I don’t bother myself about saturated fat, personally. If the body doesn’t get it then the body will make it–it’s present in our cell membranes, and kind of necessary. I remember when I was a kid they’d tell us saturated fat was bad because it’s solid at room temperature. It didn’t occur to me til much, much later that if you are room temperature, eating saturated fat should be the least of your worries.

100% USDA certified organic requires the use of (mostly–there are a couple loopholes) organic ingredients. The term “all-natural” is completely unregulated and could mean nothing at all. At its most basic, most companies say it means no synthic ingredients are used, but the only way to avoid GMOs, for instance, is by choosing USDA certified organic or from farmers you know, or growing your own (although some companies with non-organic products specifically say that they do not use GMO grains, but that gets my red flag up) Also, USDA certified organic does not allow high fructose corn syrup. FYI, Ed, this may be a way to simplify decision-making with your daughter. With my daughters, the rule is pretty simple–no HFCS. If a product has that, they move on. We then make sure to search out (or make our own) alternatives, and it has proven to be lots of fun and not that hard. But it keeps it simple when the kids are making choices in stores, etc. Most products with lots of other bad things have HFCS, so it kills a lot of birds with one stone.

Another example–Endangered Species chocolate had been organic for years. Now, the majority of the varieties say “natural” on them instead of organic. I don’t know who purchased the company and made this supposedly “money-saving” change. I don’t care. The company has lost my support. I no longer buy this product.

There are countless examples of this. Note to companies that buy companies that cater to eco-savvy, informed consumers–we are ON to you. We read labels. We research. We talk. And most of all, we vote with our dollars and we will not vote for you when you abuse the trust we have placed in your products previously.

Joanna, thanks for the encouragement. Fortunately, my daughter loves our home-made popcorn. I can’t stomach the smell of the microwave stuff. She also uses her allowance to buy her own foods. But that cuts both ways. She thinks because she’s spending her own money she can buy whatever she wants, no matter how bad it is for her. We’ve had to intervene. It’s a touchy subject.

De, I do think our daughter is more health conscious. But sometimes she rebels and goes on a junk food tear. Sometimes it seems more like a power struggle than a food issue. But she will definitely run wild with the carbs if allowed.

Luckily, when I do occasionally let him gorge on junk food at parties and other special-events, he usually complains of a stomach ache that night and self-regulates for the next few weeks. In a twisted way, I hope your daughter ends up feeling poorly after her day of indulgence and takes it as a lesson in moderation.

This is why when people ask how they can change their diet, the first thing I tell them to do is to start reading labels. If people just *knew* what they were putting into their mouths, they probably wouldn’t eat it.

Thanks for sharing this in today’s Fight Back Fridays carnival!

Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)

I never buy industrially processed food any more, apart from a few staples such as tinned tomatoes (but even then you have to read the labels pretty carefully). The food industry does not work in the interests of the individuals it supplies, so it’s best to cook from scratch as much as possible. That said, my young are also pretty keen consumers of horrors (microwave popcorn is a particularly nasty junk that they are keen to eat) …. but they have to buy them themselves. So consumption is down. It’s truly hard for parents to fight against all that advertising might. The 80/20 rule helps to retain sanity in all this

Good luck
Joanna