I just got home from a couple of days at my mother-in-law's home. I am so thankful, that even though it has not always been easy, she and I have a wonderful relationship. I love that going to her house, feels as much like going home as my own parents. Needless to say, our kids love them some "Poofy" (our new name for Omama as the kids love her poofy hair.). As much as they love Poofy, they love her pantry. I decided a while ago that while our own cupboards may be well monitored and stocked with as whole and healthy food as possible, that anything goes at Poofy's house. Of course, this makes trips to her house even more fun for our kids.
It is common knowledge within the family that when opening her refrigerator it is best to stand back a bit as something may fall out and onto you. The pantry is a bounty of different items, but one shelf in particular captivates our kids as it holds the chips, crackers, cookies and cereal. It is probably spot-on the opposite of the second shelf in our pantry. Our kids are most allured by the mini-boxes of cereal...Fruit Loops, Cocoa Puffs...you get the picture. I have to make a concerted effort to just let it go and not think about the amount of sugar, HFCS and artificial colors they are consuming while enjoyed every little bite.
As much as I do not cringe over the things available to our kids that I normally would not allow them to eat, I could not help but to really pay attention to just what is in her refrigerator and pantry. I realized that Poofy is your average grocery shopper. She shops based on what is appealing, sounds appetizing and appears to be healthy because it is low-fat or sugar free.
As I was fixing the kids breakfast drinks and my coffee one morning I grabbed two items: flavored, non-fat, sugar-free creamer and Hershey's chocolate syrup. I read the ingredients on the creamer, put it back and grabbed the milk instead as nothing, not one ingredient was a real food or even dairy. I begrudgingly made the kids' chocolate milk with the syrup. I did not expect it to be wholesome, but was so disappointed to see it contained artificial colors. Why? Because Hershey's, a chocolate maker, puts so little actual chocolate in their syrup they have to add colors to make it a chocolate color. How pathetic!
It has taken me a bit of squawking to get my mother in law off of Splenda, but now she is a Truvia fan because it's all "natural". Ugh! It's not all natural when you factor in the processing chemicals used to make it. If you use artificial sweetners, ask yourself this: is the 16 calories per teaspoon of real sugar in this item that big? If you are consuming so much of something that those few calories really make a difference, I challenge you to limit the item and start using real sugar. Artificial sweetners, with the exception of pure Stevia, wreck havoc on your digestive track and are not easily processed by your body.
I had to laugh when I saw Poofy's dairy drawer where she keeps butter and fake butter. I realized that the fake spray butter is used for convenience and the appearance that it save calories because she can just do a couple of sprays into a pan before cooking. I think I will go with the whole butter and keep my scrambled eggs chemical free.
This is by no means a knock to my mother-in-law. I think she is in the majority of how she makes her food choices. I realized that I spend much time researching our food and what is in it. I spend time going to the farmers market to get local produce. I take extra time so I do not have to use prepackaged foods to feed our family. (I should note that my mother-in-law does not either as she cooks wholesome meals...its just complimented with some not so wholesome products through the day.)
All this to say, what are we going to do about this? How are we going to stand up to the USDA and FDA and tell them we want real food on our shelves? How are we going to stop big Ag from being able to buy studies that say pesticide on our produce is just fine? How are we going to make grocery shopping for wholesome foods easy for the average shopper? We must hold the FDA and USDA better accountable to us the consumer and not to their buddies at Big Ag. The average person should be able to trust what is on the shelves and right now, there is much to not trust on grocery store shelves.
Oh, by the way, Poofy...if you are wondering where most of your Oreos went...I might have had a couple.
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