Healthy Recipe Mom,  Sally, reminded us to by Fresh with the “Farm to Table” movement prevalent in Oregon.  Where ever you live, try to find a Farmer’s Market near you for fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs.  It makes good nutrient and budget sense.

Allison, mother of four, has time at home to make most recipes from scratch.  She was motivated to do so by a son whose raging behavior ceased when she stopped feeding him foods containing corn syrups. Her whole family now reaps the peaceful healthy benefits of her better menus.  For moms who are time strapped, she suggested using Crock Pots or preparing recipes on the weekend and freeze them.  Then on a work day, simply thaw one in the refrigerator during the day, heat and serve when get home.  Even if you can’t do this every day, a couple of days a week is better than none!

Both moms said, “Get Your Kids Involved!”  It is time to return tools into the hands of kids, teach them how to use them and let them help you in the kitchen.  Turn off the TV, WiFi and videos and turn kids into chef assistents.  Even just a few minutes of chopping, stirring, or whipping connects kids to the food and they are more likely to try new things. 

Sally’s 3 year old uses a dough cutter with a plastic handle to help chop carrots. Of course she has been taught how to use it safely. Great Idea! 
 Listen to the entire show for more tips, www.BetterFoodChoicesRadio.com, 4/2 or on itunes.  Check out these moms’ recipes on www.FamilyFoodExperts.com!

… for the health of families,
ellen and sally

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

Stop and take a look at your family. Stop with the junk food. Stop with the processed food.

Start feeding your kids God-made food for their God-made bodies. It is that simple. The Kid Kritics Approved Seal program, our websites, our newsletters, our radio shows, our books, our CDs, our in person speaking, our seminars – everything we do is focused on making it easy to eat healthier foods that taste good. You can do it. Get started now.

… for the health of your family,
ellen and sally

* Liz Szabo, “More Kids Have Chronic Diseases”, USA Today, 2/17/10, p. 11B

This is a site for sore eyes.  Look at this adorable little girl walking on the beaching clutching her big bottle of Coke.  Shouldn’t she be clutching a pail with a shovel or a bottle of water? Instead, she is owning this soda – its mine.  (Check the body language). This darling girl was born wholesome and healthy with her whole life before her.  Someone is tampering with her future by giving her a Coke. 

Man-made Coke is pure acid, one of the best rust removers you can buy.  This is what this precious child is pouring down her throat.  It looks like she is carrying a regular Coke but it could be a Diet Coke … just can’t tell from this photo.  Either way, she is drinking an excessive amount of unnatural sugar, artificial dyes, sodium, caffeine, phosphoric and carbonic acid – all of which seriously over-stimulate and deplete everyone’s body much less one of a little girl.  

In addition, sodas dehydrate the mind and body.  Now, remember, she in on the beach in a sun dress so the outdoor temperature has to be at least warm, if not hot. This little girl needs to be hydrated. Our body temperature is 98.6 degrees F.  Don’t you think that when you hold a bottle of soda against your body it is going to become warm, maybe as warm as your body?  Odds are this bottle of Coke is warm which presents additional unwanted consequences, especially if is sweetened with aspartame.  When aspartame is heated to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, it turns to formaldehyde and then formic acid (red ant sting juice). This opens the door for some real health challenges. 

So, review what is going on in this photo.  A cute little girl is walking the beach on a warm sunny day, pressing her bottle of Coke against her body.  The person who took this photo witnessed her periodically drinking her beloved Coke.  She said, “Watching her was heart-breaking.”  It breaks my heart, too.  Please, be smarter than this family and give your kids spring water or Vitamin Waters to drink when you play at the beach – or during time of year.

… for the health of your family,

ellen

1. NO Hydrogenated or Partially Hydrogenated Oils (means no trans fats) In 1993
2. NO High Fructose Corn Syrup. Set in 2004 (the 1st in the nation to do so)
3. NO Artificial Dyes, Flavors or Sweeteners
4. NO Antibiotics or growth hormones
5. NO Bleached or Bromated foods (flours, breads)
6. NO Irradiated foods (seasonings)
7. NO Animal By-Products in pet food
8. NO Inhumane treatment of animals used for consumption

No kidding around. Their Boot Patrol program gives $50 to anyone who finds a product that does not meet their food philosophy. During the first quarter this was launched, they gave out about $3500 and cleaned up their inventory. Now they may give out $150 a quarter. Be on the alert in your store. Ask them to adopt the Boot Patrol system.

…. for the health of your family,
ellen

Twelve Worst Foods
1. Candy artificially dyed, sweetened and flavored
(Examples: M&Ms, Smarties)
2. Candy Cereal
(Examples: Fruit Loops, Lucky Charms)
3. Doughnuts
4. Drinks: Artificially sweetened, artificially dyed, artificially flavored drinks
(Examples: Kool-Aid, Crystal Light, Gatorade, Powerade)
5. French Fries (all deep fried food)
6. Lunchables
7. Margarine
8. Pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni
9. Pop Tarts
10. Pork products (bacon, chops, tenderloin, hotdogs)
11. Soda – ALL
12. Sugars: Refined sugars and sugar substitutes
(Examples: high fructose corn syrup, Splenda, Nutri-Sweet)

Honorable Mentions … couldn’t help ourselves as these should be part of the twelve.
A. Bleached and bromated flours
(Examples: white flour, white breads/rolls, white pasta, cakes and pastries)
B. Lunch meats with nitrates
C. Milk, non-organic

For the health of your family, AVOID these foods.
ellen

… for the health of your family,
ellen

** SOURCE: Melinda Beck, “Why That Big Meal You Just Ate Made You Hungry”, Wall Street Journal, 4/14/2009, p. D1 

Parents, there is not one good reason to have Smarties in your house, your kids’ lunch boxes or pockets, as party or school favors. Take action now. Buy your kids Sun Drops (like M&Ms with naturally colored coatings) for treats instead. It is really hard to “smoke” real smooth chocolate.

… for the health of your family,
ellen

… for the health of your family,
ellen

Jane Bryant,  www.foodnavigator-usa.com, Jan, 28, 2009

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.