More on eating healthy

11 years ago

I thought I'd start a new thread since the other one, if I skimmed accurately, was largely a discussion of veganism vs vegetarianism.

I consider myself quite educated about nutrition, and quite serious about the quality of what we eat. I went to a local talk yesterday that was part of a fundraiser. I sort of had to be dragged because I thought I knew a fair amount about the topic.

However, I did learn a few things, and I thought I'd share.

Most useful insight: We buy organic fruits and veggies when we can, or better yet local. From time to time, though, we cannot get the organic version of something. I always though the distinction between which items should definitely be organic (eg berries) and which it is less important (eg bananas) was just about which fruits you could more easily wash the pesticides from. (aka the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen)

But, I found out, that some of these products use "systemic" pesticides ,,, not just sprayed on but in the soil from day one. OMG yuck. Whereas, in the past, if I needed one of these "dirty dozen" items and could not find organic, id have substituted original, I won't be doing that anymore.

Take a look at the link, as it is not always intuitive which is on which list. In some instances the only reason pesticides are not an issue is because the item is grown in a country that was too poor to use them!

Also had an interesting discussion about cheese, that I did not know about and is not labelled. You can not import milk to the US, but you can import dried whey protein and reconstitute it with water. Much of mass produced dairy products now use this, as it is cheaper. That is why a lot of deli cheese (like Land o Lakes) now tastes and has the mouth feel of "cheese flavored jello". Since this is not labelled, you pretty much have to go for artisinal or organic cheese to avoid it.

Remember pink slime? Pink slime is in most chicken nuggets, too, eg Perdue. I never knew that. We always use Bell and Evans, which is just pieces of chicken.

We eat organic beef but the speakers really brought home the point that "you are what you eat eats". We are now switching to grass fed only, after he pointed out that even the high end organic stuff we buy, they can feed the cows anything. Including stale leftover candy!

We buy organic eggs already, but again, what are they fed? The grocer said that white eggs are a sign of what the chicken are fed. Best case, the eggs in a carton should all be slightly different colors.

In the milk aisle, again, you want milk from cows who ate a healthy diet; that is more than just looking for organic. Try your local dairy (in CT, Arethusa, which btw, fun fact, is owned by the guy who owns Manolo Blahnik).

Anyway, I thought I'd share these because they were knew to me, and I read a lot about the subject of nutrition.

Two observations. One, the speaker called today's food business "a social justice issue", and I think he is right. It is expensive to eat organic, but if you want to follow the rules above, and eat not just organic but eat meats and dairy from animals fed a vegetarian diet, it is quite costly. For some, it may be totally prohibitive.

Second observation. It is very very hard to dine out if food quality is important to you. With a young family we are always going places and doing things, not to mention travelling a few weeks a year, and we eat out a lot. Last year, en route to Santa Fe from Lake Powell, I was out of groceries and we were hungry. Our choices were a mouthful of sand and scrub, or Burger King. You'd think we were taking our kids to the gallows. They complained mightily that we would "feed (them) this stuff".

It is rare that fast food is our only choice, but even at high price points it is quite difficult to get a meal that is organic and wholesome. Here in Connecticut, there are probably less than 10 restaurants I feel good about dining in . It drives me crazy. Sometimes I think we should move to Calif, where I think it is a lot easier.

PS In the other post in re unsweetened yogurt. We have a woman who shops and cooks for us on weekdays. She nukes berries and cinnamon and water, and adds that to plain yogurt. It is easy, no refined sugar, and really good. My kids also like to drizzle honey or maple syrup over it. We try to keep it to a teaspoon or so, which is enough and is far far less then the Yoplait would put in.

Featured Answer

polly929

11 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

Thank you for starting this mtnredux.

Don't have time to read the entire thread, but also wanted to point out, most processed food available in the supermarkets contain some sort of corn. Whether it be corn or high fructose corn syrup, and the corn has all been genetically modified.

If you don't know about GMOs, now is a good time to start educating yourself. GMOs were introduced into our food in the USA in the 90s. There is no law that requires labeling so you don't know you are eating it unless you educate yourself. Isn't it suspicious that obesity, cancer and autism have skyrocketed since then?

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Comments (16)

fourkids4us
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I would love to look at your link but you forgot to include it!

I think I feed my family far healthier than the average family, but I still recognize there is a long way to go to make it even healthier. Even though I live in an area where food choices are abundant, I still have a hard time sometimes being able to make all the choices that I want to because the things I want simply aren't available all the time.

So funny your kids had that reaction to Burger King. I hate fast food and rarely get it for my kids, but to them, they think they are deprived so they have the opposite reaction of your kids!
Jamie
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Eggs with "vegetarian fed" in loud, boastful labels just kill me. I want my chickens to eat bugs and grubs, just like I want my butter to come from a grass-fed cow. Not that I get what I want, mind you.

Listened recently to a book on tape about our food source and our society. It's called "Folks, This Ain't Normal". The farmer/narrator/author has a lovely voice and is very likeable, albeit right wing. He knows a lot about food and growing, You can ignore the social commentary and still get a lot from the book. Plus, he has a nice voice.

Caveat: I just looked at the video on the website for the first time. Seeing it is more visceral, for this city girl, than hearing about it, which makes the author's animal-plant-farm ecosystem sound so perfect. Have to get used it, I guess.

PS Our local farm supply is selling chicks today. I can't have one, but I can't wait to go look at them.

PPS Have you seen the adorable chicken coops for sale at Williams Sonoma. Fairy tale houses for food!

Here is a link that might be useful: Joel Salatin

This post was edited by jamies on Wed, Mar 20, 13 at 14:00
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mtnrdredux_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Many people feel that not ALL fruits and veggies need be organic (and face it, it can be hard to find them all the time).

Here is the best advice on which produce are riskiest in non-organic form.

Here is a link that might be useful: sorry, here is the link
kellyeng
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I like to follow Michael Pollan's advice - No feedlot meat. I prefer grass fed but that's not always easy. Well, none feedlot isn't easy either.
tishtoshnm Zone 6/NM
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Folks, this Ain't Normal is written by Joel Salatin. He is the farmer/beef grower that Michael Pollan goes to visit in Omnivore's Dilemma. I find the hardest goal to accomplish is the grass-fed milk. There is not much grass in my area and even so, grass is not year round. We just have limited (but not eliminated) our dairy intake.

I am a little confused on what you were stating on the eggs? Does not make difference in my household as we have our own chickens but we find too that the egg color is determined by the breed. While all 4 of our chickens lay brown eggs, the Buff Oprington's lay an egg that is lighter brown than that of the Rhode Island Reds.

Although, if I were buying commercial eggs, I would prefer the ones that are labelled vegetarian fed because I hate to even contemplate what the nonvegetarian source would be.
Jamie
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
tishtoshnm, I didn't realize that Pollan described his Salatin visit in Omnivore's. Just goes to show you how style sensitive I am. The omnivore book didn't really reach me, somehow, Or maybe it just made me feel hopeless. Or maybe I like farmers better than journalists. Or maybe I wasn't ready. But Salatin's message hit home.
Annie Deighnaugh
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Actually, what I find hardest to conceive is free range eggs!
;)

{{gwi:1500467}}
Oakley
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
LOL, annie. We do it the simple way like our grandparent's did. We grow a garden.
Jamie
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
See what happens when you let them out of the nest? They start tarting themselves up like flowers. Are they smoking that grass or eating it?
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
We get our dairy(milk, butter, yogurt, ice cream), eggs, beef, chicken, turkey and such from a local farm. It amazed us the first time we had the chicken-tasted like the chicken from our childhoods in the 40s and 50s. Even organic doesn't have the same flavor. The same was true of the beef, turkey, and pork. No antibiotics or hormones are used on any of the animals. Chickens and turkeys are not confined. We never buy anything from the store any more if we can get it from the farm. Also, love the glass bottles we return!
Annie Deighnaugh
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
mtnrd, or anyone else in the area, if you get over Newtown way, there's a really nice butcher shop that's all local, organic, grass fed, etc. I was speaking to the owner and he says his goal is to provide food the way we remember it as kids before all the garbage was added. They brined their own corned beef for st. pat's day and it was delish. Not the cheapest, but so good. When I was there, they were receiving a delivery of eggs...dad and his 4 yr old son were carrying them in from their local farm.

(I have no affiliation....)

Here is a link that might be useful: Butcher's best
mtnrdredux_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi Annie,

Thanks for thinking of me, but that would be too far for us.
Plus we are looking for grass-fed ... I didn't see that, did I miss it?

thanks!
fourkids4us
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for that link, mtn, although I wasn't surprised at the two lists and mostly already follow that guideline for what I buy organic. Years ago I read an article by someone who had visited a strawberry farm and was aghast at the protective suits the farmers wore due to the pesticides they were using. Ever since then I've made sure never to buy berries that aren't organic but it's not always easy to find them here. Whole Foods is hit or miss - some days they have them, some not. Even most of the local,produce stands aren't organic! I want to support my local growers but often can't.

We had a great butcher that carried grass fed meats but sadly he closed. I think his high prices prevented him from getting the number of customers necessary to stay open.

The area I need most improvement is our meats, eggs and dairy. I don't buy processed foods (rarely ever even go to the regular grocery store), and do well with produce, it's being able to find reasonably priced "healthy" meats, poultry and fish that kills me.

Funny conversation at the dinner table last night. Somehow we started talking about tv dinners that were so popular in the 70s. Dh and I were trying to describe them to the kids when one of my kids chimed in, "so kinda like lunchables for adults?". Lol - exactly! Years ago my kids would ask why I never bought lunchables, and of course I explained why. Then one of my kids had the chance to taste one while at a friend's house and said it was awful and was thankful for my homemade lunches!
Annie Deighnaugh
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You missed it...I had grass fed in there.
mtnrdredux_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Yes Annie but I don't see it anywhere on their website?

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