Welcome to Week 10 !!!
You made it! A big congratulations to you ~ this is a BIG deal!
This is the last of our challenges and will probably be the hardest one.  But, looking on the bright side, if you have been following along and reading not only my blog but others on eliminating processed foods as well, this shouldn’t be as hard as it sounds.
But once you read it you’ll understand why it’s last.
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Avoid all artificial additives
Thanks to the social media and technology of our generation we are better able to voice our opinions and get the word out to these big corporations that we will not stand for the garbage they are putting into our food. It isn’t Congress, it isn’t from legislation or a bill, but consumers who want better!
We (you and I) vote with our dollars. The less money we spend on prepackaged, processed food the more these money hungry corporations will listen.
Moms all around the globe have been reading about the effects red dyes are having on their children. Saavy shoppers are looking for products now that don’t contain these dyes, coal tar products and petrochemicals. Kraft, along with other major food companies, do not use dyes and artificial flavors in their products overseas. They use natural flavorings (and not OUR kind of natural flavorings).
They are finally listening to our voices. Changes ARE being made in Corporate America.
So, back to your challenge. This week (and for ever more…) you are avoid products with artificial additives, food dyes, preservatives and chemicals.
Where are these artificial additives lurking?
- Yoplait Yogurts
- Flinstones Vitamins
- Crystal Light
- Childrens Motrin
- Doritos
- Cereals
- Mac and Cheese
- Any colorful kids food (Fruit Loops, Twizzlers, Cake icing etc.)
So what are we to do if we want to avoid artificial additives?
- The first step is to buy organic products, which by law cannot contain artificial dyes and preservatives. In Robyn O’Brien’s book The Unhealthy Truth, she reveals her struggles with her childrens’ allergies due to the chemicals found in our foods.  That unfortunately seems to be more of a problem in American kids and not in other countries. It’s just crazy to me that manufacturers could go through the trouble of making 2 different formulas for the same product based on demand. As Americans we are SETTLING for garbage. While the Europeans are not!
- Another way to see how many food additives your or your kids are getting is to keep a journal for a week. Write down everything your child eats, including at school. This will give you a good idea of how many additives and preservatives are getting into their diets and you can start to eliminate them from there.
- Read labels – anything that begins with FD&C is a food coloring and should be avoided. Also avoid artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, HFCS. There is a very impressive, comprehensive list I came across on a blog called The Traditional Oven of additives to avoid.
- Eating REAL, WHOLE foods is really the bottom line. If you can’t avoid foods in a package, at least look for ones with the fewest ingredients.
By now, I’m hoping I’ve given you a better perspective on what is in our foods. What you and I ate when ‘we’ grew up is NOT the same food!!! It is extremely processed and harmful to our bodies. The problem is we don’t really know HOW much harm we are doing. It’s our children who are really going to suffer the brunt of this. Those of us in our 30s, 40s and 50s come from a generation where our moms and grandmothers cooked.
Kids now are eating these processed foods from BIRTH – sucking down the Cheerios made from GMOs, Goldfish crackers made with artificial dyes and preservatives. It’s unfortunate, but hopefully through social media we will be able to reverse this and let the multi billion dollar corporations know that we aren’t going to settle for being their guinea pigs anymore!!
Congratulations on your new life! I truly hope you found this Challenge enlightening and inspiring!
hugs!!!
Debi
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