Mommy Greenest

MSG Hiding in Unusual Places - Part 1

2011-06-15T16:00:00Z

During this trek to better nutrition we as consumers are becoming more savvy about our food and more specifically about reading labels. I think we all know to avoid the food additive MSG, but what we may not all know is that MSG hides behind many names. According to truthinlabeling.org:

There are over 40 food ingredients besides “monosodium glutamate” that contain processed free glutamic acid (MSG). Each, according to the FDA, must be called by its own, unique, “common or usual name.” “Autolyzed yeast,” “maltodextrin,” “hydrolyzed pea protein”, and “sodium caseinate” are the common or usual names of some ingredients that contain MSG. Unlike the ingredient called “monosodium glutamate,” they give the consumer no clue that there is MSG in the ingredient.

So naturally I set out on a path to uncover what other ‘disguised’ names MSG goes by. Here is what I have come up with (and you’d better sharpen your pencil because this is a list to remember):

amino acids (They almost invariably contain glutamic acid.)
autolyzed yeast
citric acid
glutamate
glutamic acid
hydrolyzed protein
monopotassium glutamate
monosodium glutamate
protein
whey protein concentrate

The following are names used for chelates that will contain MSG and/or aspartic acid and phenylalanine which are two of the main ingredients in MSG’s toxic cousin aspartame:

amino acid chelate (chelated with amino acids)
potassium (or any other mineral ) citrate
potassium (or any other mineral) aspartate
potassium (or any other mineral) glutamate
chelated with hydrolyzed protein
chelated with protein
chelated with amino acids

/source: truthinlabeling.org

Stay tuned because in my next post I will reveal some organic products that contain MSG.

Guess this ‘food’

2011-06-11T02:53:34Z

Here is another ingredient list to a product that we as North Americans may enjoy frequently. What can it be?

sugar, glucose syrup, skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, sunflower oil, lactose, milk fat, vegetable fat, whey powder, fat reduced cocoa, barley malt extract, emulsifier (soya lecithin), salt, egg white powder, hydrolysed milk protein

Answer will be posted later.

ANSWER: MARS BAR

Do You Avoid These 7 Foods?

2011-06-07T01:15:19Z

For those just beginning their transition to a healthier lifestyle or those who are already there, this is a great reminder list of 7 foods to avoid:

1. Canned Tomatoes:

(This one can be tough in the middle of winter) The tomatoes themselves aren’t the problem it’s the BPA lining in the cans. Apparently the acidity of the tomatoes can actually accelerate the breakdown of the BPA.

2. Conventional Beef:

Conventional cattle are fed grain, corn and soy (often GMO). The grain completely throws off the natural needs and requirements of the animal thus also altering the vitamin content of the meat. Choose grass fed beef.

3. Microwave Popcorn:

Other than the fact that conventional popcorn is GMO, the microwaveable bags are lined with Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). When this is heated this compound leaches into food and has been linked to infertility.

4. Conventional Potatoes

Non-organic potatoes are heavily sprayed with a slew of chemicals to prevent pest, weeds and fungus. The very soil they grow in is contaminated. Many potato growers don’t eat the potatoes they sell, but instead grow their own separate plots without all the chemicals.

5. Farmed Salmon

Farmed salmon are stuffed into pens and fed chicken feathers and pellets. A scientific study on fish contamination showed high levels of carcinogens such as DDT and PCBs.

6. Conventional Milk

Much like conventional beef, milk from these cows is hormonally imbalanced. They are also feed growth hormones to amp up milk production.

7. Conventional Apples

Apples are heavily and frequently doused with pesticides — pesticides that have been linked to Parkinson’s.

Source: Dr. Mercola

How Can This Stuff Even Be Called ‘Ice-Cream’?

2011-06-03T05:00:19Z

The next time you’re craving ice-cream on a hot, summer day…talk yourself off the ledge. I sure wish I had!

My hubby and I were craving something a little sweet and cold on tonight’s beautiful, warm evening andinstead of our usual pint of organic coconut milk ice-cream from the health food store (it was after hours), we gave in to a moment of weakness and ended up at Dairy Queen. I thought I was getting the least damaging thing on the menu by ordering a child’s soft serve but couldn’t stop myself from checking out the DQ website when we got home. If you’ve ever had ‘ice-cream’ from DQ you may want to sit down for this:

Dairy Queen Vanilla Soft Serve: Milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, corn syrup, whey, mono and diglycerides, artificial flavor, guar gum, polysorbate 80, carrageenan, and vitamin A palmitate.

Cake Cones, Small: General label declaration, ingredients may vary by supplier. Enriched wheat flour (containing niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), tapioca flour, sugar, vegetable oil shortening (partially hydrogenated soybean oil partially hydrogenated canola and/or cottonseed oil), baking soda, salt, natural vanilla, annatto.

I shouldn’t be surprised, I know, but I am thoroughly disgusted that I have willingly put corn syrup (most likely GMO) into my body. I assume all the other soft serve ‘ice-cream’ out there would be similar in quality. Does anyone else have any experiences to share?

Are you eating glue in your meat?

2011-05-26T15:39:58Z

A “revolutionary” new approach to utilizing meat scraps is emerging that involves gluing meat together. Yes, you read right! It has now been approved in many countries (not the EU, of course) that meat processors can use a product being touted as “meat glue” to bind unsavoury cuts of meat together to form what appears to be steaks. This product does not even have to be labelled nor can butchers tell them apart from real cuts of meat.

According to blog, Cooking Issues, Meat Glue is commonly used all the time, primarily to:

• Make uniform portions that cook evenly, look good, and reduce waste

• Bind meat mixtures like sausages without casings

• Make novel meat combinations like lamb and scallops

This has been approved in Canada, USA, China, Australia. I suppose the moral of this story is to buy local and get to know your farmer. We only buy grass fed beef from a local supplier and to put my mind at ease, I will be asking him if they use this glue.

If you want to be thoroughly disgusted watch this short news report: meat glue

Freaky Ingredient Friday

2011-05-20T15:35:28Z

Here we go for our second installment of guessing the ‘food’ that is out there for consumption based on its ingredients. Here they are, give me your best guess…

Ingredients: Water, Tomato Puree, Pasta Shapes, Liquid Sugar, Salt, Soybean Oil, Cheddar Cheese, Modified (Corn) Starch, Dextrose, Natural Flavour, Spices

Clue: marketed towards our children

Freaky Ingredient Friday

2011-05-16T15:35:58Z

Well, today’s not Friday but my internet was down yesterday so as promised….here are your mystery list of ingredients:

Ingredients: ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, MODIFIED PALM OIL OR VEGETABLE OIL SHORTENING (CANOLA, MODIFIED PALM, MODIFIED PALM KERNEL), ARROWROOT FLOUR, GLUCOSE-FRUCTOSE, SALT, CORN STARCH, SODIUM BICARBONATE, GLYCEROL, SOYA LECITHIN, DIAMMONIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM METABISULPHITE, NATURAL FLAVOUR

Clue: many people give these to babies

ANSWER: KRAFT ARROWROOT COOKIE http://bit.ly/m7W6Nt. These puppies are marketed to babies. I know I was given them as a baby and so were my siblings, so naturally I reached for them when my first child was teething. Glad I read the ingredients first!

Freaky Ingredient Friday

2011-05-12T14:24:43Z

Tomorrow is the official launch of a new weekly segment called “Freaky Ingredient Friday” where I will copy a list of ingredients from some sort of ‘food’ that you can find at any supermarket and it’s up to you to try to guess the product. I will post the answer later in the day. I think this will really be an eye opener for all of us.

Does Kraft really think we’re stupid?

2010-07-12T23:35:13Z

Last night while perusing one of my favorite home decorating magazines, I came across an ad that had many bright orange noodles shaped into a cauliflower. I suppose the ad company did its job because it certainly caught my attention!

It is with great shock and dismay that I tell you that Kraft dinner is now trying to pass itself off as healthy by mixing a miniscule amount of cauliflower in with its cheese concoction and calling itself KD Smart. Judge for yourself. They claim that it has a 1/2 cup of vegetables in every ‘helping’. Do they want us to believe that a 1/2 cup of cauliflower in every ‘helping’ supercedes the:

ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE [IRON], THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID); CHEESE SAUCE MIX (WHEY, MILKFAT, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SALT, SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CITRIC ACID, LACTIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, MILK, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6, ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE). CONTAINS WHEAT, MILK

as listed on a package of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese ‘the cheesiest’? It’s a sad day when processed food with many artificial ingredients try to pass themselves off as healthy. It’s an even sadder day if we start to buy this in the name of ‘health’.

My kids have never tasted KD, but they DO love macaroni and cheese. A favorite of theirs (and mine) includes many hidden vegetables and home made cheese sauce. Check out “My (oh so sneaky) Pink Macaroni and Cheese” recipe, and let me know what you think!

Ever heard of PPD? You’ve probably willingly put it on your head!

2010-02-10T22:21:39Z

OK, so I did something bad on the weekend. Something I totally regret now. Do I have your attention? OK maybe it’s not as bad as you may be thinking, but it left me literally scratching my head!!

Now, with 3 children, I don’t get to enjoy the inside of a hair salon very often, mostly because with the amount of hair on my head, I’m never out of there before 3 hours have passed. Anyways on Saturday I went to the salon for some much needed hair care. Before long, my stylist had convinced me to skip my usual foil highlights and go for an all over permanent hair dye (to better cover the few -ah hum- ‘natural’ highlights I’ve been noticing as of late). Against my better judgement I succumbed to her persuasion and before long she had a vat of funny looking and even funnier smelling lotion type substance next to me. She began applying it to my hair and my head! Shortly thereafter, my scalp felt like it was burning, almost like something was biting at it. I was told that that is necessary for the color to take! After about 45 minutes of application (yes, I do have THAT much hair!), my stylist informed me that I had to sit and ‘process’ for about 45 minutes. Fine. After all this is peace and quiet time for me. Time for me to sit and relax and catch up on mindless Hollywood gossip!

After a few minutes, the ‘biting’ felt like it was getting more intense. I was given the end of a comb to use to scratch my scalp to help alleviate the discomfort. 45 minutes passed, then another 15. By this time I had had enough. I was taken to the sink where the gal washed out the color and on my request basically scratched my scalp with her nails during my scalp massage. MY SCALP FELT LIKE IT HAD HAD A CHEMICAL EATING AWAY AT IT! I suppose that was my AH HA moment, because it had! Later that night, I was in so much discomfort that I couldn’t sleep. I got up and feverishly scrub shampooed my hair twice! Because I was already awake, I decided to do a little online research. I was so disturbed by what I learned:

Typically the nastiest culprit of an itchy scalp and hair dyes problem is the chemical Phenylenediamine (PPD). This is known as a contact allergen, and can result in a nasty itchy scalp…or in doctor-speak, sensitisation dermatitis. It absorbs itself into the skin causing serious irritation. If inhaled it can cause throat irritation, and bronchial asthma, and in extreme cases has led to blindness from contact with the eyes. In France, Germany and Sweden, PPD was banned as a hair dye because it was thought to be too dangerous for health!!

I do everything I can day to day to stay healthy via diet and exercise, then I went and willingly got a toxic, chemical concoction applied to my scalp, which I can only assume got penetrated into my head! Today, 4 days later my scalp is still itchy. To a lesser degree, yes, but itchy nonetheless. I feel really stupid for having trusted in my stylist as well as the color manufacturer. It seems ridiculous that toxins such as hair dye are so readily used and available! I mean no one has their natural hair color anymore! It’s just fun to play around with different shades, but at what expense??

I have now made it my mission to source out a color that is either natural, or much less damaging that can even color some silvers. I will keep you posted, but please share anything that you know or come across.