companies are still able to get away with MSG in products under different names. There are still a shocking amount of MSG "spy names" listed and I'll bring these to everyone's attention on Friday. I'm so happy to see the menu's progress over the past 5 years AND I think there is still room for some progress. Baby steps. High fives. And we can do better. As I do not have our D76 - 2015 menus in hand just yet, I am going to have to wait before I assume anything.

I am fighting for cleaner, less sugar laden, more nutrient dense school food for ALL of our students so that they can perform at their highest potential in the classroom. This should be our highest priority, our shared responsibility in our District's quest to support our families and teachers, to inspire higher learning and to raise our District's academic performance. 

Below is a comment I received from PM on my recent blot post. I am so excited to hear back from them and I'm thrilled to get the opportunity to sit and brainstorm alongside them and the District. 

I am so impressed by the menu changes I can see between 2011 and 2014 and they should be applauded!!!

I'm not sure who should be responsible for providing me with ingredient information and added sugar content (the vendors are not "required" to give that to PM? WHAT!?), but somebody better.figure.it.out. It sounds like the District has had this information all along, which is highly aggravating as I/we asked for this information in several past Wellness Committee meetings. We were told that they would get the information from PM.  Shame on me for being complacent.

"Who's on first?"

***

Hello Lindsey,

Thank you for reaching out to us on your blog! We love and share your passion in providing healthy foods to kids. Our menu website is relatively new and we are still working on a way to tie in ingredients with specific products. Our menu system calculates nutrients as part of the planning process but ingredients are not part of the database yet. 

As for the nutrients that show, we do not include sugar because our vendors are not required to provide that information to us. Since some do provide it and some don’t, our calculation is inconsistent and we wouldn’t want to pass along incomplete information.

We do want parents to be able to view ingredients if desired and we provide updated product spec sheets to the district on a regular basis. Also, each case of product delivered to the schools is labeled with all ingredients. I’m sure if you visit the school they will be able to provide that information to you.

You will be pleased to know that we have eliminated from our products many of the ingredients that are likely a concern to you, such as MSG, artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and fats, bleached flour, high fructose corn syrup, palm/coconut and partially hydrogenated oils and more. In addition, by regulation, our menus are calorie, fat and sodium controlled by age group and contain 0 grams of trans fat. Since our menus are calorie controlled, we don’t add extra sugar and fat and always choose low fat, lean meats and cheese. Items are baked and not fried, all breads/ breadings /crusts are whole grain, juices / fruit cups have no added sugar or syrup and juice is always 100% juice.

Did you know school meals are very highly regulated? Check out the USDA’s website for more information: http://www.fns.usda.gov/…/national-school-lunch-program-nslp

As for our Allergy Meal System, this is available to the district as an option and should be discussed with the school. Offering an alternate meal may require additional planning and preparation for school staff, resulting in higher cost and additional labor, so making this available to all students would be a district decision.

A representative from Preferred Meals is always available to attend a meeting with the district if you would like to discuss further.

Thank you!

***

BIG thanks in advance to all the individuals who weigh in at the comments section below. Regardless of your school district, your voices COUNT and together, we can make change... 

One school district at a time!

Fighting for food transparency + food ed,

Stay tuned,

Lindsey
JOFR Super Ambassador


ps

Check out this fake food ingredient I just discovered from the lists: Cinnamaldehyde. Instead of adding real cinnamon, they add this "pesticide" to give applesauce and other foods a cinnamon essence. GROSS.

food nerd alert - a summer repost

nerd alert.  put your pocket protectors on.

just now, robyn o'brien posted this article on facebook and i decided to find and repost this blurb i buried in an early summer post and bring it to life again. as it's the passion behind the cooking love that's driving and compelling me forward everyday and i'm ecstatic to see more articles coming out on this subject.

"what would you do if you weren't afraid?"

it's catching on... the waterfall is spreading...  can you hear it roar?

***

I started this blog with a question:  Will this family food change help improve Abbie's symptoms and avoid an ADHD diagnosis with subsequent medication?  I'm signing off this Summer with my theory on why our family food change helped Abbie shed the ADHD and sensory processing symptoms. Was it the reduction in refined sugar?  The elimination of artificial color and preservatives?  The removal of gluten?  Or was it something else that connected these elements?  Today I'm going to talk about GUTS and connect some dots.

Here we go...

Antibiotics (ABX)
The effects of ABX on our gut bacteria are known by most of us.  Use them too often and they kill off the good AND bad guys in our guts; Think Vietnam agent orange carpet bombing.  Throughout our lives (starting in the womb), we get numerous, sometimes unnecessary (sometimes life saving) doses of ABX.  In addition, our factory farmed animal meat is loaded with it.  ABX make animals big and fat fast and they help animals survive the unnatural conditions of crowded factory farm barns.  How much ABX is left in the meat when we eat it?  More than we think.

Filtering the GMO debate

GMOs have really come into the limelight over the past two years.  I certainly had no idea about them when I started looking into our food.  One must separate genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) first so that we can talk about our guts.  Think of what humans do in GEO's as forced plant sex... we've been doing it by hand in fields and in laboratories for centuries.  On the other hand, GMO's are created when scientists splice a class of herbicides such as glyphosate (the active ingredient in the popular weed killer "Roundup") with the plant seed's own DNA so that every cell of the plant gives off the neurotoxin.  These crops are classified as systemic neoniconitoids (SN-GMOs) and were approved in the glorious 1980's.  Because they are cheap, these crops overwhelm the ingredient lists of our processed food and new research is showing these crops have put the world food supply at risk.  But how could they have been approved in the first place?!  Here's what happened: These herbicides cause a fatal neurological pathway disruption (the shikimate pathway) in plant and bacteria cells which kills them.  This pathway does not even exist in our human cells so it was deemed safe back in the 80's because industry scientists and the FDA were not paying attention to the bacteria in our guts.  Like the tobacco industry, SN-GMO safety has been determined by its own GMO seed industry research, not by independent research = big red flag.  Also, their testing trial length is 90 days = not an appropriate length for human safety standards.

Are you still with me?:)

Enter in the science of Microbiology and the Human Microbiome Project.
Since the 1980s, we have learned much about the microorganisms that inhabit our bodies.  To this day, we have only scraped the surface on the association between our gut bacteria in both healthy and diseased individuals.  Here's the nitty gritty (and read more in this book): Our gut bacteria outnumber our human cells 10-1 in our digestive track.  The loss or weakening of our gut bacteria lining in our intestines = Dysbiosis or "leaky gut syndrome".  Food proteins can then sneak into the blood and these foreign proteins stimulate an immune response in our body = food sensitivities & allergies.  In addition to digestion, we are learning that gut bacteria handles mood regulation, neurotransmitter production (the ADHD brain?) and immune function.  The gut-brain relationship is a glorious new scientific frontier.  Bottom line: Bacteria = the building blocks of earthly life.  Bees, farm animals and humans all have gut bacteria and these little buggers keep us alive.

Connecting Roundup,  SN-GMOs and ABX
Common non-SN-GMO crops such as wheat and sugar are doused with Roundup to kill the crop and hasten the harvest.  Remember that Oregon Farmer who discovered illegal SN-GMO wheat in his fields a few years back? (Monsanto had planted and tested SN-GMO wheat in OR, but alas it was never approved by the FDA).  Imagine the farmer's shock when he sprayed his crop with Roundup and the wheat didn't die... So, not only do we have Roundup and other harmful herbicides INSIDE the DNA of our food protein, but we also have it sprayed all over the OUTSIDE of super common conventional food crops + we may not be able to STOP this crap from spreading in the wild. Yum.  The combination of toxic herbicide load, SN-GMO foreign food proteins and ABX overuse is altering and wiping out our gut bacteria which is leading to a wide range of unintended physical and mental health issues, unique to each person's own DNA.

Our food change worked.  Eating and cooking with real food (and choosing cleaner, organically processed food) helped repair Abbie's guts... all of our guts.   We will continue to avoid fake foods - artificial color and preservatives, SN-GMOs and heavily herbicide ridden foods like the dirty dozen, wheat and refined sugar.  Abbie has food sensitivities to these foods which was causing her symptoms.  We do cheat and symptoms come back, though never as severe.  Turns out we all feel better when we eat clean, and we're certainly slimmer (Me, Chris and my parents have lost a grand total of 75+ pounds with no "dieting").  It's the key to our continued, imperfect success and it's the common thread connecting all of the amazing health success stories I read about every day.  Each of our food maps look different and I'm hoping to give my Abbie, Mac and Tommy a foodie pen so they can write without me someday.  

So where do we go from here?

Spread the word birds: Russia just completely banned GMOs.  And Europe has always either labeled them or banned them (Europe also puts labels on food with artificial color explaining it causes hyperactivity in children).  Americans are unknowingly stuffing our faces with SN-GMOs & fake food because we have no labeling laws and we innocently trust our pisspoor FDA regulated food industry standards.  Read about how the famous Seralini Study has been republished after three rounds of rigorous scientific peer review (after being retracted by an editor who was a former Monsanto employee).  I hope we continue to reach out and hold the hands with the rest of the gathering world on GMOs and labeling laws.  You know what they say, "open hands are hard to hold on to anyway"...  I super hate the ending of Titanic.

I hope you enjoyed and were able to follow my somewhat simple, geeky synopsis.  We have a light on the path that is much brighter than when I started two years ago.  I'm so glad I didn't wait to try cleaning up our food and I'm here to cheer you on.  

Go balls out for real food with me.  You.have.nothing.to.lose.

Don't let the torch go out.  Find your inner nerd.  Read and google about how to achieve strong, stellar gut... 

Find your inner athlete and start practicing in the kitchen.  Don't give up on your meal planning and bring your kids along on some fun cooking runs...  

Become a Food Patriot and start changing the marketplace with every purchase towards food companies you can trust.  YOU make a difference no matter how small a change you are making...  

Join our Food Revolution and help Jamie Oliver, me and the other 1000+ global Food Ambassadors get compulsory food education back into our schools... 

Come on America, let's have a big Food Day together and make our mark on the world as the generation who turned this mother ship around.

***

living & eating real in america

the storms have retreated... but i am always ready for more.  it's winter, so bring it.

did you see the google chat yesterday with the 3 top chef's & "captains" of the food revolution?

i loved watching and listening to jamie oliver, ann cooper and alice waters talk about the future of the food revolution.  here is the link in case you missed it.

i think i audibly sucked in my breath and fogged up the computer screen when a question came in at the end about GMO's.  oye's cubed.

that is such a difficult, complicated... loaded question.  it's a hot seat.

"When future historians come to write about our era they are not going to write about the tons of chemicals we did or didn't apply. When it comes to glyphosate they are going to write about our willingness to sacrifice our children and to jeopardize our very existence by risking the sustainability of our agriculture; all based upon failed promises and flawed science.

The only benefit is that it affects the bottom-line of a few companies. There's no nutritional value."

- dr don huber

if you'd like to read more, here is the mercola article i took that quote from.  read, bookmark and pass this one along.  it is excellent and from 2011 (i still had my head up my ass in 2011).  if you want to research more on your own, google this:  "glyphosate and gut bacteria" 

i love the question that was posed by author michael pollen and the answer given by harry balzer, a food industry expert he interviewed in his book cooked (my current nightstand read):

mp: "how, in an ideal world, might we begin to undo the damage that the modern diet of industrially prepared food has done to our heath?"

hb: "easy, you want americans to eat less?  i have the diet for you.  cook it yourself.  eat anything you want - just as long as you're willing to cook it yourself."

well alrighty then.

jamie, ann and alice answered the OMG-GMO question perfectly.  they are leading the globe in a food revolution to eat more REAL food (organic when you can) from as many local & sustainable sources as possible, to start cooking from scratch with your friends and family and to get food nutrition back in our schools where it belongs.  it takes care of the debate just.like.that.

real work+real food+real play=america's food revolution 2014

let's have some fun while we're working to solve this huge food problem we've gotten ourselves into.

i can change the equation with every dollar i spend.  food patriots don't wait for legislation.  even if one can only make a 10% change to a household budget, it's worth it for our children and the unborn generations to come.

there is no destination... let's start living and eating real in america. 

 "GOT.TO.HAVE.A.CELEBRATION" - FOOD REVOLUTION DAY - MAY 16, 2014


living in america - james brown

what is THAT doing in my food? answers from dr maffini

what is in the food i buy?
where is my food coming from?
how can i increase my cooking gumption?

those are my big.three.questions and since they are probably on your mind too, i thought i'd start some regular posts full of great links and resources around these uber important food revolution challenges.

here are my working titles (perhaps i'll get even more clever...):

what is that doing in my food?

where art thou my chow chow?

get me some cooking gumption


without furthur ado, here are today's lovely links from one of my favorite websites, healthy child.

5 questions on food additives with scientist dr maricel maffini

avoid food dyes to reduce ADHD

how to avoid risky food additives



xoxo

zucchini saves labor day - cookies - salad - lasagna - oh my

that's it, i'm sold.

zucchinis are totes.

i made three recipes over the weekend with these bad boys.

first came the cookies - and i made em TWICE.

second came the salad instagram inspo from my northern wisconsin neighbor and fellow food amabassador, the lovely Thippi Flickenstein.

third came the metamorphosis of her salad into my lasagna.  i love transformers.

there is nothing better than stretching some fresh produce, saving some bucks and your meal planning sanity.  i hope you think these recipes are the cat's banana hammock too.

gf oats.  but i didn't have enough!!!!

so how about some quinoa flakes?  can you believe they make this stuff into flakes and flour!?  you can get either in bulk at whole foods.

my sugar sugars.

dough deliciousness.

three thumbs to the SKY!!!!!  mac is really playing it cool.

you must check out the original recipe and see what i did to it.  i didn't plan on changing it.  but when i went to collect my ingredients, i simply did not have enough so i improvised and swapped out a few more... oh yea, my kitchen=art class.

totes zucchini cookies
adapted from two peas in their pod's zucchini cookies

2 c gf flour blend
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
whisk up together in a bowl until combined.

8 T coconut oil (softened like room temp butter)
1 c coconut palm sugar
1/2 c organic sugar
cream together with a stand or hand held mixer.

2 lg pastured and organic eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 c shredded organic zucchini
add above ingredients into creamed sugar and coconut oil.

1/2 c gf old fashioned oats
1/2 c unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 c quinoa flour or flakes
dump the flour blend/soda/sea salt and the above ingredients into the bowl and mix until well combined.

3/4 c mini chocolate chips (enjoy life brand)
yea, don't forget these:)

preheat oven to 350 degrees (i used my convection setting).  Bake for 8 min.  if you use normal oven setting, prob 12 minutes... just check it before you wreck it.

so then came this sweet facebook post from Thippi and i whipped up her little dream boat on labor day.

Thippi's cucumber OR zucchini salad

2-3 lg organic cucumbers or zucchinis sliced, halved or quartered
1 pint garden cherry tomatoes halved
3 T fresh basil roughly chopped
3 T fresh mint roughly chopped (thanks becky for sharing your garden with me!!!)
3 T fresh parsley (i didn't have any)
1/2 c capers (oh just add as much as you want)
1/4-1/2 red onion thinly sliced (ditto)
1/2 c each evoo & balsamic vinegar (i think... i honestly just eyeballed it so you can do that too!!)
s&p to taste

mix it all up.  dunzo.

and then when you have leftovers... chop it up all nice and fine and make some lasagna!!

freshly chopped organic spinach.

blurred spinach lines.

here is the lasagna recipe inspo from ohsheglows.com.

before you get all crazy on me and freak out, i too would have slapped you across the face if you told me to make a lasagna without cheese.  so here's the dealio: i still top mine off with some really great italian imported sheep's cheese called cacio de roma (it acts just like mozzarella) and perhaps a little romano, maybe manchego... oh yes please.  goat and sheep's cheeses are the only dairy we have in the house nowadays and we use as little as possible... kinda like sugar:)

do i miss all the cheese in my life?  i truly love it so.  and here are the reasons we aren't a big cheesy family anymore:

#1 i do not miss my zits.
#2 abbie prefers a cheese free and cow's milk free environment.
#3 mac has an intolerance to cow's milk (he is fine with goat and sheep).
#4 tommy loves the cheese we buy.
#5 this rabbit hole i like to read about on the milk debate.  oye.

poor chris.  he still loves my "old" lasagna and really misses it.  he says this one gets sort of close... thumbs up and sideways from my four love bugs.  my mother and father-in-law came over and shared this dish with us too!  mary is a big fan of zucchini (yes!) and larry i love you for eating it and it was a big complement when you said, "it's not bad lindsey!"  i loves you for eating my new all veggie and gluten free creation.

so there you go.  if you have a reason to knock out or limit the cheese in your life, this is a way to go.

or, simply use your own tried and true recipe and add in the zucchini and spinach.  here is the lasagna recipe that i used to make.

no matter what lasagna floats your boat, go get your apron ON!!  it's your from scratch lasagna creation, and you make it the way YOU WANT:)  i hope i gave you some inspiring ideas!

...sorry i forgot to take a picture of the finished creation.  this place just gets too busy sometimes:)

ps

i couldn't resist.  my green smoothie looked like our lake:)  so gross but sooo good.

and you MUST bookmark this handy definitions list compiled by kidsorganics.com.  i sure did.

annoyed by hearing "gluten free" yet?  HA!  here's mark sisson's take on the gluten free trend.  

hangin onto summer's last breaths.  cheers babycakies.

xoxo

chop chop chop

this innovative non-profit chop chop mag came in the mail yesterday and it is seriously fab.  not only can mac and abbie read it and follow the 15 recipes included (no ads, super cute activity pages and tons of hands on pics!!), but hello... i like simple, fast and clean on my cutting board.  anything to help me get dinner on the table easier.  yippy skippy to my lou:)  

subscribe here: chop chop in my mailbox please

trying this: vegan chocolate avocado cookies

watching this: cbs news video tackles our unauthorized GMO wheat problem (and here's an article about it too if you'd rather put your spectacles on).

reading this: target is rolling out a new non-GMO natural and organics line!!!  they must miss my face:)

what's up with our wheat willis?!

whatchu talking about willis!?

that phrase always has me cracking up... it's a goodie from childhood:)

wanted to catch you all up with the food babe's latest update on the soap opera saga with kraft food going on.  yet another major allergy food is getting closer to the GMO grouping.  (check out this great blog post from Lauren Minchen Nutrition that discusses the foods that i'm talking about to bring you up to speed.  i don't think it's a coincidence that milk (cow's are fed GMO corn), soy, peanuts and now wheat are the country's highest allergy causing foods.)

you go food babe... i would like some answers too:)

food babe: new york times investigating gmo wheat labeling found in UK kraft mac & cheese

a healthy child ebook link to love

i just came across this wonderful ebook:

easy steps to eating healthy & safe foods

it comes from one of my favorite websites of late, healthychild.org.  you can pretty much find resources on just about anything and i just had to pass this little ditty to the mullies.

ride like the wind bullseye!!

bye bye fake foods

i feel the tape between my glasses today and i turned my printer on.  oh and maybe i'll warm up my arm and perhaps my jump shot too to get some fake food into my garbage can... 

some good info to watch, read and chew on today.

alleged food dye, ADHD link - CBS reports

i just printed this for my purse:  bookmark this food additive cheat sheet

birke baehr's TED speech

birke baehr is 11 years old and i love his ted speech helping to educate us on why we need know where our food is coming from.  when my kids hear another kid talking about real food, they listen.  i do too.

when i started our food change, i had no idea what a genetically modified ingredient was.  i consider this our phase 2 of cleaning out my fridge and pantry:  a gmo shopping guide.

i keep wanting to put my fingers in my ears and squeeze my eyes shut tight and say, la la la la la la la... just block it all out.  it's so overwhelming to try and safely navigate the grocery store.  i just keep plugging along here.

news flash:  a recent story about earth balance products just hit the waves (thank you megan for bringing to my attention) and i'm just so frustrated.  this gets us mamas HOT.  meg is a parent of a child with severe allergies and clean products are so hard to come by!

i knew that the earth balance soy free buttery spread wasn't "real" because it was in essence a processed margarine spread.  but it boasts its products to be "non-gmo" and "natural" so i was willing to give it a pass since i have been avoiding soy and dairy with the kids: earth balance non-gmo committment.  we've been happily buying the soy free buttery spread and the vegan buttery sticks for over 7 months now.  i have made many many things with earth's balance spread and buttery sticks.  it tastes good, cooks & bakes well.  it's hard to give up the idea of "butter".

when i read this yesterday, i just put my head in my hands.

earth balance betrays consumers with false gmo claims

i really feel duped!!  what can i believe?  are they telling the truth or not?  the comments are certainly interesting.

so here's where i'm at now.  it's just not real enough for my family anymore.  i'm moving on.  true or false, i'm done.

hello coconut oil, i love you more every day.  i started researching and learning about my oils this morning and here are some great links i have bookmarked:

a handy cooking oil comparison guide

U of K integrative medicine's amazing cooking oil guide - this one is the best i've ever read - printing!

i'm going to try something new.  something i've read about but just disregarded because it sounded so darn weird.  ghee.  i bought my first glass tub and i'm pretty excited about experimenting with it.  i want to avoid dairy lactose and casein and since this does not have either, it might just fit the mullies bill.

i tried putting it on mac's toast yesterday and he did not like it.  darnit!!  so i'm going to try it in other things:  cooking & baking and perhaps someday they might get used to the slightly different taste.  i personally think it has a lovely taste and am very intrigued...  i'll keep you posted on my new ghee adventures:)  

byebye fake food...  did i tell you i love to throw things? 

xoxo

ps

liz, kate, caryl, courtney and carrie that video was for you.  go cats!!!!!

are GMO's connecting us to the dying bees?

now isn't that a doozy of a question!

a little GMO-ness for your reading pleasure.

understanding GMO's and the Monsanto Protection Act

since we don't have any pets at our house, i never thought about how the Monstanto Act & GMO's could effect our pets...thankfully this bill will expire in 6 months and hopefully, it will never pass again.

could this be a little reverse psychology on the part of mr. Prez?  well, i sure couldn't think of a better way to wake us all up...so bravo if it works:)  at first breath i was furious at the bill signing, but it may turn out to be an act of brilliance...can't wait to see what happens in 6 months.

and isn't this nytimes article just the bees knees?  it sure helped me to connect the dots...hope it does for you too.

soaring bee deaths and the link to pesticide infused seeds (GMO's)

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-ing for spring, flowers and lots of bumblebees.

xo


ps

here's what 100daysofrealfood had to say & their tips on how to avoid them in your food:  gmo's & the monsanto protection act

just breathe....and look forward to some sunshine.  it's coming, can't you feel it?

more me loves lattes - a video tutorial

the best part of this was who taped me.

my bowl of oranges.

i nestled my phone amongst the juicy orange balls and shot my first "me=goober" video.  and let me tell you, those oranges didn't laugh at me at all.  it was great having a captive, silent audience.

i chose my dairy free latte for two reasons: #1 - because i love it so much  #2 - it's the single most frequently asked question: "how in the world (or insert your own fun word here) do you live without dairy milk?  ...the sheer blasphemy of it all!  so, here i am again with my crazy-good-dairy-free concoction.  you can find the previous post about my love affair here.

we don't have any dairy milk in the house.  mac was highly allergic to it as a baby, abbie has always disliked it.  so, it wasn't very hard for me to cut it out of the kids' diets.  my diet though...that was another story.  me = kicking and screaming.

the straight jacket didn't stay on long and i'm now a much saner, zit-free version of my previous self.

i drink, bake and cook with this rice/coconut milk combination with spectacular results.

here she is - my virgin, 1-take, orange-assisted video:)  happy monday fun day.

aaaaaAAAAAND ACTION!

me loves lattes video tutorial

ps 

some links for your weekly reading:

part 2 - an interview with robyn o'brien from 100daysofrealfood

food babe investigates: american food companies exploiting americans...but not other countries

12 scary things in your food

would you like some extra ractopamine with your pork? gross.

tuesday links to love

some of the links i'm lovin today - hope you like em too:)


the food babe and coca cola's new low calorie beverages

the non-gmo project - does my food product have genetically modified ingredients?

cooking more?  an essential guide to kitchen supplies

clean eatin snack attack:  apple sandwiches please

delicious chicken recipe i can't wait to try




ps

major props to an amazing hot mama and papa pair - nina and ismeal are workin a food change baby!
so excited for operation cream puff.
waterfallin...

help for the grocery store!!!

oh dolly miss molly.

does the grocery store overwhelm you?  can't figure out the science experiment words on labels and haven't had the time to make a cheat cheat...who has the time to do that anyway!?

here is a link to tribe wellness's favorite clean food apps so you can start rocking your pantry and the pants off of your peeps.

a must read review of real food & clean eating shopping apps

i can't wait to try one out!





image via mix-marketplace.com