The Daily Fuss

Food Sense Part I: What Are We Eating?

In previous food-related discussions, I've mentioned how we strive to eat well in the Freeman house. We have a few simple rules by which we do our best to abide. 

• Organic whenever possible.
• Lots of fruits and veggies - grow them in the summer garden.
• Keep packaged goods to a minimum.
• If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it.
• Use a variety of whole grains.
• We make our own whole wheat bread (well, Mary Poppins makes it, and it's delicious), and I've been making yogurt lately - mostly for fun and because I can.
• Vegetarian dinners a few nights each week.
• Eat red meat rarely.
• Know where your food comes from.
• Keep sugar to a minimum. This one is incredibly tough.
• Everything in moderation.

Of course, we occasionally buy snacks for lunches and the kids can have fruit/veggie juice blends (which do have sugar). We also get into ruts from time to time where we find ourselves eating the same things.

We love wine and cheese and any strict diet that eliminates certain food groups would be completely lost on us. i.e. Virgin, South Beach, Perricone, Paleo etc. So far, the Mediterranean diet has the easiest guidelines for us to follow and I rely on that mentally when ordering out at restaurants.

I think we are reasonable, but we're also indulgent. Our grocery budget hovers in the range of $1,000 per month. (This includes beverages - namely red wine and various household items such as light bulbs and toilet paper).

I will get produce, frozen fruit for smoothies, cheeses, condiments and some limited meats from Costco. For example, they have organically fed chicken (breasts) that taste great. I don't have much luck with that most other places, but Costco has so much other crap, I dread the trip.  We get the rest of what we need from Peapod or a local grocer.

I find grocery shopping to be an absolute chore, which is why I actually prefer to do it online. Most of the commercial or packaged food in stores has little nutritional value (at best) or (at worst) is inedible. Health experts aren't kidding when they stay "stick to the perimeter" of the grocery store. It's those middle aisles that will be the end of us.

But the packaging is so pretty. [SIGH]

I understand that many people live on a tight budget. I am also aware that colorful boxes of food product that barely contain actual food are less expensive than real food - building blocks of a meal that must be assembled and/or cooked prior to consumption.

That's a lot of work. But it's worth it.

According to commercials, Americans want tasty food that's inexpensive, won't spoil quickly, can be prepared in minutes and won't make you fat. 

Good luck.

It must be true, because so much of what's stacked up and down the aisles caters to those desires.

The Food Network is currently airing a Walmart commercial to show people an alternative to fast food for lunch. I thought to myself, "How responsible of them, to send the message that fast food is utter garbage." Alas no. The "alternative" was a Hot Pocket and soda - a full meal you can pack for your self that only costs $2.00!

To suggest someone should buy a case of these horrific get bombs and consume them daily is, well,  silly.

If I think too much about what's in food, I start unraveling. Packaged junk is one thing. And, it's fairly easy to eliminate.

However, when I factor in the importing of food from other countries with lower quality standards, the inability to track the origin of meats and vegetables, irradiated foods, apples that sit in gas chambers to prevent ripening for a year or more, inhumane treatment of animals in slaughterhouses, states passing anti-whistleblower statues criminalizing the videotaping of activities in various facilities, gases released from melting polar ice caps, tainted water supplies, the billions of tons of garbage floating around in the ocean, genetically modified food, grain fed animals, improper labeling, hormones in milk, and contaminated meats, fish and produce ... I lose my appetite completely.

What I listed above is not propaganda. It's real. And, it's really easy to ignore if you don't want to see it. 

The true propaganda lies in the commercials and packaging and advertising that leads us to believe that food is food and it should be cheap and fast and not make you fat and/or kill you at some point. 

Yes. We can talk about how diets based predominantly on salt, fat and sugar cause cancer and diabetes and acid reflux and obesity and heart disease and a number of other things that lead to an early death. But we'll stick to packaged foods for today.

If you don't believe me, see if you can identify these ten, common, packaged foods by their ingredients. I did them in the form of Wordles to make it visually appealing.  The larger the word, the more it appears on the package.

Keep in mind that the ingredient list does not need to include compounds used to "clean" meats, chemically create other substances and/or oil and clean processing machines. For example, cane sugar is often whitened using charcoal from the bones of cows. Gross.Vegan sugar is made without this process and is thusly Vegan.

 

1. Popular Lunch Meat

2. For many kids, this is their entire breakfast most days.

3. Pop this in the microwave, grab a Mountain Dew, and apparently you have an entire "meal" for under $2.

4. Breakfast on the go. You can get these frosted or not.

5. Canned O's. Admittedly, these aren't quite as bad as I thought.

6.  This is actually three items together to create one of America's favorite sandwiches to serve kids.

7. This little snack bar is in my pantry. Well ... it was until I read the label closely.

8. Kids drink this - according to sales numbers. I have only ever tried it once and I think it's super gross. The commercials suggest the sun comes out when this beverage does.

9. Two words. Cheese. Product. 

10. This one is particularly shameful because it's an uber popular diet food. It's always on sale and, according to the label, milk is basically an afterthought. Hint: I make my own.

This all may seem a bit harsh, but eating these packaged food wouldn't be such a big deal if they were an exception, rather than the rule. I blame the 1950's and the ensuing acquiescence to lazy living. The 50's (the dawn of convenience items for the modern housewife) gave us everything from tv dinners to the Fridigdaire. Preservatives and packed freezers allowed us to keep food longer and make it faster. Luckily, the current decade has seen the rebirth of the agrarian - a trend I hope continues. 

ANSWERS

1. Bologna

I chose this because it is inexpensive compared to whole cuts of meat. And, the commercially packaged bologna is reminiscent of the "pink slime" expose we have likely all seen. I personally prefer cuts of meat from a single animal. It leaves almost zero room to add any filler or crazy bits. You need to go straight to the butcher for this. There are fancy bolognas you can get from the butcher. However, if the frankenmeat is patched together, I believe it's better just to skip it. There are just too many points of failure there. 

2. Golden Grahams

Commercial cereals kill me because the main selling point is that you can get a large percentage of your much-needed vitamins and minerals in a serving of cereal. The reality is any cereal that tastes "good" (especially to a kid) is nothing more than bleached flour and sugar "fortified" with powdered vitamin compounds. Grains should be whole, rather than heavily processed, sugar has no nutritional value and real live fruits and veggies (along with a healthy dose of sunlight) offer more vitamins than that cereal.

3. Philly Steak and Cheese Hot Pocket

You could not PAY me to put a hot pocket into my body. Don't misunderstand, I am not above eating junk food on occasion. In fact, Filet O'Fish is my favorite pregnancy indulgence. However, there is not enough sodium or high fructose corn syrup in the world to make a Hot Pocket taste good. It just isn't possible. Aside from salt and a number of things I can't pronounce, a package of two Philly Steak and Cheese Hot Pockets contains 740 calories, 36 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, only 2 grams of fiber and zero vegetables. 

4. Pop Tarts

Pop Tarts are palatable if toasted to a crisp, but make no mistake, they are pure junk - basically sugar, oil and a mixture of refined corn and wheat. In the world of baked goods, you would generally expect to see flour, sugar, butter, baking soda, fruit and an extract (vanilla, orange, lemon). That's about it. Maybe vegetable oil. The fact that these toaster treats have a long shelf life (and the fact that it likely costs three cents to produce one tart) is the driver for the shenanigans on the label.

5. SpaghettiOs

I have eaten these once. They taste like noodles with catsup (not ketchup). My children will never konw what these are. Although, the label proved a better read than I thought. I do see tomato and onion on the label and, like cereal, there are quite a few powdered vitamins in the mix. Why so much oil, I wonder? The downside is that if you feed this to your kids, they may start to think pasta is supposed to taste like sugary, buttered ketchup noodles. If you're going to do canned or jarred pasta, at least throw a pasta bomb in to assuage the associated guilt.

6. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Everyone loves PB&J, including me. Let's just not fool ourselves into thinking this is anything more than dessert. You can eat dessert for a meal. We have cake for breakfast after birthday parties. There is no shame. Just don't do it all the time. The ingredient Wordle for this is Jif, Smuckers Strawberry Preserves and Brownberry Bread. Right behind peanuts and strawberries, the top ingredients are high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar and salt. Peanuts have protein, but they are the least sophisticated sibling in the nut family. If you can't live without PB&J, go for a peanut butter made with naturally sweet valencia peanuts as the only ingredient( CostCo carries it) and a fruit spread with less sugar. 

7. Special K Pastry Crisps

There are just way too many ingredients in these. They are tiny Pop Tarts. It's a "lazy" item in our pantry. I am never buying them again.

8. Sunny D

There isn't anything remotely resembling fruit juice in here. I'm not sure I would even let the girls drink this at a birthday party. I'm not sure they would drink it if I let them try it. 

9. Velveeta

At least "milk" and other cheese related ingredients show up on the label of this admitted "cheese product". As a Wisconsin native, this and basically any "American Cheese" offends my sensibilities. I do buy Kraft singles for grilled cheese, but it's against my better judgment. We use real cheese for sandwiches.

10. Yoplait Light "Yogurt"

 This one is just plain ridiculous. The tag line is, "Yoplait Light makes healthier eating SO good." Healthier than what? Real yogurt please. In the "unwanted ingredients department" Yoplait light is right on par with the Muller Fruit Up containing tilapia. 

Why Did You Put That Up Your Nose?

This morning, Mairin was playing with a necklace she had made - basically a fat, bright-pink shoelace with colorful, chunky beads strung on it.

She was quiet for a moment (never a good sign).

MAIRIN: "I lost the pink bead, mama."

ME: "Where did it go?"

MAIRIN: "In my nose."

I remained as calm as possible and inspected my little prankster.

It didn't look like she had anything jammed up in her nose. However, when I gently palpitated the side of her right nostril, sure as anything, there was a hard lump.

Luckily, she didn't pack it up in there. I knew it was a smooth little object and after a few quick downward strokes, it fell out.

ME: Deep breath. "Why did you do that?" 

MAIRIN: "I don't know. I just wanted to try it."

ME: "Will you ever do that again?"

MAIRIN: "No. NEVER. I was scared (pronounced skee-ad)."

I'm not sure why I even asked her why she did it. I knew the answer.

I knew the answer because almost everyone I know has had a similar experience - both as a parent and as a curious child.

I wedged a raisin up my nose when I was three. By the time we removed it, it was a grape. Just this morning, my nanny confided that her parents fished a band-aid out of her nose, and my neighbor ... a pea. 

I'm sure none of us knew why we did it, other than the obvious fact that it seemed like a good idea at the time. Experts have a few theories of their own.

“This is how children investigate their environment,” said Dr. Jonathan Powell, a pediatrician with Resurrection Medical Group in Chicago. “When they are babies, they stick everything in their mouth. As they get a little older, they try other places. It’s very common.”

Dr. Michael Pitt, the director of the Pediatric Convenient Care Clinic at Lurie’s Children’s Hospital of Chicago, said this happens most often in kids between the ages of one and six.

“I think there’s a misconception that boys do this more than girls but that’s not the case,” Pitt said. “For items found in the ears, it’s equal between girls and boys, but for the nose, it’s 2 to 1 (ratio) girls.”

The most common things found in the nose, Pitt said, are Barbie shoes. Other popular items, according to Pitt and Powell, include Legos, beads, seeds, coins and erasers. 

If you find yourself in this situation as a parent, all on-line research indicates that you should not attempt to remove the object by putting anything up into your child's nose - such as a Q-Tip or tweezers.  Tweezers may be used by a medical practitioner, but generally a last resort as nasal cartilage is delicate in a wee one and can be damaged easily.

From my cursory research, other methods a doctor may use to remove an object include magnets (for metallic objects), oil (should an insect be the object), holding one nostril shut and having the child blow, or holding the nostril shut and having the parent puff lightly into the child's mouth with their own (Mother's Kiss technique). 

The bottom line is, if your child puts a foreign object in his or her nose, you may find yourself at the doctor's office.

And, if you simply must ask "Why did you do this?" Fully expect the answer to be a resounding, "I don't know."

Safe Fall

We (by "we" I mean mostly Ryan with help from my dad) erected a massive play set in our backyard. It was much bigger than the previous - quite a sturdy situation, in fact.

It has swings and slide and climbing wall and a rope wall thingy and a playhouse with working shutters and a chimney and dormers and ... you could fall off of it and die it's so big.

Did you know that falling on grass can cause head injuries and bodily damage tantamount to a fall on concrete?

If you were not aware, unfortunately you are now.

Due to this bit of information, I didn't want anyone to play on the imposing structure until we laid at least six inches of something relatively soft beneath it. (Luckily, it rained that week).

What to pick? Gravel? Wood chips? Mulch? Sand?

I found this handy dandy guide to playground surfaces in the instruction manual for my Gorilla play set. So I went with it.

Since I could not find such a succinct and on-point chart anywhere else quickly, I thought I'd share.

We chose rubber mulch (6" depth), which is basically shredded tires. It looks great (better than my natural mulch on most days) and is so soft and bouncy, I am no longer terrified when the girls ascend the ladder. 

Tilapia Fruit Mousse

It doesn't take much for me to get skeeved out about the food situation in our fair country.

If you haven't seen Food, Inc. (a documentary released in 2010) you should. It put a finer point on some things I already knew about the business of food in America. It's interesting.

And, based on facts.

Facts are good.

Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) was one of Bill Maher's guests on Real Time last night. He made a point to mention federal funding cuts for real food programs and adding obesity to the list of "diseases" covered by insurance companies.

He was also there to promote his new book, Cooked, the basic premise of which is that we should spend less time watching cooking shows and more time cooking food of our own.

The bottom line - it's a shame that we are turning attention to the result of crappy eating, instead of the real problem - that corporate america makes most of the convenient foods Americans eat.

Corporate goals are related to the bottom line, not how big my bottom is or how unhealthy I am. It's about money, not health, and I'm out. As much as I can be ... I'm out.

If that wasn't enough of a reminder, a friend posted a picture of something GROSS on Facebook that served as the exclamation point of the evening. Check out the ingredients for Muller Fruit Ups, below. Pay particular attention to the last line in bold.

I am just fine with plain old yogurt and fruit. I do not need "fruit mousse" which apparently gets its froth from TILAPIA. 

Yuck.

I know it's on the label, thankfully. But not everyone reads every label every time. And I feel confident that NO ONE is expecting to see Tilapia in a Fruit Up.

And, is it cooked? Raw? Bleached? Washed? I imagine it's like using raw egg white to whip up  a froth, but it's fish? Or could it be like the pink slime we have all come to understand is the basis for so much processed meat? 

I marched over to the fridge and studied my Chobani labels.

 While Chobani has absolutely NOTHING wierd in it, it got me thinking. Why don't I just make my own yogurt? It doesn't seem too terribly expensive or time consuming.

And so, I am officially adding "Make My Own Yogurt" to this summer's To Do List right next to "Read Nutrition Labels Three Times" and "Eat Raw Foods Whenever Possible to Avoid Having to Rely on Nutrition Labels At All".

Mom Enough

I must admit that my first reaction to the cover of this magazine was, "I don't get it. What's the problem?" My nanny then pointed out to me that the child is "quite old," to which I slowly replied, "Huh. I guess he's probably four-ish."

This cover and the title of the related story "Are You Mom Enough" is causing more of a stir than Alicia Silverstone's premastication video blog.

The article is about attachment parenting and Dr. Sears - the man who defined it. Key components of attachment parenting include (among other things) co-sleeping, breastfeeding, letting your child dictate its schedule and the like.

You can take the TIME quiz on parenting styles here for free if you are wondering where you fall on the attachment parenting spectrum.

Questions swirling about the blogosphere fall largely into the category of, "What is TIME trying to do?" and "Has TIME gone too far?"

Shock and awe aside, the article and its provocative title/photo combo illuminates a heightened sense of parenting in our culture these days. And it makes sense, as a wave of "natural parenting" has washed over us in the last decade.

Breastfeeding is back in vogue - to the point that we have a secondary market for human milk. Organic food has become more widely available and less expensive. The BPA scare boosted the sale of glass baby bottles and spurred the elmination of its use. Baby wearing  is all the rage. Throngs of children are not properly vaccinated, either timely or at all, due to fear and mystery surrounding autism.

The list goes on.

In the wake of the women's liberation movement, the main devisive issue for moms was whether or not to work outside the home. The debate pitted the working mom against the stay-at-home mom and many an Oprah-esque argument ensued.

It was so much simpler then, when one side felt it damaging to leave children without mom for more than a few hours and the other felt that children need to see their moms do more than just take care of them.

I really do believe that we Americans are culturally enlightened enough to get past our own jealousies and insecurities to see the positives and drawbacks inherent in either situation. We now have the SAHM (Stay At Home Mom); the WoMo (Working Mom); the WAHM (Work At Home Mom) and seemingly no apology from any party as to the label.

With progress comes new challenges. And, as we open up the idea of "natural" motherhood we rely on "mother's intuition" in ways that, frankly, piss off our pediatricians. Maybe we shouldn't believe everything we're told. Maybe we shouldn't trust the system as much as we do.

With rapid exchange of information in these times, we've seen that the system doesn't always work. Is controlled breathing all I need to get me through childbirth? Can I have a glass of wine? What's in that formula? What's in that vaccine? If the risk of SIDS is really higher when baby sleeps alone? What hormones were fed to that cow? Does the sugar in juice really cause obesity and eat your brain?

The motherhood playing field has shifted dramatically and it's more devisive than ever. It's become the game of mothers judging each other for doing specific things that will ostensibly harm their children in some way. For me, this article is less about Dr. Sears, and more about jumpstarting that dormant conversation.

You know ... the one I'm having right now.

Moms, in honor of our upcoming day of motherly celebration, let's all relax. Being a mom is a tough job and we shouldn't judge each other for the choices we make.

I take the un-apologetic approach to parenting. We do what works for us and the kids always come first. Here's our parenting style in a nutshell:

The girls have a routine. They behave better when they know what's coming next. Our nanny is better at keeping the routine than Ryan and I.

Mairin comes in our bed between midnight and two am. She still nurses at night at 15 months. We eat as well as we can. We try different foods. If we don't like it, we need to try it again later. We drink juice on occasion. We have dessert.

We have rules and strive to be orderly, but our house gets messy. A lot. In the name of projects and art and more projects, we get messy.

We don't tolerate meaness. We allow for self-expression and understand that we need to choose our battles and try not to make a big deal out of too many things.

We have Disney movies and princess stuff and sports stuff and instruments and try to maintain a balance. We don't say things are "boy things" or "girl things". We have dance parties and movie nights.

We always say "I love you" and never NEVER EVER take each other for granted.

So take that Dr. Sears, Time magazine and defiant breastfeeding cover mom. You can't define my parenting style in such strict terms. Even if you are just trying to sell some magazines.

Michelle Oh-Mama

According to the Surgeon General's latest report on obesity, Americans are heavier than ever. The report shows that two-thirds of adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese. Obesity in the U.S. more than doubled among adults and more than tripled among children and adolescents in my lifetime. And, if the trend continues at this rate, more than half of all Americans will be obese in ten years. HOLY HELL!

Sounds like a full-on, legitimate, put-the-fork-down crisis to me.

Michelle Obama, with the help of our leading governmental authorities on health and nutrition, has a new plan to solve the childhood brand of obesity. As a first step, she beseeched local governments to help educate kids about healthy eating and provide more nutritional food choices in public schools.

General sentiment holds adults entirely responsible for the choices they make with regard to what they eat. However, American children, the vast majority of whom spend their weekdays in public schools, are subject to foods purchased and prepared with tax dollars. This apparent lack of decision-making ability thusly requires federal government intervention. Right?

Wrong ... or ... sort of, actually. Focusing on kids is a great first move. But without parental buy-in, any initiative to slim down the kiddos will fail for a multitude of reasons:

1) Adults (not children) make the most impactful dietary decisions in the home and set the most important example.

Sure, they're alarmingly chubbier than their adult counterparts these days, but kids don't (and shouldn't) make the big decisions about the foods they consume. They don't have jobs (until later in adolescence) or regularly shop for groceries. Moreover, they lack the discipline to limit video game time or the ability to head to the park by themselves for a jog whenever the mood strikes them. THEY ARE KIDS.

Children learn by example from their families. We've known forever that if parents don't see the value in something, their kids rarely do either.  Without a broader family focus, concentrating on these young, impressionable non-decision makers is a likely waste of resources.

2) To convince adults that they can and should eat healthier, their misconceptions about proper nutrition and who's responsible for delivering it must change.

Educating children about nutrition and exercise make shave a few pounds off of America's collective youth. Or, it could have the completely opposite effect. If poorly informed parents feel that their kids are getting "healthy" lunches at school, then the pizza rolls and tater tots they feed them at home aren't such a big deal.  Pop Tarts for breakfast and Juicy Juice at dinner will be even more acceptable for parents who feel that their children's nutritional needs are being met elsewhere. Nutrition will become another school responsibility, much like the reading that many parents don't do with their kids after school. Go ahead and play World of Warcraft, you had gym class this week, right?

Of course I believe that children should have access to good food and physical activity through school programs, as much as they should have textbooks. I'm just saying that if we're going to dump tax dollars into a program to battle childhood obesity, we must start with the PARENTS and it doesn't help that the current system sets those parents up to fail.

3) Grown-ups need assistance from an unbiased regulatory system to level the playing field and make real, healthy, whole food accessible and affordable, even when compared to super-processed, ultra-fast alternatives.

We have our work cut out for us with the group that actually is responsible for feeding the household. It's just not possible for the average American adult to make an informed buying decision about food in a ruthlessly mechanized environment where highly processed items are subsidized to the point that chips and soda cost less than non-genetically modified tomatoes or organic lettuce. Well, not without doing a lot of research before heading to the supermarket anyway.

Holding individuals 100% accountable for choosing a McDonalds' $1 double cheeseburger over fresh veggies is silly in some respects.  The fact that McDonalds can buy meat, cheese and a bun, get it to their restaurant, cook it, assemble it and serve it for ONE DOLLAR is absurd. Forget the fact that they own the restaurant and pay obscene amounts of money to advertise said burger. This is only one small example of what's broken about the business of feeding America. Still, nearly every example I can conjure reveals food industry obstacles (promulgated by poor regulation) that deter us from making healthy choices and instead point us toward convenient, processed and unhealthy food.

4) It's not just about how much we weigh, it's about how healthy and how committed to change we are.

It's impossible to to discuss Michelle Obama's plan without mentioning the manner in which she delivered it. Last week, Michelle Obama waged war against childhood obesity at an event in Alexandria, Va.  In an effort to personalize her initiative, the First Lady openly discussed concerns raised by her daughters' pediatrician (at some point in the past) that Sasha and Malia were becoming overweight.

"We went to our pediatrician all the time," Obama said. "I thought my kids were perfect -- they are and always will be -- but he [the doctor] warned that he was concerned that something was getting off balance."

She went on to say that it can be difficult to notice changes (like weight gain) in our own kids because we're so close to them and love them no matter what. She pointed out some changes that were simple, but very effective to help her own girls be healthier - replacing sugary drinks in lunch boxes and serving more vegetables with dinner.

Obama's thoughtful message was muddled by rumblings in the media and blogosphere alike, criticizing public discussion of her daughters' "weight issues". See Should Michelle Obama Talk About Girls' Brush With Fat?, Is It Okay to Talk About Your Daughters' Weight If It's for the National Good? and Did Michelle Obama Send the Wrong Message With Obesity Comments?.

You simply cannot solve a problem without first facing it. If we aren't willing to listen to a mother talk about her own struggle to feed healthy food to her family without berating her, we aren't going to get very far in the fight for health in the US. Weight isn't the root of the problem; it's a byproduct of a failed system. Making the discussion of weight taboo, is not helpful. However, talking about it can shed some light on why we're carrying around so much of it, and what we can do to lose it.

Accountability is at the root of much success in life, especially when there is an obstacle to overcome. Our government needs to regulate the farm/food industry to create a path for individuals that leads to health and success. Individuals must then create their plan for a healthier family, talk about it A LOT and commit to it. 

I await the rest of the First Lady's plan with cautious optimism that it is comprehensive enough to tackle the issues outlined above and shift the current trajectory to favor a thinner, healthier future for America.

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