Food labels

If asparatame is sprinkled on this naturally sweet fruit, she’s a fool!

NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel and now AminoSweet are table top brand names for asparatame, the artificial sweetener known to “excite brain cells to death.” As an ingredient, aspartame is also found in over 6,000 foods: sodas, chewing gum, diet foods and drinks, cereals, jams, candy, supplements… the list goes on and on.

From headaches, mood changes and even hallucinations, aspartame seriously impacts your nervous system. (That includes your brain.) It mimics and/or contributes to diseases such as MS, Alzheimer’s, ADD, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s, seizures and hythyroidism. This is serious stuff. Plus, when exposed to heat, it turns to formaldyhide and then formic acid which is stored in your fat – not a good thing. Aspartame makes you crave carbohydrates. Instead of losing weight with this “Sugar-Free” artificial sweetener, you tend to gain weight.

When the public gets wind of the questionable properties of a product, it gets rebranded – it is given a new name and package. This is what has happened here. Don’t be fooled by their use of the word “Amino” which may lead you to believe it’s a healthy sweet. It is absolutely the opposite. Please, out smart the producer of asparatame. Do Not buy their song and dance. Keep it away from you kids. Eat pure sugar cane instead, just not too much.

… for the health of families,
ellen

What does Free range really mean? Good question, one we are asked often. The official definition of Free-Range is “allowed access to the outdoors.” You can see that this is a broad qualification. If you have a warehouse filled with hundreds of cooped-up chickens and have a one foot square hole in this building’s side, this environment would fit the definition of free-range. The fact the most if not almost all the chickens never or rarely step outside is not considered. Yet, it is fresh air, natural sunlight, freedom of movement, innate pecking and scratching on the ground behavior which helps a chicken be a chicken – naturally growing and happy. Stress, agitition, confinement all contribute to the release of survivial acting hormones. Humans are not the only species that experiences this reaction. It is instinctial for most living creatures. The presence of these stress-related hormones will effect the taste of a chicken.

How do you know which brands follow the true concept of Free-Range? You have to know the brands. We have a list on our website: www.KidKritics.com. Two you can count on are Shelton’s Poultry and Bell and Evans. Both are great companies with integrity. They care.

… for the health of families,
ellen

Cut through the mustard with the USDA seal.  Every product wearing this seal on the package has been through the rigorous process of insuring its ingredients meet the required organic standards.  That means there are no artificial additives, no growth hormones, it has not been sprayed with toxic chemicals,  it is not GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) altered - all USDA products have gone through an extensive examination and paper trail determining their validity of being organic. Science has said that organic products have higher nutrient values than conventionally grown and processed foods.  Thus USDA products are worth the extra cents – and they may help you stay away from the doctor office!

… for the health of your family,
ellen

University of Rhode Island chemistry professors along with experts at SIRA Technologies, a food safety company, have invented a barcode system that will determine if perishable foods have become contaminated, or are still fresh, as they sit on your grocer’s shelves. The invisible ink will turn red when a food has gone bad. In addition, you will not be able to buy it as the red ink will prevent it from being scanned when are checking out. Thus if the store’s employees and you miss noticing the red barcode, the scanner won’t. This is a big step for insuring food safety. Hope that this shows up in your favorite stores sooner than later.

… for the health of families,
ellen

There are food companies who say their product is what it is not - it is  fake.

Out of the 575 million pounds of olive oil consumed last year, some was mostly made of soybean oil – actually  90% !  That leaves a mere 10 percent for olive oil.   This was discoved two years ago when testing began on extra-virgin olive oil.  Allergies to soy are on the increase which makes this fake reality a health concern. In addition, sixty to seventy percent of extra virgin olive oils tested to be a lower grade.

Fish is the most abused category for fake representation.  Red snapper may be tilapia. When tested, seventy-seven percent of the “red snapper” was something else…   Wild Salmon may actually be farmed-raised which is easy to spot when you cook.  The red dye begins to leak. 

Honey is counterfeited as well. Cane Sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and beet sugar are relatively inexpensive replacements.

Maple Syrup should come from sap collected from a maple tree and boiled down to create 100 percent syrup.  However, some products are diluted with sugar and water to assit the company’s bottom line.

There are more examples. These are ones most recently reported by USA Today. *

What is a consumer to do?  Read your labels carefully, buy trusted brands and qualify fish by asking your fish retailer to verify their products.  We have a list of trusted brands as we research all food companies.  Please go to www.BetterFoodChoices.com for more information.  Or, go to www.GoMillionMoms.com, “sign” the petition and get a Free download of our most recent edition of the Brand To Trust grocery list.

Be sure you get what you pay for.

… for the health of your family,
ellen

* Elizabeth Weise, “That label could be a costly lie”, USA Today, 1/20/09, pp. 1D, 2S.

Vanilla extract may be an aritificially flavored version.  It is supposed to be labeled as such. Watch for Vanillin,  which is banned from the US as it contain the drug, coumarin, a blood thinner.