If you’re a parent you can certainly appreciate how challenging it can be to consistently promote healthy-er eating for your children. 

There are days when we stand on the top of that mountain, red cape whipping in the wind behind us, when less than a boat-load of sugar and/or additives have made their way past our kids’ lips.

Of course there are less heroic times when we let down our guard and just praise the fact that we’ve managed to “arrange for” something edible to be within kid-range a few times throughout the day – wholesome or not.

Bottom line – we live in a world where less-than-optimal choices for nourishment abound and we need all the help we can get when it comes to solidifying our efforts to raise healthy kids.  It seems that food marketing so often works against us. 

According to a recent piece in the Arizona Daily Star, while many food manufacturers have made strides toward marketing healthier food options to children, more than 70% of the food advertising aimed at youths is for the least nutrious foods.

I need a bigger cape.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that these challenging economic times have had an unwelcome impact on our eating patterns.  Many consumers are turning to less expensive options at the grocery store (or off the highway) in order to keep their budgets in check and this means typically more processed foods that are higher in sodium, sugar, fat and calories.

Take a look at the article for tips on keeping our bodies healthfully fueled while not breaking the bank at the same time.

Okay, I couldn’t resist sharing another fascinating excerpt from “Chew On This” (Houghton Mifflin Books, 2006).

In a section discussing artificial flavorings, the authors list ingredients needed to concoct a typical at-home strawberry milk shake – “ice, cream, strawberries, sugar, and a touch of vanilla”. 

I get that.

They then print the ingredients found in a typical fast-food strawberry milk shake – “milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, sweet whey, high fructose corn syrup, guar gum, mono- and diglycerides, cellulose gum, sodium phosphate, carageenan, citric acid, red food coloring #40, and artificial strawberry flavor”. 

Hmmmm.

The FDA permits the use of that phrase – “artificial strawberry flavor”.  This, however, is what that additive really contains – here goes:

“amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, diporpyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hyroxyphrenyl-2-butanone (10% solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, y-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh?

My oldest daughter is an avid reader and couldn’t wait to get her eager hands on the 6th grade summer reading list.  This list is a combination of fiction and non-fiction titles, some catching the eye of both of us right away.

“Chew On This”, by Eric Scholosser and Charles Wilson, is the book by my daughter’s bed right now.  It documents the inception, growth, mass production practices, and health realities of a part of our world we all take for granted – fast food.

I will, on occasion in this blog, point out some of the more poignant (read heartrending) particulars that I end up not being able to pry out of my head.

Here are just a few morsels from the inside flap.  Did you know that…

1) “Americans now spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, and recorded music – combined”?

2) “A child of ten who is diagnosed with Type II diabetes can expect to lose seventeen to twenty-six years of his or her life”?

3) “The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross”?

Are you kidding???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We hear all the time that our kids are getting too much sugar.  Sugar in foods provides us with empty calories, calories that are not equipped to serve any healthful function within our bodies.  It can be found on labels in many forms – fructose, sucrose, maltose, dextrose – basically anything ending in “-ose”. 

I work with kids a lot and have started having fun with a terrific exercise I found in the February 2009 edition of Family Fun magazine entitled “Beat the Sugar Blues”. 

A brilliant young man, 13 years old, did a demonstration of common foods and their corresponding sugar contents by utilizing sugar cubes (2 grams of sugar per cube).  There are no daily reference values for sugar, but a good rule of thumb is 48 grams per day MAX.  That’s 12 teaspoons/12 sugar packets/6 sugar cubes. 

According to the article, a 20oz bottle of soda contains 17 teaspoons of sugar = 17 sugar packets = 34 sugar cubes = 68 GRAMS OF SUGAR!   The pioneer of this Family Fun article built a WALL of sugar cubes to illustrate his point.  A Hi-C Juice Box has 6 teaspoons of sugar/6 sugar packets/> 12 sugar cubes.  That’s ONE item in a kid’s lunch box! 

Get out your calculator and try this out at home.

My first official post addressed the prevalence of High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Now, I’m going to tackle the equally prevalent existence of hydrogenated oils in the foods available in our local grocery stores.  

Hydrogenated oils (trans fats) are created in an industrial process engineered to extend a food product’s shelf-life.  Consumption has been linked to heart disease, obesity, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and MS.  Be aware that regulations for food claims on the front of a package are very loose, and a package might claim 0% trans fat but actually contain up to 2 grams of trans fats per serving. 

If you see hydrogenated oils in an ingredient list, put the product back on the shelf.

I’m going to kick off this blog addressing one of my huge frustrations in the food world. I cannot stand that so many food manufacturers are using High Fructose Corn Syrup, and even more infuriating is the recent string of television commercials trying to promote the artificial sweetening agent as okay in moderation.

You will find High Fructose Corn Syrup in products throughout your local grocery store. It entered the marketplace in the 1970’s as a cheaper alternative to sugar in volume food production. In the form of a fermenting murky liquid manufactured in chemical plants, consumption of HFCS has been linked to diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and accelerated aging.

It will be a challenge, but read those ingredient labels and put back any product with HFCS in the list (and there will be many). It’s everywhere – pizzas, baked beans, candies, breads, yogurt, baby food, ketchup, cookies, even beer. Have faith though; there are options in the store without it. My kids love 3 snacks in particular that are free of the nasty stuff – Indigo Rabbit cookies, Smart Puffs (distributed by Robert’s American Gourmet), and Rold Gold Honey Wheat Braided pretzels.

I’d love to get new ideas.  What are some terrific grocery store items you’ve found that don’t contain HFCS?