Pepperidge Farm bread - bravo for getting rid of the HFCS!

Bravo to Pepperidge Farm for getting the high fructose corn syrup out of their "100% natural bread" (and the last loaf I bought actually had labeled, on the front, "no high fructose corn syrup".... very cool.) Now if only Pepperidge Farm would start offering sprouted grain breads (at an affordable price) and get rid of the hydrogenated oils in their cookies, they'd be all set.

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Whole Foods: fantastic selection of foods yet just a little pricey

I visited one of the Houston 'Whole Foods' stores recently, and this place is just remarkable. Almost every thing that I wish I could find at my local grocers (HEB, Walmart, Kroger, etc) I can find at Whole Food. Their selection of meats, including grass fed beef, is amazing. I sampled a chicken noodle soup and was just blown away, not only by how good it was, but that I could find a tasty chicken noodle soup without hydrogenated oils, msg, hydrolized additives, preservatives or nitrates (take note, Campbells... and even your supposedly "natural" soups still have "yeast extract".... the same thing as MSG. Take out ALL the MSG and I'll start buying your soups again.)

Anyhow, the bakery, the fruits, the dairy, etc... it's all just fantastic at Whole Foods, but the prices.... ay-yi-yi! I've heard the store referred to as "whole paycheck", and there's something to that. The lunch and groceries that we purchased brought us a hefty bill, but oh, was it worth it. Even their bakery has good, non-garbagy, non-hydrogenated baked goods, and that's so refreshing to find. I wish more stores would take note of this place, and start carrying a similar lineup of foods (Market Street HEB in the Woodlands is sortof close, but it's got a long way to go.) This place was a nice grocery refuge, and the selection was fantastic nutritionally, but the prices make it a place I can really only visit on occasion (and besides, there isn't a location close to the Woodlands/Spring/Conroe area anyhow...)

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The Danger of Trans Fats and Hyrdogenated Oils

I great site with plenty of information about the danger of hydrogenated oils is Ban Trans Fats: The Campaign To Ban Partially Hydrogenated Oils. I like this site, and it has a lot of good information on the campaign to remove these harmful, plasticy artificial fats from foods. For a long time now, I've been avoiding ANY foods that have the word "hydrogenated" in the label, and I'm always anxious to find a site to provide more information about this nasty food additive.

The site points out something important, that even though FDA regulations state, "if the serving contains less than 0.5 gram [of trans fat], the content, when declared, shall be expressed as zero," this doesn't necessarily mean that the product is actually trans fat free.... it just has a very small content of trans fats! So if you eat enough of this product, you'll still be ingesting trans fats, just in a smaller dosage. I think that this labeling is deliberately deceptive, and there need to be some changes to make this labeling system more accurate... and honest!

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High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Diabetes: What the Experts Say

Here's a good article on differing opinions over the health dangers of high fructose corn syrup:

High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Diabetes: What the Experts Say

I avoid the stuff as much as possible, but it can be difficult since the stuff is everywhere.

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Berry Benefits

Yahoo! Health had a good article on the health benefits of berries. I'm glad to read this, as lately berries have been on sale at the grocery store, so we've been loading up on these and enjoying them greatly with breakfast.

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My first post about.... ketchup

My kids drink an unnatural amount of ketchup with food (which doesn't say much about my cooking) which was why it was such great news to find that HEB, the grocery store near us, is now carrying a ketchup without high fructose corn syrup (in fact, it's advertised as HFCS-free right at the top of the bottle! Very cool!)

I've been tired of supporting Heinz ketchup, where HFCS is one of the first ingredients in the ketchup, so now there's a decent (and affordable alternative.) I've tried some of the other "natural" ketchups, but I just haven't been impressed with the taste. The HEB no-HFCS ketchup tastes great, though, so we'll be picking up plenty of this. I hope this trend continues.

Granted, HEB isn't always the cheapest, and sometimes I get better prices at Walmart, but I'm impressed that they are making an effort to market and sell products like this one, for people who are avoiding junk in foods.

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Introduction

Outside of webcomic creation, theology and miscellaneous artistic endeavors, I have an interest in reading articles related to health and nutrition, so I'm going to start gathering them here.

This blog is my own opinion, and should not be used to diagnose or treat any disease (no blog should.) Leave that to a doctor.... preferably a doctor who believes in teaching health and nutrition and not pharmaceutical addiction.

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