Can feeding my family get any more complicated?
Our 16-year-old daughter, a vegetarian, has recently read the book The Omnivores Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.
This New York Times bestseller opened her eyes to food additives, including high fructose corn syrup, MSG, hydrogenated oils, artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners. Pollan, a science and food writer who has conducted tremendous research into where our food comes from, suggests a mantra we should all live by: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
By food, he means food that would be recognizable to your great-great grandparents in the 19th century. Food that comes from real plants and animals that are fed what nature intended for them to eat.
Abby vowed on Easter Sunday that she would no longer eat any bad food additives. Her chocolate bunny remains unopened. She printed a list for my reference from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a group of liberal, activist scientists concerned about our food supply .
Meanwhile, daughter No. 2, who will eat meat and has no compunctions regarding high-fructose, multicolored “food,” gets insanely painful migraines of unknown source. The neurologist’s recommendation: No food additives. No peanuts. No chocolate. No caffeine. No hard cheeses.
And my husband has slightly elevated blood pressure, so low-sodium for him.
I challenge you to walk in my shoes for just one trip to the grocery store. Try reading the labels on everything you buy. High fructose corn syrup is everywhere: In crackers. In jelly. In waffles and cereal. In strawberry cream cheese. Artificial sweeteners are in almost anything labeled “low” or “no” sugar. MSG is in packaged soups, taco seasoning, salad dressings and lots of mixed spices. You’ll see long lists of things that turn out to be benign vitamins in bread, but then there’s BHA or BHT. There are sulfites in bacon, sausage and frozen turkey and chicken products.
Sodium is loaded into soups, canned vegetables and almost every prepared food. Cold cuts have all kinds of complicated-sounding preservatives. Tuna has traces of toxic metals such as mercury which might trigger migraines.
Do you know how hard it is in the 21st century to sustain yourself on a 19th-century diet?
We’re managing so far. But even with the no-additives diet, our younger daughter has been sidelined with a migraine for the past two days.
I guess I really am going to have to take that no-peanuts edict seriously. But what do you put in a lunchbox for a kid who cannot eat cheese, peanut butter, cold cuts or tuna?
Comments
Haha, your parents might think she's under the spell of “liberal activist scientists,” but your grandparents would probably whip you for the additives you allowed her to eat during the most formative years of her life. A whole-foods diet is nothing new. The processed junk that we have called food for the past 50 years is a short-term fad. People are realizing that their great-great grandparents had it right. They suffered from less disease because their bodies were made strong by whole foods, grown in rich soils. Instead of additives and "food products" we should be eating FOOD, made from plants grown in good, rich soil. …now all we have to do is rehabilitate the soils that we have abused for the past 100 years!
Posted by: Steve | April 11, 2008 11:06 AM
I've been "walking in your shoes" since 1975 and while I understand your dismay, it really is very simple once you understand a few basics. I can go into nearly any supermarket and find the foods I want, but in better versions. And in most cases, the healthier foods are actually less expensive! I've written a little book on the topic. It's called "Healthier Food for Busy People."
Let me assure you I use lots of processed foods, eat out, and don't work very hard at food preparation; I just know how to make the system work for me.
Also, there are a number of likely reasons why your daughter still suffers from migraines. It was my husband's migraines that got us started on this path. Then we learned that our daughter's ADHD was also being triggered by the same chemicals. In fact, my other book describes this; you can read all of part one of Why Can't My Child Behave? online at www.ADHDdiet.org.
I'd be glad to share information if you wish to contact me.
Posted by: Jane Hersey | April 12, 2008 8:05 AM
Your life would be sooooo much easier if you would stop shopping at places like Publix/Albertson's Winn Dixie.
Down there in the Lauderdale area I am pretty sure that you have a Whole Foods Market.
Please, please, please save yourself a lot of agony and just go to Whole Foods instead. You will pay a little bit more but you will be treated to dozens of choices of excellent, high quality foods that have none of the garbage that you are trying to avoid. Whole Foods simply refuses to sell that stuff.
Buyer beware -- if you're not careful and just load up your shopping cart willy nilly, you could easily see your shopping bill nearly double.
You can avoid that by investing a couple of hours to roam the aisles and study what's on the shelves. Look for the generic in-house brand, 365 or 365 Organic. The Whole Foods house brand of products is just about the same price as similar name-brand products at Publix.
For example the Winter Park Whole Foods sells organic fat-free pasta sauce for something like $1.99, which is comparable to Prego; organic peanut butter (not the oily "natural kind" but similar to Jiff) for about $2.50; you can even get canned organic chicken noodle soup that is way better than Campbell's, for cheaper.
Go to Whole Foods, you won't be sorry! Whether you are a vegetarian or not... the food is just so, so, so much better there.
Posted by: Katherine | April 12, 2008 9:58 AM
P.S. -- it took me several months of shopping at Whole Foods before I finally learned how to shop there affordably. My shopping trips were longer in the beginning because I had to "learn" the layout of a whole brand new shopping experience. And I had to keep exploring, week after week, to get familiar with the most affordable (and delicious) options that I preferred. I guess the point I'm making is that after years of being able to get my shopping done in a snap at Publix; there was an investment of time that I had to make when I switched to Whole Foods. Initially I made some mistakes and got socked with sky-high tabs in the check-out lane. But now I am able to get out the door most weeks for less than $100. And I eat very well indeed these days. Good luck to you!
Posted by: Katherine | April 12, 2008 10:02 AM
Everyone,
Thanks for your comments! I do shop at Whole Foods and at a weekly farmer's market.
Like most everyone, I'm trying to make my income stretch as far as possible in these days of rising food and gas prices, stagnant real estate, jumpy financial markets and frozen salaries.
I agree that there are bargains to be found at Whole Foods, but I won't rule out Publix, which also has a good selection of natural and whole foods.
The point is that our diet and our choices -- even with a mostly organic, vegetarian family -- must continue to change. Even food items such as bread and jam that you would think are perfectly acceptable to eat, often contain alarming additives.
I'd love to hear from people who are just starting to read the labels of the foods they commonly buy. Are you surprised by how many foods contain corn syrup or maltodextrin?
This weekend I visited an Indian grocery, where I found frozen vegetarian samoas with no additives and lots of interesting spices for dal, which is becoming a staple of my family's diet.
Vicki
Posted by: Vicki Brennan | April 14, 2008 11:59 AM
While I agree in principle with you, it is good also to be cautious about going too far in the other direction. Remember - there is big money in these "natural foods", and just as much misinformation is being spewed by one side as the other. Not all "non-natural" ingredients are bad for you, just like not all "natural" foods are completely good for you. In other words - moderation is the key.
Posted by: Jeff | April 17, 2008 10:50 AM