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This is a pretty accurate rendition of many of my shopping experiences. Reading labels has been frustrating for us. Not because of the time it takes, but because of what we discover is actually in the package. In our house “watching what you eat” means reading the ingredient list on everything. Do YOU know what BUTYLATED HYDROXYANISOLE (BHA) is? It is a preservative that slows the process of oils/fats becoming rancid. This is a questionable chemical that can be easily and safely replaced by Vitamin E (at least that is something we can recognize). Vitamin E is an antioxidant found naturally in many fruits, veggies, and grains.
You’ve seen the bold and colorful words stamped over the names of many of your favorite products in the supermarket. These items are supposed to accommodate those with special dietary needs. But there’s a catch. Typically these items are high(er) in calories, fat, or sugar because companies add more in order to improve the taste and/or texture of the product. You’ll also find that many gluten free products are low in fiber since they are made from refined grains and starches.
Go gluten free the Wildtree way! Wildtree’s new gluten free products contain ancient grains such as millet, teff, sorghum, amaranth, and quinoa. These are WHOLE grains that provide protein, B vitamins, iron, fiber, and folate. For example, amaranth contains all of the essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. It is also rich in fiber and iron. Millet is a rich source of fiber, thiamine, niacin, and folate. Sorghum is a rich source of fiber and iron.
Overly processed foods have been stripped of most of its nutrients; nutrients our bodies NEED. Remember to skip the front of the box. That is just advertising. Everything you need to know about a product is in the ingredients list on the back.
^^^ The Wildree products used in this recipe can be found HERE ^^^
What you’re drinking is just as important as what you’re eating. If you love sodas and drink them a lot, then you should know what that bubbly beverage is doing to you…
Soda. It tastes great, sometimes. It isn’t filling. It does more harm than good. It isn’t as cheap as you think once you factor in the added health costs.
When my kids are in the mood for popcorn I don’t reach for a box and head to the microwave. I plug in the popper, add a hand full of kernels and the kids hold their bowls waiting for the popcorn to fly out. It takes just as much time to make as it does in the microwave. We have fresh, hot, flavorful popcorn whenever we like.
What do we do for flavor? Wildtree popcorn seasonings, of course! One bowl of white cheddar popcorn. One bowl is simply sweet. Then, we mix them both together for a great sweet and salty experience. Have your own “make-your-own” popcorn night for a fun and easy family snack.
^^^ The Wildree products mentioned in this post can be found HERE ^^^
Pernil, or Spanish-style roast pork, is one of my most favorite dishes. This is not a quick dish, but it is very easy to make and soooo worth the wait!
Ingredients:
Pork shoulder
15 garlic cloves, peeled
4 oz. Wildtree Grapeseed Oil
2 tbsp kosher salt
Cut several deep X’s through the skin and the meat on all sides. Crush garlic with salt and oil and mix well. Push the crushed garlic mixture into the X’s. (Use an injector if you have one.) Place meat on a rack in roasting pan with shoulder skin side down. Cover and bake at 250 degrees for 3 and 1/2 hours. Uncover and turn shoulder, then raise oven temp to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 1 – 2 hours until the skin is crispy.
Serve with spanish rice and ENJOY!!!
Note: I know some people hate to peel garlic. I have considered leaving out the garlic and just using garlic grapeseed oil instead. I just haven’t been willing to part with tradition. However, I’m sure it will have the same delicious result. When I try it with just garlic GSO I will gladly update this post with the results.
^^^ The Wildree products used in this recipe can be found HERE ^^^
Being a qualitarian, is, I believe, the solution to our health issues today – all of them. We wouldn’t have the quantity and intensity of health issues (mental and physical) if we ate better quality foods exclusively. And if we all ate better quality foods, they would cost less resulting from greater demand for food coupled with lesser need for advertising money to be spent to counter the poor quality food products. If we all ate better quality food, better quality food would be more available, too.
I am a picky eater, that wants quality food that tastes great and is good for me. Aren’t you? We should all be picky! We spend a lot of money on food every year. We should get what we’re paying for… FOOD!
This year I plan to do a series on the types of products being used in the foods we eat that simulate taste, texture, etc of the ingredients we think are in the foods we eat. While blueberries are not the ingredient I intended to begin with, I had to share this video from the Health Ranger that I saw today:
In this video he exposes how most products you find in your supermarket that “imply they’re made with blueberries contain no blueberries at all”. For example, one well known product is shown to contain “blueberry flavored crunchlets” which are made from sugars, soybean oil, red #40 and blue #2.
I urge you to watch this video so that you will can be better informed next time you go grocery shopping. We do our best to feed our families healthy and nutritious meals. How can we do that when the marketing decisions made by the companies you know and trust are designed to inflate their profit margin by deceiving you?
Know what you’re eating. Always read the ingredients on the package because the front is just a billboard designed to draw you in.
This 11-year old has learned “the dark side” of the food corporations and is on a mission for change. In his presentation, this young man said something that I myself have said many times when speaking to other parents about feeding my family organic and natural foods. It is not more expensive at all when you consider how much you are NOT spending on medicine and doctors visits.
Taking control of what my family eats took research and work, but it was definitely worth it. We visit our doctors for annual checkups, my son is no longer on prescription allergy medications, and I have been steadily bringing my weight under control.
Watch the video. Listen careful to this intelligent young man. Then take back control of your food!
It has been HOT here in NYC this summer, so I haven’t made any of my favorite baked dishes in several months. However, during the summer I love, love, love my veggies. So, the other night I experimented and made a stove top version of eggplant parmesan. It was delicious! Here’s what I did…
Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants
1 half medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tbsp Wildtree Tuscany Bread Dipper Herb Blend
2 tsp Wildtree Roasted Bell Pepper & Garlic Blend
2 cups diced tomato, fresh or canned
1 c. tomato sauce
1 c. shredded mozarella, parmesan, or romano cheese (or a combination of cheeses)
Peel the eggplant, then slice it lengthwise into spaghetti-like strips. Make the strips as thick or thin as you like. Place eggplant in large pot lightly coated with oil. Cover and cook on medium high heat, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. Transfer eggplant to a colander so the acidic liquid can drain off. Return pot to stove, add remaining oil and sauté garlic and onions til they are translucent. Add the eggplant and herb blends. Continue sauteing for 5 minutes, then add the tomatoes and sauce. Stir until everything is blended, then simmer until the eggplant reaches your desired tenderness. Remove from heat and stir in cheese til melted. Serve immediately.
Enjoy! I know we sure did.
The Wildree products used in this recipe can be found HERE
I just read this wonderful guest blog post on Fooducate.com. Two big thumbs up to this supermom. I just love the way she handled the character snack situation. We CAN provide great healthy snacks for our kids, and satisfy their need to see their favorite characters on the outside of the package. I’m going to add ‘stickers’ to my next shopping list.
Now that my toddler attends preschool, he has lunch with a number of other children. Lately he’s been asking for character lunch items. The other day he specifically asked for a “Buzz & Woody” yogurt to take to school. Since I’m opposed to buying into food marketing like that, I send homemade snacks in a small Glad container, and print out my own character stickers on basic labels to put on the container.
Click below to read Jessica’s full post and get her homemade yogurt recipe.
I am a mother with a child that has what I thought were allergies, but learned that the FDA classifies it as a sensitivity or intolerance. (FYI FDA, if something is causing HIVES then it is an ALLERGIC REACTION!) Food intolerances are very common, but the type of food will determine how difficult it may or may not be to avoid and control.
One morning about 3 years ago, while getting my son ready for preschool, I looked down and he was covered head to toe with hives. Although, at the time I thought they were bug bites. That day I cleaned, vacuumed, sanitized, washed, and sprayed everything in the room to get rid of whatever bug it was. The next day, he had hives again. The next day I took him to see his doctor who told us it was either a virus that kids his age get, and it usually goes away after a week or two. OR, he touched something along the way that gave him a reaction and it should pass through his system in a few days. That weekend, I sent him to spend the day out with his dad while I cleaned and sanitized everything in our apartment. When I say everything, I mean it! I shampooed the furniture and carpet. Washed every item of clothing and linen that we owned. I even scrubbed the walls and ceiling!
He continued to break out in hives. After all this, I knew it wasn’t something he had physical contact with. So, I started keeping a food journal for him. I logged everything he ate, the time, and any reaction that occured. After several weeks I compared the logs and omitted a food that I thought was causing the reactions. But of course, they continued. I began reading package ingredients more carefully looking for any clue to tell me what was going on with my son. I kept logging, omitting, reintroducing foods trying to figure out the culprit for 3 more months. It wasn’t until he ate a simple yellow jellybean from his Easter basket, that the mystery began to unravel.
Within minutes of eating that jellybean, he was completely covered in hives. I stared at him in amazement. It’s JUST a jellybean, what could be in it?! I grabbed the package and turned it around so I could read the ingredients. I looked up the 3 ingredients on the internet, and of the 3 one was a known trigger for allergic reactions (particularly hives and hyperactivity) in children… Tartrazine, a.k.a. FD&C Yellow #5. I began removing and replacing foods that contained this additive and in less than a month we saw fewer and fewer breakouts. But after a fingerpainting activity at school, I realized yellow wasn’t the only problem for him. So I went completely dye free, which pretty much meant an all natural and organic diet. No more hives!
Food coloring is a very common, and excessively used food additive. My son cannot eat the majority of foods found in grocery stores and restaurants in this country. Shopping and eating out is a struggle, to say the least. We cannot hop in the car and just “go out to eat”. I cannot run to the market and “just grab a few quick items.” My son cannot go to his friends birthday parties and say “I want the corner piece!” when they start cutting the cake. We have to carefully examine the ingredients of everything he eats. We have to take care with surfaces, utensils, pots, etc. so that his food isn’t contaminated by other foods that contain food coloring.
I hate to say that food coloring needs to be banned outright, because where would we be without our colorful celebratory treats? Yet, somehow I’m sure we can all survive easily without them. Did you know that use of food colorings has been banned in several countries because of it’s negative effect on children? Well then, why is it used so widely here in the U.S.?
Something definitely needs to be done to end the unnecessary use of food coloring, as well as other harmful chemical additives, in our food. I can understand the need for food coloring in confections. But cold cuts? Milk? Pasta and sauces? Bread? Crackers? Medicines? Why are they there? What are they hiding?
These additives are in our foods for one simple reason: in order for processed foods to LOOK like real food they need to be dressed up to mask the missing REAL food ingredients. Take a good look at that box of cake mix in your cabinet. Does the ingredient list contain about 5 items? or 20? The only dry ingredients a cake needs are flour, sugar, baking soda, salt… what’s the rest of that stuff?!
We NEED to demand better for ourselves. We NEED to have limits that manufacturers must adhere to. If I have to do it one person at a time, and it takes my entire lifetime, I’m going to increase awareness about the additives in our foods. It is frightening to know the harm we do ourselves with each bite we take, meanwhile the government and corporations continue to slowly poison us so that they can make their bottom line.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of these dyes, see here.
Why did I start this blog?
Because, I know there are many other families going through the confusing and frightening experience I went through.
Because I know that doctors today tend to offer blanket, quick fix treatments that can prolong and exacerbate a simple unfamiliar situation. My sons doctors kept offering me prescriptions for allergy medications, even though they had no clue what allergy they were treating. Two of the meds made him psychotic, another contained food coloring (Brilliant!). None of them helped.
Because I now know that there are many other common health conditions affecting people that can be corrected or eliminated with a simple change in eating. My personal health care reform begin when I walked out of the first allergists office that told me there was no way that my son could be allergic to food coloring. Read a book, Doc!
Because I know that eating right doesn’t have to be bland, boring, OR disgusting.
Because I know that cooking and eating can be GREAT experiences, not a troublesome chore.
Shop the outer aisles of your supermarket/grocery store. This is where you find your fresh produce, meats, etc.The fresher the food, the more nutritious and beneficial to your body.
Read the back of the packages. The front of packaged food is an advertisement to get you to buy the product. The important information is on the back. If the ingredient list is long, with very few actual food items, but a lot of chemicals, or fillers , and has salt or sugar as one of the first two items, PUT IT BACK! A cake is made with flour, sugar, baking soda, etc. If the ingredient list has over 10 items it is not a cake, it’s a science experiment.
Avoid heavily processed foods. Processed foods contain more filler than substance. They have more salt/sugar than you should consume in one day, let alone one meal. Any nutritional value the food may have had, has been reduced to next to nothing due to all the processing.
What you’ll find…
Eating natural foods is more filling and satisfying. You’ll find that you will feel full longer and snack less often. Processed foods that contain lots of fillers pass through the body quickly because there is no nutrition-packed food to break down. You’ll lose weight because your body will be burning more calories to break down the REAL food.
Your immune system will be stronger. It can function at its best when properly fueled. Next time you call out sick to work, you won’t really be sick.
This is similar to a smoothie I make for my family. We love it! Sooo yummy and filling! The Chocolate Monkey Smootthie http://ow.ly/1OOOy makes a great breakfast or snack. All you need is banana, peanut butter, milk, and cocoa. And, of course a good blender. Add ice cream, for an after school treat!
Jamie Oliver has put himself out there to help all of us, but we can’t let him do all the work! First, have you signed his petition to save cooking skills and improve school food? Click the button on the left to do so now! It’s never too late to start good eating habits, let’s help our kids and ourselves become healthier individuals.
Second, have you started going through your kitchen to see what you can change that will benefit your family’s overall health?? Try these:
Avoid heavily processed foods.Processed foods contain more filler than substance. They have more salt/sugar than you should consume in one day, let alone one meal. Any nutritional value the food may have had, has been reduced to next to nothing due to all the processing and chemical additives.
Shop the outer aisles of your supermarket/grocery store. This is where you find your fresh produce, meats, etc.The fresher the food, the more nutritious and beneficial to your body.
Read the back of the packages.The front of packaged food is an advertisement to get you to buy the product. The important information is on the back. If the ingredient list is long, contains very few actual foods but a lot of chemicals, has salt as one of the first two items, PUT IT BACK! A cake is made with flour, sugar, baking soda, etc. If the ingredient list is over 10 items it is not a cake, it’s a science experiment.
If you’re ready to join the revolution, I’m ready to help YOU take your first steps!
It’s snowing outside, school is cancelled, the kids want to go play but you want them to have something more filling than cereal for breakfast. What do you make? Here’s something I whipped up quickly so that we could eat and run on a full tank.
You need:
1 pkg Wildtree Flaxseed Bear Bread (or your bread mix of choice)
2 cups thinly sliced apples (or other fruit of your choice)
1/4 raw sugar
1 tsp cinnamon* (optional)
1 tbsp Wildtree Natural Grapeseed Oil
Directions:
Prepare bread mix according to package directions but reduce liquid by 2 or 3 ounces (thats about 1/4 cup). Pour mix into prepared oblong baking dish. Over medium-high heat, heat grapeseed oil in skillet. Add fruit, cinnamon and sugar. Cook stirring frequently until liquid looks syrup-like and fruit tender-crisp. Spread mixture over bread mix to within an inch of the edges. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes and edges are nicely browned.
While it’s baking you can get the kids and yourself dressed, or make this the night before. It tastes even better warmed up the next day. Enjoy!
*The type of spice you use will vary with the fruits you choose. Allspice or nutmeg are good choices for tropical fruits.
^^^ The Wildree products used in this recipe can be found HERE ^^^
Granola isn’t something that I try to make on my own. I’ve been content with the natural and organic brands I’ve found in my supermarket, and now from Wildtree! However, I thought I’d post this recipe, for those of you that DO enjoy making your own. This really looks and sounds delicious!
If you try this recipe, please come back and let us know what you thought. If you’re looking to increase your fiber intake, this is a great recipe to start with. Eat as a cereal, sprinkle over yogurt and fruit, or just eat plain for a quick on-the-go snack.
Are you ready for the revolution? Are you ready to change the way you and your family eats? Want to see how others make the change? Then watch Jamie Oliver’s upcoming new series “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution which debuts on Friday, March 26th at 9 p.m. ET. Click below to find out more.
One evening while having dinner with my mother she suddenly asked “Why does this chicken taste salty? I didn’t put a drop of salt on it!” Hmmmm, could this possibly explain the mystery…
Sodium chloride, or salt, is probably the single most harmful ingredient in the food supply. It’s a major promoter of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and other ailments.
Most adults should not consume more than about 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day, yet the average adult is consuming closer to 4,000 milligrams a day. Researchers have estimated that reducing sodium to recommended levels would save on the order of 100,000 deaths a year.
Yet another way food manufacturers have put their profits ahead of our health. Be sure to check the label the next time you’re shopping for chicken. Your body will thank you.
These fries have a very short lifespan on our dinner table. If your family gets hooked like mine did, you may want to double this recipe.
Seasoned Oven Fries
1/4 – 1/3 cup Natural/Butter/Garlic Grapeseed oil
3 tbsp Cajun Seasoning*
6-8 cups potato wedges
1/2 small onion, diced (optional)
Mix oil and seasoning in large bowl. Add potatoes (and onions) and toss till completely coated with oil mixture. Spread in large baking pan and cover with foil. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, then remove foil and bake uncovered, turning potatoes once, for 20 minutes more or until desired crispness is reached.
*This is a fun and delicious dish to make because you can use most any Wildtree culinary blend or dip. Also try Tuscany Bread Dipper Herb Blend, Home Fries Seasoning, Lesli’s Chili Mix, Rancher Steak Rub
The Wildree products used in this recipe can be found HERE
One down, many more to go. The trans-fats are out, so what next? Salt? Probably not. It is one of the cheapest ways manufacturers have found to “flavor” our foods. As far as they are concerned, the cheaper the better. But it isn’t better for us!
Let’s get the message out to the government and manufacturers. Let them know that you will no longer be forced to eat products that are destroying your health. If they won’t cut the salt, then do it yourself. Choose better when you shop or eat out. Order your fries or burger with no salt. Many restaurants are very accommodating, ask them not to add salt whenever possible.
If you buy processed foods, read the labels; go for the one with the lowest amount of sodium. (If you buy products marked “low sodium” or “salt-free” be careful. Some companies will add a sodium taste/flavor to the food that I think makes the product taste worse.) Or, you can just avoid processed foods completely and cook your own meals using fresh ingredients.
As always, moderation is key. Please put down the salt.
We're Cooking the Wildtree Way! 