Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

 VS

Have you ever looked at the ingrediants to the ice cream your dishing into a bowl and wondered what the in the world half the stuff being listed is?

Truth is we don't understand half the stuff we put into our mouths.

The phrase you are what you eat is not a metaphor.. but a fact.. what ever you put into your mouth become a part of you. You absorb its nutrients and fats. You ingest whatever it is that is floating in your super delux cheese burger… or that dietary safe frozen dinner.

Chances are if its hot and fast, its bad and unhealthy not matter what the box says. The ingrediants list is the only thing on that Lean Cuisine/Tostinos/Stoufers/Healthy choice box that tells the truth.

Turkey/pepperoni/chicken/steak/ flavored meat!

What is that!

Guacamole/onion FLAVORED dip!

What is that!

Most of the time its a bunch of sugars, fats and salts mixed together for a synthetic taste. Your body naturally craves salt so when it doesn't taste like real guacamole you don't care.. you just connected with the salin-ish taste and kept eating cause it was yummy.

There are a multitude of reasons why its hard to eat healthy;
Changing eating habits is as hard as quitting smoking.

We are like any other addict… we don't know that we have a problem with eating natural 'flavored' foods untill some one points it out.

Well I am totally pointing it out!!

I know that when your in college sometimes tostinos pizzas and michelina's frozen dinners are all you can afford at 50 cents to a dollar a pop.

It's hard. I empathize. Right now you can't afford to eat healthy.. Just get into the habit of watching your ingrediants. That way when you are able to buy the foods that are organically healthy, you'll know what to stray away from

When you live at home with family who are not ingrediant savvy (this is my challenge) it's hard to get them to understand, and if and when they do.. its hard to get them to want to change.

Make special suggestions. Ask for certain foods. Eat only meat is not processed and fresh veggies.  Or go veggie for a while (just keep an eye on protein and make sure you get vitamins needed for vegitarians)

The transition from flavored food to healthy food is hard because most of this food we've grown up on is salted to emphasis taste. It may even seem bland at the first couple of bites. Give yourself a chance to like it. Don't always judge a flavor by the first taste.

Once I find some more info on eating organically healthy I'll post some sites and what not.. untill then

Happy feasting,
Ashley

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

Ashley, you make a very important point.Infact many.I've been learning how to eat healthy. I never thought about food like that it is just like an addiction.It's crazy how people never relize. 

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

Ewwwwww!  Eww eww eww!  :: runs around holding his tummy ::  How do people eat that stuff?  I will never regret the day I decided to start eating organically…

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

Sometimes people don't have a choice.
I know I didn't up untill we were able to get food stamps.
Thats why I bought my own lettuce and tomato plants.
I still had some onion and potatoes left over.. but who knew how long it was going to be before I would be able to get back to my sweet sweet organics.

Thank gawsh my gramma at least catered to my organic milk. I can't stand the regular kind. I am so lucky for that.

But now we have the awesomeness of free food!!
And I can totally hook it up with fresh veggies and stuff.
My mom pretty much lets me pick out what we eat cause I cook like a ninja. She also wants to start getting healthy.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

Hehehehe.  Once I get my debit card from Chacha, I'm going to be buying my own food too.  I want to get a fridge in my room to keep all my foods in once my bed is out of here.  I have a year's worth of Vegetarian Magazine my grandmother signed me up for.  I intend to learn how to cook some awesome vegetarian meals.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

That is awesome.
Maybe when things get cookin you can tell us your fav veggie receipes!

That would be awesome!

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

You may be intersted in the following:


What Not To Eat by Marion Nestle

The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics by Jessica Porter

You Are What You Eat by Dr Gillian McKeith

I own and reccomend all three for a guide to natural eating, what to eat, and how to find it.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

You are absolutely right. I learned in my chemistry class that the “fake” food is partially hydrogenated, basically meaning that it was created in a lab with the use of chemicals. And honestly I have been victim of eating all that junk too, the frozen dinners and pizzas and flavored foods on sale 10 for $10, but I think a lot of times we don't have a choice, especially when money is an issue. We all know that they make the healthier options a lot more expensive than the “junk”, and at this point we just care about eating in general, and not eating healthy because we can't afford it. I think it's sad we must pay such a high price for our health, but at this point that's just the way it is.

They'll have organic and fresh options that are 3 times as much as the “junk” food. There has to be something done about this.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

As much as I hate the actual food, when my store is doing frozen store-brand dinners or pot pies 10 for 10, I have to stock up my freezer for hubby's lunches because in this economy, you cant beat lunch for 1 buck.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

Haha I don't blame you, it seems like it should be vice versa, they should have the junk food be more expensive and the healthy options excessively cheaper, this way it would force us to eat healthy. 

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

I am such a compulsive label reader.  I will spend so long in the grocery store reading absolutely everything.  I am so glad that I live in an area with a lot of organic food stores so it really makes it easier.

I really cannot believe all of the weird things that are in the foods we eat and I think it will have to change soon because people are getting tired of it.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

I'm lucky enough to have several food allergies. That sounds odd I'm sure, but in learning to read labels for my allergies I've also learned to read the rest of the ingredients. Also being a vegetarian, I eat more vegetables and other organic foods. My family have even started planting our own veggies. (You can't beat fresh grown carrots.) Also, most of the grain product, like bread and waffles, are healthier because they don't have bleached white flower. The only issue is the prices. I agree that the food pricing seems a little backwards. Why are the healthy foods so harder to get and more expensive? It doesn't make sense.


P.S.-Does anyone have any relatively inexpensive sites to buy organic food? I live in a podunk little hick town that doesn't have many choices.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

Leesie!!

That is really lucky of you. Food allergies are a blessing in disguise. So is an intolerance for large ammounts of sugar! (thank god that one exsists in me)

I don't really like the idea of buying food over the internet so I don't have any places to really give. But I'm sure if you go to your local farmers market there will be some organic vendors. It's also better to have things locally anyways.. The shelf life is better.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

I'm with CheshyreCat with finding a farmer's market, if you buy it online it has to be shipped to you, often food is flown in to maintain freshness. Whether it flies or is driven its still a huge carbon footprint, not so different from just buying food at the grocery store.

Another option, if the weather is starting to permit, start researching how to grow vegetables outside, and get a garden ready! :) Fresh home grown veggies have the lowest footprint. You'll want to look for a planting guide specific to your state so you know what will grow best during what months, and how to get it started.

You can find organic seeds online if the local Lowes doesn't have any, though its more popular now for hardware and yard supply stores to stock organic seeds.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

Thanks ya'll. I'll have to take a look at the farmer's market. And I do plant some of my own veggies. It's nice.  Thanks again.

Re: Hey! Don't put that in your mouth!

I am thrilled to read this and happy you know how to plant gardens too.  I help mod a site on Gaia called Integral Veg*n and invite you to put in posts just like this which is so needed.  We need some more mods there as well so let me know.  We just put in a pet section too and the most successful post was the recent Friday Five on Food… :-)  

I saw on Entertainment Tonight last night about ingredients on the back of boxes & jars & the person being interviewed said a rule of thumb is if the ingredients have more than 5 look for another brand. I don't know if this is really true but it felt ok when learning about organic foods. On the hard words on a box I found a site called whfoods.com that helped me learn some of that language.  

Anyone that wants to start a garden just ask me and I will give you tips on creating one from scratch whether in a pot in a window sill or a sandbox area of the back yard it's good exercise and healthy.